April 22, 2008

• PhotoPost: Silver Lake Steps Part One

  

  This is the first of what might become a two or three or even four part PhotoPost Series. The subject is the Silver Lake Steps. The Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, above downtown before you get to Hollywood on Sunset Blvd., meanders among the hills above the city. The area was an early residential district, and is filled with narrow twisting streets lined with vintage 20s and 30s craftsman type homes. Before our family lived in Highland Park, to the east of Silver Lake, we lived in a rented home in Silver Lake. My aunt lived in Echo Park, which is between the two suburbs.

  

  Since a lot of the twisting, curving roads spiral up the hill, taking a pedestrian in circles, the city planners designed a series of public stairways around the hilly terrain. There are about 40 of these concrete staircases, some with over 120 steps, allowing residents and visitors to skip from one street to the next one up the hill without having to use the street itself. I decided to go stairway hunting this past Saturday. I neglected to record the location of the first staircase I saw. Here is a shot midway up. I believe the street at the top is Effie.

  

  This is a shot of the same staircase from the street below, which is a cul de sac. A resident of the reddish colored apartment on the top left is walking up the stairs. Some residents have to use these steps to retrieve their mail. A lot of the area is upscale, and there were a lot of giant SUVs parked on the sometimes 60 degree angled streets. It's a beautiful area, but I don't think I'd like to live there now.

  

  I parked my car on Sunset and Vendome, the intersection where I had hoped to find the famous "Music Box Steps". In the 1932 Laurel and Hardy film comedy "The Music Box", the film comedians play hapless piano movers who have to deliver a large piano to the top of one of the Silver Lake staircases. The actual location is south of Sunset, on Vendome and Del Monte, and I will be attempting to get some photos of it next week. I spent a lot of time above Sunset, and this staircase is on Westerley Terrace and leads up to Elevado Street.

  

  Here is a view of the city below Elevado Street at the top of the stairs. This staircase turned three times before it got to it's destination. At the top, without a map or directions, I kept traversing up Elevado, looking for more staircases, but there weren't any, and I ended up walking in circles, out of breath, and "lost" the top of these stairs. I utilized the help of a resident, who steered me correctly on my way.

  

  Here is an ivy covered view of the same staircase looking up toward Elevado Street. I liked the ivy and foliage overgrowing along the sides of the steps.

  

  Here I have the camera at foot level looking up the same staircase. I also used this set of stairs for the title card at the top of the PhotoPost, which will serve as the title card for the Webshots Gallery folder when I put it online.

  

  Here is a neat magnolia tree outside one of the small houses on Elevado Street. I walked past lots of local residents, waving and acknowledging them as I took my walk, looking for more stairways. And when I saw something I liked, I pulled out my camera and snapped a photo.

  

  The day dawned overcast, and I didn't get to go up again to the area on Sunday, because it didn't warm up until late afternoon, but I took what photos I could in the area from about 1:30pm to 4:00pm on Saturday afternoon. Here I am on Westerley Terrace looking down the steep hill toward Sunset Blvd.

  

  A view of Westerley Terrace as it snakes up the hill from Sunset. The wall to my left is from a Mexican Restaurant, and I might eat there this weekend if I get the chance to go back. I don't like to take photos unless the sky is clear and blue, and it's been overcast a lot lately. Also, gas isn't cheap, so I want to make the most of any excursion I take these days.

  

  When I got to the area, and shot photos from the ground at Sunset Boulevard, I saw these steps at the top of the hill, and thought they were the "Music Box" Steps. They aren't. This is a staircase leading to a power station halfway down the hill.  But this is a neat view of Sunset from the staircase.

  

  I turn around and I'm looking up the staircase toward Westerley Terrace. The yellow wildflowers were in bloom all over this part of the hill. When I got back to the top. (This staircase doesn't go all the way to the bottom) a resident told me I could hike down the rest of the hill and jump over the fence if I wanted. I opted to walk the slow way around the street. By now I was getting a bit tired, and my left leg was hurting.

  

  I managed to get a third staircase in my photos. This one leads from Descanso and Larissa, off Sunset, about a block west from where I had previously parked my car, to where Descanso winds above Larissa. I think this might have been the longest and highest staircase I climbed, but I wasn't counting the steps.

  

  Same staircase, a little farther up. The steps were slightly askew on this staircase, possibly owning to damage from earthquake tremblors in the past. This was a very serene area, and very quiet. Right after these five steps, there was a "rest area" before one climbed the remainder of the way.

  

  You can see the front of my car. The top is down, and I'm driving through Silver Lake, after tiring from walking up and down so many steps. I propped the camera on top of the visor and took this shot while I pulled to a stop sign.

  

  Another view of the twisting streets. This is on Castle Street off of Silver Lake Blvd, and shows a house that somewhat resembles a castle.

  

  I'm pretty sure this is Michelflorena Street shot from the top down. I parked my car with the wheels turned toward the curb, and my car is an automatic. I've never been on a street this steep in an automatic, and I had to pull the parking brake up while gunning the motor in reverse in order to back up the hill to turn my wheels back into the street so I could continue back down. Some of these streets were scary!

  

  Lastly for this post, here is a neat twisty tree with red blossoms in a yard to the left of the castle like home pictured above. There are lots of interesting things to be seen in the Los Angeles area, if you're adventurous and don't stay on the major thoroughfares. I found a website list of the over 40 public outdoor staircases in Silver Lake from a guy who regularly "hikes' the area, and I printed this out and did a google map search of a dozen or more staircases so I have a better plan next weekend when I traverse the area looking for more of the Silver Lake Steps for an upcoming PhotoPost or two. 

  • 10:14 am
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