\The Big Parade is a two-day walk through Los Angeles that will start in downtown, at the famous Angel's Flight Stairway, and finish with six stairways leading up from Beachwood Canyon to the Hollywood Sign. The walk will cover approximately 40 miles and 135 stairways, and will include a camp-out at the mid-point, the famous Music Box Stairs - site of the Oscar-winning Laurel & Hardy film of the same name - in Silverlake. It will take place July 18 and 19th, 2009.
A core group of five to eight walkers will be doing the entire event. But - as the name "Big Parade" implies - the true nature of the journey is community-based. In addition to passing dozens of landmarks, we will be joined by community members, both individuals and in groups, as we pass through the city's most diverse neighborhoods. The walk is broken into specific segments so that walkers of all ages and levels of fitness can join us at specific times (of course, anyone is welcome to meet us at any point along the way - and all are invited to join us at the end to celebrate the walk.)
Among the other features of the walk will be:
- A paddleboat traverse of Echo Park Lake.
- A "backcountry" bushwhack along a secret dirt road between Silverlake and Echo Park.
- A cross-country segment that runs through Griffith Park.
- Landmarks that are famous, not-so-famous, infamous, and just-plain-weird (over thirty of them, mapped and ready for viewing)
- A marching band.
- Visits with community groups and local organizations.
Now that you know, JOIN US!