This weekend I took advantage of Saturday’s crazy beautiful weather and decided to do 2 Secret Stair walks form my book. The first walk I went on is called the Astro Loop because of the Astro Family Restaurant you pass at the start of this walk.

Per usual, this is a photo essay of my experiences on the walk. This isn’t meant to be a replacement for the the book and I strongly suggest buying the Secret Stair book so you can have your own adventures. Okay, back to the walk.

It was such a beautiful day out, I couldn’t pass up the chance to do a secret stair walk. I chose Silver Lake for the challenge of the hills (as they are steep and rolling) as well as the view of the lake (glistening on Saturday).

Most of these stairways were well maintained and smelled of freesia. You can tell the neighborhood takes pride in their secret stairs.

The guide book said the house above used to belong to Judy Garland and now Eric Roberts (although I can’t confirm either of those claims, I have to trust the book). As you do the stair walk, you can see into the cascading backyard and begin to feel for how this house would’ve looked in its heyday. There are stone remnants of landscaping from long ago.

Graphics fun with house numbers.

Artsy fun, on this delightfully smelling walk.

Eventually, the walk loops up with the new Silver Lake Library and to quote Richard Neutra “Our environment is a form of education.”

It was around when I took this photo when a neighbor saw me and said I was the 2nd person within the hour that he’s seen walk by with the walk book. It made me happy, and curious to see who the other walker was. I added some speed to my step, and took off to find my mystery walking companion.

Street art. I love the cleverness of the stickers people post along these walks. I see all sorts of stickers everywhere and yet in all my walks I’ve never seen anyone with stickers tagging signs. The sticker people must come out at night.

This photo above was taken along the dirt road where the old Pacific Electric Railway used to operate its “red cars” that ran from downtown to Edendale. The line no longer exists, but there is a great dirt walk hidden amongst the homes in this neighborhood. Even some locals don’t know about it.

The colors were so beautiful and plants thriving. It’s hard to believe it’s winter. The above photo shows concrete remains of where the train would have stopped. Now it’s covered in graffiti with plant life surrounding it. A modern day ruins. It was just past this spot where a stranger walking along the street smiled at me and said, “Welcome to LA!” I said thank you and continued on my walk.

The last part of the loop led me into a neighborhood where the first house I saw had this giant sign, “Eat the 1%”, which I think has to do with the zombie craze happening right now? Correct me if I’m wrong, I only gleaned that from some quick googling. A little down the road I saw a small sign that said “99%”, it made me laugh.

At this time, I finished walk #23, ordered a Starbucks passion ice tea and continued on to begin walk #26. Walk #26 coming up later this week!