Hike #1353
Echo Park Stairs
February 21, 2018
Hike Leader: Jim Carlin
Meet at 9:00 am for start at 9:30 am
Please print your own hike descriptions and maps. This will avoid the inconvenience and save costs to the hike leader.
GPS Data:
RT = 2.25 miles mostly on pavement (suggests street shoes).
Elevation gain 753 ft., and loss = 676 ft.
Maximum Gradients: 17.6% Up; 12.7% Down
Directions to Trail Head: The trailhead is in front of the Elysian Heights School located at 1562 Baxter St. between Echo Park Ave. and Valentine St. Expect difficulties in achieving street parking, both at the park and the school. We also found the park restrooms to be poorly maintained.
From the south: 101 northbound, exit Glendale Blvd and head north on Echo Park Ave. Note that Echo Park Ave. is the eastern boundary of Echo Park park where restrooms are available at the north end of the park along Park St. Return to Echo Park Ave. heading north. After a few blocks (including the crossing of Sunset Blvd.) Echo Park Ave. splits. Stay to the left continuing north on Echo Park Ave. to Baxter St., turn right and park on the street.
From the north: 101 southbound, exit Alvarado Blvd. (Route 2) going north. Go to Sunset Blvd. (the sixth street on your right), turn right. Turn right again at the next street (Park Ave.), stay on Park St. past Glendale Blvd. and park along the north boundary of the park where restrooms are available in the park, or continue on Park St. turning left on Echo Park Ave. (the eastern boundary of the park) heading north. After a few blocks (including the crossing of Sunset Blvd.) Echo Park Ave. splits. Stay to the left continuing north on Echo Park Ave. to Baxter St., turn right and park on the street.
The Hike: Basically, a clockwise loop – See map. Caution: The hike traverses 3 hills. The streets are steep (i.e. the need for stairways). Unfortunately, many street signs appear to be missing or obscured by brush or trees.
1. Starting from the school, we walk east on Baxter St. past Valentine and Avon Sts. to our first stairway - the Baxter St. Stairs - 231 steps. This takes us UP to Park Dr. which gives us a view of the downtown sky-scrapers and the western portion of Elysian Park. From here we can see Mt. Hollywood and Mt. Lee with the Hollywood sign and the western edge of Elysian Park spreading out below us. We turn right and continue on Park Dr. in a southerly direction.
2. After passing Ewing St. on our right, we turn right on Duane St. which sweeps downhill turning left on to Avon St. Continuing southerly on Avon St., look for Lucretia Ave. opening on our right and turn right. As Lucretia turns to the left, look for a sidewalk on our right and just to the left of the driveway of the house at 1891 Lucretia that leads to our second stairway the Avalon-east Stairs - 192 steps DOWN, continuing Avalon St. to Echo Park Ave.
3. We turn right and walk north on Echo Park Ave. continuing past Duane St. until we reach Ewing St. Turning left, we gamely march UP Ewing Street eventually reaching Preston Ave. We are not yet on top of this hill, so after resting a bit, we continue UP the Ewing-east Stairs - 25 steps, a narrow stairway, starting just across Preston to the left of a large building at 2003 Preston, until we crest the top of the hill. We then continue DOWN Ewing St. to Vestal Ave.
4. Turning left, we follow Vestal south until it makes a turn to the left at Avalon St. (street sign has Vestal 1900 N, Avalon 1700 W). In the middle of the turn, look to your right to confront the Avalon-west Stairs - 125 steps. After climbing UP it and then the Avalon St. stub, we reach Lemoyne St.
5. Turning right, we follow Lemoyne north until we see a slight jog to the right in Lemoyne. Looking to our left just at the beginning of the jog, we see a narrow-paved road that descends the hill (Ewing St.). The address on the small older house across the street at this point is 1958 Lemoyne. Carefully descend this steep road which eventually turns to dirt and which literally dumps us onto Lake Shore Ave. An Ewing St. stub continues again across Lemoyne leading us to the Ewing-west Stairs of 128 steps which takes us UP to N. Alvarado St.
6. Here, we turn right and walk north on Alvarado one short block to Fargo St. Fargo happens to be the 3rd steepest street in Los Angeles (28th St. in San Pedro is the steepest, and a road on Mt. Washington is second). Because of the steepness, the sidewalk on Fargo St. is occasionally interrupted by stairs - the Fargo Stairs - 17 steps in total. Carefully negotiate down this steep street, looking from side to side to see how people have adopted their homes and driveways to living on such a steep street. At the bottom of Fargo is Allesandro St. The depression seen beyond Allesandro St., now containing the Glendale Freeway (2), used to be one of the routes of the old Red Car lines.
7. We turn right on Allesandro St. and proceed north past Baxter St. to a short cul-du-sac named Cove St. Beyond the end of the cul-du-sac is our last stairway, the Cove St. Stairs - 198 steps which brings us back up to N. Alvarado. Going up these stairs helps you to again appreciate what hill-side/stairway living must be like (imagine having to deliver a refrigerator to one of these houses). Turning right, we follow N. Alvarado south past Cerro Gordo (coming in from the left) to Baxter St.
8. Turning left, we follow Baxter St. back to our cars. This will require going downhill from Alvarado, then up and over the next hill to reach the school, not an easy stroll.
Refreshments will be served at the picnic tables located at the north end of Echo Park. Backtrack south down Echo Park Ave., then turn right on Park St. and park along the street.
While at the park, be sure and notice the big white building on the NE corner of Glendale Blvd. and Park St. This is the Angeles Temple, home of Aimee Semple McPherson’s International Church of the Foursquare Gospel. Be sure and take an after-hike stroll around the park.
Getting Home: 101 Freeway on-ramps are available going north and south off of Glendale Blvd. Exit the park by driving west on Park St., then turn left on Glendale Blvd., and follow the big green signs.
Google Earth Photo - Echo Park Stairs
Echo Park Stairs Hike Map
Echo Park Stairs Elevation Profile
Concerning the OTP Echo Park Video: The closing scenes feature the mural on the wall of Room 8. Click on www.room8cats.org/index.cfm/felinaria/room8/ for more information on the history of the pictures of the famous cat (“Room 8” by name) memorialized in the mural.
2018-01-11
