
Walking in L.A. - craigcannon
http://www.walkinginla.com/
======
IvyMike
A couple of years ago, I walked the entirety of Wilshire Boulevard, from One
Wilshire in Downtown all the way to the beach in Santa Monica. It's about 16
miles, and it takes all day, but you can do it.

Breakfast at Eggslut, lunch at the Food Trucks at LACMA, and dinner in
downtown Santa Monica.

Landmarks along the way include Downtown, Macarthur Park, Koreatown, LACMA, La
Brea Tar Pits, Beverly Hills, Westwood, and of course Santa Monica.

It's a great way to re-experience the city.

~~~
mixmastamyk
My dogs are barkin just thinking about it.

~~~
SandersAK
Now that is a thing I haven't heard since my grandpa was still alive.

~~~
mixmastamyk
Got the expression from my mom, she had a lot of them.

------
grabcocque
So as somebody who lives in London, explain to me why Los Angeles always looks
so featureless, so lacking in any kind of urban identity I'd expect to find in
a city?

It always looks to me no so much as a city, but rather merely some buildings
that are connected by freeways.

~~~
jmulvi
I'm going to assume you have never been to LA.

Just like London it is a collection of "villages". What were originally
separate cities: Santa Monica, Hollywood, Pasadena etc have all been absorbed
into the whole that is LA. I'm sure you can recognize the same process in
london where Hampstead and Stratford have distinct personalities and yet are
now both a small part of the whole that is London.

Now LA, unlike London is a city much easier to live in and less easy to
experience as a tourist. Tourists try to travel from Malibu to Hollywood
boulevard to the Broad museum all in the same day. This is a wonderful way to
experience LA traffic. Any person who lives here would recommend you choose on
area and spend most of your time experiencing it properly. If you want a
walkable neighborhood go to Santa Monica, West Hollywood or Downtown. If you
want nature, hiking and to feel like you are not in the city go to Malibu or
the Hollywood Hills.

I would argue that all of the LA neighborhoods I mentioned are very familiar
to most of us because we watch movies and television and LA is traditionally
where those products are made. Maybe you don't watch tv or go to the movies -
in that case go to the David Hockney exhibition in london and you will see
that LA is one of the most distinctive cities in the world. It is good
weather, easy living, good looking inhabitants and it is surrounded by a
natural beauty few other cities possess. I could argue it makes London look
like a giant rat hole in comparison but to each their own!

I think London has its historic sights and some pretty neighborhoods but the
livability of the city is shockingly bad. From crappy housing stock to
antiquated tube - I am much happier in LA. But that's just me.

~~~
JBlue42
I recommend "Los Angeles Plays Itself" to any interested in seeing the
juxtaposition of what you see in movies/tv with the reality.

There's also a much shorter, funnier one called "Vancouver Never Plays Itself"
\-
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojm74VGsZBU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojm74VGsZBU)

~~~
colordrops
At first I thought the title was a play on this meme:

[http://i3.kym-
cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/056/730/597...](http://i3.kym-
cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/056/730/597.jpg)

~~~
rochellle
Actually, that's a turn of phrase that's been around since probably the
1970's, so it pre-dates internet "memes" by a few decades.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Symphony_(song)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Symphony_\(song\))
(1987)

    
    
      Big Daddy Kane’s famous line, “Put 
      a quarter in your ass 'cause you played 
      yourself,” pops up as a looped sample...
    

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ82kNPgqpc&t=494](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ82kNPgqpc&t=494)

------
bhauer
Oh heck yes, El Segundo and Hawthorne:
[http://www.walkinginla.com/2016/Jul24/07_24_16.html](http://www.walkinginla.com/2016/Jul24/07_24_16.html)

My daily walking commute is between these two cities. El Segundo is home to
several firms as it's a particularly business-friendly city. Meanwhile
Hawthorne is best known as the home of Spacex.

The In N Out that several of us go to more often than we should is in one of
the photos.

~~~
CalRobert
Bizarrely, about the nicest commute I ever had was to El Segundo. I lived in
Santa Monica by the beach, and worked in El Segundo by the beach (crappy job
but that's a different story).

It was a 13 mile cycle down the beach, with the terrible exception of Marina
Del Rey, where you had to go inland.

I saw bonfires every Friday after work; an episode of Wilfred being filmed;
and once even a pod of Dolphins swimming along and jumping out of the water as
I cycled along this unusual formation:
[https://goo.gl/maps/WXaZm1Kb5Lu](https://goo.gl/maps/WXaZm1Kb5Lu) (long and
narrow with water on either side). I saw numerous beautiful sunsets, drum
circles in Venice beach, homeless encampments waking up for the day (I always
liked the idea that the homeless at least got to sleep with a ten million
dollar view), and the occasional tallbike. Of course, my own recumbent got a
fair amount of attention.

This all took about 50-55 minutes. The drive down 405 was 40-50 minutes by
comparison.

All the while I inhaled loads of particulates, no doubt, and my rib still
hurts from the crack put there by an inattentive driver for the 1 mile stretch
between my apartment and the beach. I got screamed at the few times I tried to
cycle down Lincoln, and one guy got out of his car and threatened to punch me.
I was buzzed too many times to count by gigantic brodozer SUV's and lifted
pickups.

Man, I usually say I hate LA but those 8 months of commuting were amazing. I
really wish I'd gotten a helmet camera. Paradoxically every commute I've had
since has been under 10 minutes and kind of dull. At the risk of being
melodramatic I weep to think of the city it could've been.

------
mrjohnthomas
I've lived in three areas in LA -- Hollywood, downtown and Marina del Rey. I
walked all the time, to most of the places I needed to go. I currently live
next to a Ralph's, with another Ralphs, Gelson's and Pavilions within 0.5
miles. Plus tons of restaurants, banks etc. And between Uber/Lyft and the
Metro Rail, I can get anywhere.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
I live next to a Trader Joe's, target, and Ralph's in Westwood. It is also two
short blocks away from where I work. I pay money for that, but damn is it
convenient.

I have to remember to drive my car every so often so the battery doesn't drain
completely.

~~~
Baeocystin
I use one of these plugged in to my car's always-on cigarette lighter. It
works. My battery is never flat, even if I don't drive for a month or two.

[http://www.harborfreight.com/15-watt-solar-battery-
charger-6...](http://www.harborfreight.com/15-watt-solar-battery-
charger-68692.html)

------
keville
Best viewed, of course, with this playing in the background:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_UpLtGEWoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_UpLtGEWoY)

~~~
jsemrau
Thanks I did not know this song. Was expecting Drinking in LA
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQsQZvsR_QI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQsQZvsR_QI))

------
piplgobde
This is really a neat site, thank you. Have lived in LA all my life, so
recognizing places was really fun.

Makes one want to take pictures themselves so they don't forget it.

------
jsemrau
Urban walking is a great thing. Last year I was walking Singapore and had a
great time.

Please note: blog spam not intended. Only to illustrate my experience :
([https://medium.com/@thisTenqyuLife/a-day-out-in-
singapore-68...](https://medium.com/@thisTenqyuLife/a-day-out-in-
singapore-689183129bf2))

------
blondie9x
Awesome find. Amazing how much more enjoyable the world can become when you
step out of your car, out of traffic and venture on your own two feet. A lot
to see that is easily missed when looking at your own speed as you pass by.

------
iiii_iivii_iiii
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography)

Seems vaguely related.

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js2
Reminds me of [http://bahiker.com/](http://bahiker.com/) which was a terrific
resource when I lived in CA 2000-04.

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kirykl
Get a metro day pass and try to use it as much as possible. You'd be surprised
how much you can do and see without getting in a car once

------
vondur
Ha. I see he walked down Gage Ave. I grew up on the opposite end of it Next to
East LA. The area (s)he walked thru can be pretty sketchy.

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jordigh
Anyone else disappointed that the random walk link produced an almost
everywhere differentiable path?

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androtheos
I like that the html has changed with the times.

------
meddlepal
Nobody walks in LA

~~~
imperialdrive
Information is my vice, I try to obtain it without a price, and without a
doubt, the results aren't nice...

shoot, trying to remember lyrics to a great song about "nobody walks in LA"
but simply can not find it any which way online! I'm going to have to dust off
an old hard drive and transcribe it at 3:23am because now it's driving me
crazy, thanks a lot meddle!

~~~
meddlepal
Are you thinking about the Missing Persons song Walking in LA? :)

------
justinzollars
LA is so ugly compared with SF.

~~~
nether
That's what I like about LA. Keeps out the superficial people, and draws those
who can see past appearances.

~~~
bitskits
California native here. This is the first time I've ever heard anyone say this
about LA. Most generalizations usually go the other way; this is new.

To be clear, all the generalizations are bad, IMO, but this perspective is
new, and I think maybe the least accurate.

~~~
johncolanduoni
Pretty sure it's a joke ;)

------
eamonjohnson
Obligatory: Walken in LA.
[https://gist.github.com/gruber/1063574](https://gist.github.com/gruber/1063574)

