Secret Walks A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles

Secret Walks: A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles is a sequel to the popular Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, and features another collection of exciting urban walks through parks, canyons, and neighborhoods unknown and unseen by most Angelinos. Each walk is rated for duration, distance, and difficulty, and is accompanied by a map.

The walks, like those in Secret Stairs, are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarks—the original Bat Cave from Batman, the lake where Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show, or the storage barn for one of L.A.’s oldest wineries. The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks famous: the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American “Venice.”

Written in the entertainingly informed style that has made Secret Stairs a Los Angeles Times best-seller, Secret Walks is the perfect book for the walker eager to explore but tired of the crowds at Runyon Canyon or Temescal Park.

Charles Fleming is the author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles, Secret Stairs East Bay: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Berkeley and Oakland, the national bestseller High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess, and co-author of the New York Times bestsellers My Lobotomy, Three Weeks in October: The Manhunt for the Serial Sniper, and A Goomba’s Guide to Life. A former staff writer for Newsweek, Variety, and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and a frequent contributor to Vanity Fair, the New York Times, Los Angeles, and LA Weekly, he is currently a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Fleming lives in Los Angeles.

TABLE OF CONTENTS


Downtown Los Angeles

Downtown LA, Los Angeles

River Walk North, Los Angeles

River Walk South, Los Angeles



Griffith Park

Griffith Park, Ferndell, Los Angeles

Griffith Park, Amir’s Garden, Los Angeles

Griffith Park, Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles

Griffith Park, Lake Hollywood, Los Angeles

Griffith Park, The Zoo

Griffith Park, Equestrian Trail



Hollywood Hills

Bronson Canyon and the Bat Cave, Los Angeles

Fryman Canyon, Studio City

Franklin Canyon, Hollywood



Echo Park/Silver Lake

Echo Park Lake, Echo Park

Silver Lake Meadow, Silver Lake

Elysian Park and Portola Trail, Los Angeles

Elysian Park and Radio Hill, Los Angeles

Elysian Park Police Academy Loop, Los Angeles



East Los Angeles

Hollenbeck Park, Boyle Heights

Peanut Lake and Debs Park, Hermon

Elephant Hill, El Sereno

Legg Lake and Whittier Narrows, Pico Rivera



Pasadena and Environs

Arroyo Seco River Walk, Pasadena

Old Town Pasadena, Pasadena

Deukmejian Wilderness Park, Glendale

Southwest Museum, Highland Park

Little Santa Anita Canyon, Sierra Madre

Eaton Canyon, Sierra Madre

Eaton Canyon, Altadena

Chantry Flat, Altadena

Beaudry Motorway, La Crescenta

Cherry Canyon, La Canada-Flintridge

Hahamonga Watershed Park, La Canada



West Los Angeles and Beaches

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook, Baldwin Hills

Ballona Creek, Culver City

Beach and Bluffs Walk, Santa Monica

Will Rogers State Park, Pacific Palisades

Castellammare, Pacific Palisades

The Venice Canals, Venice

Marina Del Rey Canals, Marina Del Rey
Sandstone Peak, Malibu




San Fernando Valley and Environs

Woodley Park, Lake Balboa

Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Preserve, Lake Balboa

Hansen Dam, Lake View Terrace

La Tuna Canyon, Verdugo Hills

Paradise Falls, Thousand Oaks

King Gillette Ranch, Calabasas

Rim of the Valley and LA Aqueduct, Sylmar



South Bay

The Naples Canals, Long Beach

Del Cerro Park, Palos Verdes

Pelican Cove and Terranea, Palos Verdes

Huntington Beach (TK)

Redondo Beach (TK)