Some of the sights you'll see along the way, with links to learn more about them. The info in the links might be considered spoilers, if you prefer to be surprised, amazed, and delighted.

Paul Landacre's "Sultry Day." We'll pass the wooded area that inspired this view
on Saturday. Image from the Semi-Tropic Spiritualists' Tract website.

Paul Landacre's "Sultry Day." We'll pass the wooded area that inspired this view
on Saturday. Image from the Semi-Tropic Spiritualists' Tract website.
Angel's Flight
Our starting point, this stairway runs alongside the closed-for-repairs funicular railway that had its first incarnation in 1901 as an easy-does-it access route up Hill St. (not everyone wants to take the stairs.) It continued that way until the 1960s, when the city closed it, took it apart, promising to rebuild it quickly. It took thirty year; in 1996, the "world's shortest railway" reopened, only to close again in 2001 after a fatal accident. Repairs have been underway, but two promised return dates - 2006 and 2008 - have passed, though testing began on a new funicular mechanism earlier this year. We're taking the stairs, which are officially part of a state park (Saturday, Stairway 1)
Downtown LA/Bunker Hill/Core Historic District
The first part of our walk passes by many of the landmarks listed on the city's official walking route, which you can download here. (Saturday, Stairways 2-6)
Calvin Hamilton Pedestrian Way
The elevated sidewalks above Figueroa St. have been named after a person since 1997. But who was Calvin Hamilton? Does the terms CONCEPT: LOS ANGELES! mean anything to you? Saturday morning (Saturday, Stairways 4/5)
Vista Hermosa Park
An amazing oasis in the Temple-Beaudry neighborhood - and a redemption of one of the biggest controversies in the history of Los Angeles urban development. Visting: Saturday morning. (Saturday, between Stairways 7/8)
Spiraling Orchard
A tiny, community garden run by ArtsCorpsLosAngeles (also known as Arts/Community/Land/Action) built on property owned by the L.A. Unified School District and left idle for years. Other stairs on our walk are graffitied. This one was painted by local kids (Saturday, Stairway 11)
Leo Politti House
An author of children's books, including the Caldecott-medal winning "The Song of the Swallows," and "Pedro, The Angel of Olvera Street," Politi and his family lived in Angelino Heights. Both is work for children and his painting in general were known for their empathetic and authentic style, making him both an artist and a documentarian of the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. (Saturday, between Stairways 12/13)
Angelino Heights
Sometimes even for people living nearby, this neighborhood of Victorian homes, just north of the 101 Freeway, comes as a surprise. The Angelino Heights Trolley Line preservation group describes it as the city's "first suburb," with some of the buildings dating back to 1866. Saturday Morning. (Saturday, Stairways 13-14; 20-22)
The Stairways of Echo Park
The Echo Park Historical Society has its own list and history, along with some videos and pictures. (Saturday, Stairways 15-45)
Fellowship Park Way
When Red meant even more than Blue, and Echo Park was truly the center of radical Los Angeles. A hidden stairway gem. (Saturday, Stairway 30)
Semi-Tropic Spiritualists Tract
If the name alone doesn't interest you, then this might: one of the last and most beautiful undeveloped areas in Silverlake. Learn about it, and life before the freeway. (Saturday, Stairways 31-33)
Edendale - A ghost-neighborhood
Crushed by the 2 Freeway. (Saturday, Stairways 44-46)
The Mack Sennet Studios
Silverlake and Echo Park are filled the remains of movie studios from the silent era. We pass one that is - supposedly - the place where pie throwing was invented. (Saturday, Stairway 46)
Homegrown Evolution
Erik Knutzen and Kelly Coyne raise chickens, ride bikes, and live an off-the-grid, on-the-land lifestyle on what is probably the most sprawling on-the-grid, off-the-land patch of territory on earth. We visit their homestead on Saturday. (Between Stairways 50/51)
The Music Box Stairs
Our destination on Day One, start point on Day Two, and inspiration - where the stair routing began, five years ago. The Laurel & Hardy short that the stairs are named after won a 1932 Oscar for Best Short Subject. Saturday, following Stair 57; Sunday, Stair 1.
Stairs of Darkness
Terrible. Sunday, Stairway 12.
Corralitas Red Car Property
Stairway madness; urban wilderness and archaeology; transit history, and - if you remember that the hillside at the corner of Fletcher and Riverside drive was once covered with broken television sets - a mystery solved. (Sunday, Stairways 18-26)
The Silverlake Reservoir
The "lake" in Silverlake is over 100 years old, and though it is no longer stocked with black bass - perfect for urban anglers - it boasts a newly-constructed walking path, which we'll travel for a bit. Sunday morning. (Sunday, at Ralph's Market rest stop following Stairway 26 through Stairway 31)
The Paramour Mansion
Home to a scandalized silent film stair and his oil-heiress wife; then a convent; and now a hideaway for rock stars making big-budget recordings, this sprawling estate sits at Silverlake's highest point east of the reservoir. (Sunday, Stairways 37,38)
Franklin Hills
Just below Griffith Park, this neighborhood has fourteen public stairways packed into a loop of just about two miles. And they take good car of them (including the gorgeous Hoover Walk stairway, with a giant mural - which is so cool that it had to be added to the route. (Sunday, Stairways 41-54)
Shakespeare Bridge
A charming gem, built in 1926, that climaxes our 14-stairway, two-mile Franklin Hills route, and a major point of neighborhood pride, restored after much lobbying and love in 1998. Sunday, following Stairway 54.
Los Feliz Heights Stairways
Four stairways, one with a mural, and, along with the Hollywoodland grouping, the only ones recognized by the city as an official Historic and Cultural Monument - numbers 657 and 535, respectively. (Sunday, Stairways 55-59)
Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House
This Mayan-themed concrete masterpiece is visible from our final stairway before we enter Griffith Park. The structure has been severely damaged by recent earthquakes and flooding, and is currently in need of a buyer who'll be able to prevent it from further decay, or even collapse. (Sunday, view from 59; short loop walkers will pass directly.)
Griffith Park
Formerly a Spanish land grant ranch, an ostrich farm, and an airport, and now the largest urban park in America. There was a real Griffith, too, and we owe him plenty, even though he was a bit nutty. (Sunday, following Stairway 59)
Griffith Observatory
As Lisa Anne Auerbach, one of our organizers - and a former editor of the Griffith Observer - tells us, it is Griffith Observatory. Not "The Griffith Observatory," or "The Griffith Park Observatory." She will reveal many more dark secrets on Sunday (in Griffith Park)
Hollywoodland/Beachwood Canyon
The full word that was once on the sign - and the old name of the subdivision; the odd cottages that characterized it line our route from the Griffith Park exit to the our final destination. (Sunday, Stairways 59-65)
"Under the Hollywood Sign" with Hope Anderson
Six of the most beautiful stairways on our route as we climb to the finish. We'll stop to meet Hope Anderson, director of the documentary "Under the Hollywood Sign," to discover the neighborhood that surrounds them, and tell us the history of the stairs. (Sunday, Stairway 62)
The Hollywood Sign
Our last stop, and arguably the most famous one. Live webcams, and everything else you need to know. Watch us get there.
