Walking L.A. #20 - Lower Beachwood Canyon

Again, Erin Mahoney, the author of our guide book, took us back to Hollywood. This time we visited Lower Beachwood Canyon which is just a little bit east of the last walk in Whitley Heights. Again there were many steep roads, but I enjoyed this walk a little more than last week's because we went earlier in the morning to avoid the heat, and I saw an area I've never seen before, even though I've lived in LA for over 15 years.

We began at the bottom of Vista del Mar Ave where it meets Franklin Ave. We stopped for coffee at the 101 Coffee Shop which was a 70's-looking diner with some character. I'd return there sometime to try the food, but never again for a cup of coffee which was pretty lousy even for a diner.

Again this week we saw beautiful houses, many with enviable views of Hollywood and Downtown LA. Many parts of the neighborhood were quiet with narrow, curvy streets, which reminded me of hillside towns in Europe. Other parts were extremely noisy from the roaring cars on the adjacent 101 Freeway.

One of the noisiest areas, ironically, was home to the Vedanta Society of Southern California. We stopped in to admire their white temple which looked like a mini Taj Mahal. We also browsed through their bookstore where we almost bought our son a Peaceful Piggy Meditation book.




The next walk is Upper Beachwood Canyon.

Walking L.A.: 36 Walking Tours Exploring Stairways, Streets and Buildings You Never Knew Existed

Walking L.A. #19 - Whitley Heights and Hollywood Boulevard

This walk was just on the other side of Highland Ave from the last walk. You can tell that Whitley Heights was once a very prestigious neighborhood by the many fancy Mediterranean style homes. Unfortunately the 101 Freeway was built right through it and now the residents have to put up with the noise.

It was really hot today and the many steep roads on this walk contributed to a lot of sweating. After walking through Whitley Heights we descended down Whitley Ave to Hollywood Blvd where we walked west to the Hollywood and Highland complex. The boulevard was full of the usual tourists. We had been here many times before so instead of sightseeing, we headed into a Build-a-Bear store to cool off. Yes, there is actually a store that is like a Subway Restaurant for teddy bears. You start with a naked bear and then pick its name, clothes, and accessories.

After the bear store, we stopped to watch some dancers rehearsing their moves at the Hollywood Pop Academy while we fed our baby. Finally, we grabbed some coffee at Starbucks and then headed back to Whitley Heights to end our walk.

The next walk is Lower Beachwood Canyon.

Walking L.A.: 36 Walking Tours Exploring Stairways, Streets and Buildings You Never Knew Existed

Walking L.A. #18 - High Tower and the Hollywood Bowl

Before the walk, we stopped for breakfast at the Mar Vista Farmers Market getting omelettes and French toast from Cafe Laurent. Two good friends who were visiting from San Francisco joined us today.

The first part of the walk was interesting. We walked through the Hollywood Heights neighborhood which is just south of the Hollywood Bowl. At the center of this hillside neighborhood stood a tall elevator tower known as High Tower. The tower is closed to everyone except residents with a key, so we had to climb many cement staircases to get to the top. This was a challenge considering we had our baby and stroller with us. Luckily my friends took turns helping me out. One of the things I liked the most about this neighborhood was that many of the homes were accessible only by footpath. This gave it a quiet, neighborly feel similar to places I've seen in Europe.

The next part of the walk took us to the famous Hollywood Bowl. There were no shows going on and the bowl was open for people to just walk in and check it out. We walked to the boxed seat area, took a seat in one of the boxes, and dreamt about how nice it would be to attend a concert or show in one of the boxes eating cheese and sipping wine.

The next walk is Whitley Heights and Hollywood Boulevard.

Walking L.A.: 36 Walking Tours Exploring Stairways, Streets and Buildings You Never Knew Existed

My Twitter Account Has Disappeared!

I was about to Twitter just now and for some reason Twitter wouldn't let me login. I tried visiting my Twitter feed page at http://twitter.com/kweiner and Twitter responded with the message "That page doesn't exist!". Figuring that Twitter was just down, I tried a friend's page, and that page loaded just fine. In the "Following" section of my friend's page, I noticed that my picture was missing! Next I tried to reset my password, and when I entered my email address, Twitter responded with "Oh, snap! We couldn't find you!".

What is going on? Is my Twitter account really gone and my data lost forever? I know they have had problems scaling recently, but losing someone's account is way worse than having a temporary outage. I submitted a support ticket and also posted a message to Get Satisfaction. Let's see what happens... If this doesn't get resolved, I am just going to give up on Twitter which will probably make my wife happy.

Walking L.A. #17 - Carthay Circle and South Carthay

There wasn't anything that exciting about today's walk which was a little south of last week's walk in the Miracle Mile area. We explored 2 of 3 neighborhoods within a residential district called Carthay: Carthay Circle and South Carthay. Our book says that these neighborhoods are in the Miracle Mile district, but Wikipedia says Carthay is its own district. Both neighborhoods contain HPOZ's for their architectural integrity and cohesiveness. The styles include Spanish Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival. I can't think of much else to say about this walk.

The next walk is High Tower and the Hollywood Bowl.

Walking L.A.: 36 Walking Tours Exploring Stairways, Streets and Buildings You Never Knew Existed