Segment M – Highland Park to City Terrace – View Google Map – View Photos

Distance: 20.8 miles     51 stairways     2,447 up-steps     Total Climb: 3,035 feet

Cities/Regions: Highland Park, Mt Angelus, Northeast LA, Monterey Hills, Montecito Heights, El Sereno, Aurant, City Terrace.

Facebook Event on 8 Apr 2017

Official Finishers:

Dan Gutierrez, Pat and Elizabeth Schirmer, Dave and Kristy Moorman, Olivia Oshimo on 8 Apr 2017 | Evelyn Sanchez on 27 May 2017 | Jeff Rozema, James Peterson, Teresa Cavazos, Kathy Lopez, Alfredo Salgado, Maribel Sanchez, Luis Prado, Maria Casillas on 14 Apr 2018 | Who will be next?

Route Features: Segment M is mostly residential, traversing all the stairways of Highland Park, visiting the hills of Mt Washington in Northeast LA, including the super tough Eldred Stairway that climbs 196 wooden steps after nearly 1/10 of a mile of 33% grader street! After lunch, and leaving Highland Park, the route crosses the Arroyo Seco and enters the residential areas of Monterey Hills and Montecito Heights, then traverses busy Huntington Dr separating Monterey Hills from El Sereno, taversing a number of stairways in the process. Then the route heads south through stairways in El Sereno, climbing a couple of residential hills to head into the Mural Alley of El Sereno. After the alley trek, the route resumes residential walking to climb the largest single-set stairway in LA County, the 234 step Heidelman stairs, before passing Cal State LA, and crossing the the I-10 freeway, then climbing one stairway in the northeast corner of City Terrace, and finishing thereafter on City Terrace Dr.

Start Location:  Figueroa St at Meridian St, which is bus accessible via Metro Bus Line 81 connecting via Figueroa St to the Metro Gold Line, or continuing further south/west to DTLA.

Finish Location: Eastern Ave at City Terrace Dr, which is bus accessible via both Metro Bus Line 70 and Metro Bus Line 71 south/west to DTLA and Metro Bus Line 256 north/east toward Highland Park and Pasadena.

Transit Connections:
Finish to Start: From the end at Eastern and City Terrace, take Metro Bus Line 256 north on Eastern Ave, all the way to Figueroa and Meridian, where the walk starts.

DTLA to Start: Take the Metro Bus Line 81 north, starting at the Civic Center/Grand Park and Pershing Square Metro Red/Purple Line stations all the way north to Figueroa and Meridian, where the walk starts.

Finish to DTLA: Take Metro Bus Line 70 or Metro Bus Line 71 south/west to DTLA to the Civic Center/Grand Park Metro Red/Purple Line station, which in turn connects to the Metro Blue Line and Metro Expo Line at the 7th Metro/Station., or to Union Station in the opposite direction, which connects to the Metro Gold Line.

Route Description (in progress):
Miles 0-5: From the northeast corner of Figueroa at Meridian, cross Meridian heading south passing a middle school then an elementary school, and Ave 62 to reach Garvanza Ave, turn left and go 3 blocks on Garvanza to Ave 64, cross it and turn left and cross Garvanza, continuing southbound on Ave 64 to York Blvd. Cross York, and turn left, then in a block, turn right onto Ave 66, and follow it around the bend to the left, and at the end of the cul-de-sac you will find a down-going stairway:

Descend the stairs, the turn right and walk a few steps up Ave 64, and cross it to the far side of Ave 66, and continue southwest to La Riba Way, turn right and take it to Ave 64, turn right again, and take it to the end at Marmion. To your left is the entry to a stairway on a diagonal leading up the hill in front of you:

Climb the stairway, and turn left at the top, passing mile 1 of the route, and continue around the bend to the right, taking you back to York Blvd. Turn left and continue northwest on York crossing Figueroa, then cross Mt Angelus and turn left onto the far side sidewalk. You are now starting your tour of the stairways of Mt Angelus, a residential hill community with 10 stairways, 5 of which are still accessible. Here is a hand drawn map of Mt Angelus showing its stairways:

You will be following the purple line path I added to the map. There is a webpage chronicling a special event called Stair Street Ghosts, that sets up a tour of Mt Angelus with all the stair-streets opened up for one day. Back to Segment M. Walk up the hill on Mt Angelus Dr, and turn right and walk in the street on Garrison Dr, and shortly after the road bends to the left is a stair entrance to the Andes Walk that is gated, but not locked:

At the top of the stairway, open the unlocked gate and turn right, and continue on Lamont Dr to the middle of a curve bending to the right, and look left for a stairway entrance:

Go up the stairway, and turn left at the top onto Wayland St, then left onto Mt Angelus Dr, and follow it downhill past a fenced stairway on your right (Hosmer Walk) and at the apex of the next left bend is the entrance to the Sterling Walk stairway:

Climb the steps, and at the top, turn left and just a few steps ahead is the entrance to the next stairway, the Monte Vista Walk is to your left:

Climb the stairway and turn left at the top and bend to the right on a long curve that straightens out, and on your left is the entrance to the Grimke Walk:

Follow the walkway which leads to stairs:

Go down the stairs and turn left onto Lamont, then left on Outlook Ave and stay on the near side sidewalk, and head down the hill. Turn left onto Livermore Terrace, then right onto the near sidewalk of Monte Vista St, Looking back up Monte Vista, you will see a locked stairway, lower Monte Vista, that would be a nice addition to the route if it were unlocked!  Continue southwest on Monte Vista past mile 2, shortly after the intersection with Ave 61, and after nearly 1/2 mile, you will reach Ave 54, which you will cross and turn right onto the far side sidewalk and climb the hill. At Ash St, the road kinks to the right and shortly thereafter, to the left, is the entrance to the Granada Stairs, with signpost:

Climb the long stairway, and continue forward on the right side of Granada St to the intersection with Ave 53 and turn right and walk up the steep hill, and over the crest cross to the other (west) side of Ave 53, and continue to Aldama St, cross it, then turn left on the far side sidewalk, and follow Aldama around the kink to the left, past Holland and mile 3 of the route, and then veer right as Aldama bends away from Montezuma and Ave 52. Past the intersection, cross over to the opposite side of Aldama and continue down hill to Ave 50, a busy street, and turn left and follow the sidewalk past San Marcos Pl (on the opposite side), and after passing one more set of apartment buildings, you will find a relatively narrow and somewhat crooked stairway, with uneven size and angle steps, to your left:

Be careful because the stairway does have some less than perfectly aligned steps and the sizes are also uneven. At the top, go left onto Montezuma St, and follow it as it bends to the right, staying on the right side sidewalk, and pass Ave 51, then turn right o the near side of Ave 52. Go down the hill on Ave 52 until you reach what looks like a private driveway, with a sign reading “Abbot Pl” that leads up to a stairway (tip of red arrow):

Climb the stairway and veer left to go down Shipley Glen Dr, and take it to Ave 50, turn left and follow the sidewalk southeast to the crosswalk at Granada, and cross to the other side of Ave 50, and continue southwest on Granada, to Ave 49, turn left and take it to Lynn St, then turn left again, passing mile 4, and continue up Lynn, looking to your right for the stairway:

Climb the stairs and continue on Lynn back to Ave 50, turn left and walk on Ave 50 to Eldred St, and turn left. Straight ahead is a descent, then a gradually steepening climb to Ave 48, then after that is the brutal 33% grade of Eldred St for nearly 1/10th of a mile, followed by a long 196 step wooden stairway:

Turn left at the top of the stairs, and continue up Cross Ave, which climbs, then rolls over to a descent, followed by a bend to the right, then it ends into Moon at a T. Turn right at the T and stay to the right and avoid the left fork to Dimmik Dr, continuing up hill to the next fork, and go left onto Sunnyhill Dr and take it all the way to its end into Museum Dr, and veer right, and in just a few yards, you will reach the entrance to Moon Canyon Park, and after entering the park, you’ll reach the 5 mile mark, and the end of this route section.

Miles 5-10: Continue up the main trail of the park, ignoring the side trails, and climb up to San Rafael Dr at the far end of the park. Turn left onto San Rafael and follow it in an S-bend then on to where it intersects with Sea View Ave and Danforth Dr. Cross in the crosswalk to go straight ahead, putting you on Danforth, and continue downhill past Mt Washington Elementary School, and at the end of the cul-de-sac, you will find a down going stairway that connects two neighborhoods to allow kids below, school access:
Go down the stairway, with a long walkway in the middle of two flights, and when you enter Marchena Dr, turn right and head downhill to Sunny Heights Dr. Turn right and follow Sunny Heights aroud a sweeping curve to the left past two small streets to Ganymede Dr, and turn right onto Ganymede. Follow Ganymede until the pavement ends and continue on the dirt trail, then back onto the continuation of the street, ending into Cleland Ave, so veer right and continue up narrow, but often busy Cleland, so stay at the edge and watch for traffic. Climb Cleland past Tacuba, Arbor, and Cynthia, and you will reach the Jessica Triangle. At the middle of the triangle turn left and cross Cleland to walk on the path through the triangle, and at the far end, go to the right and keep going uphill on Jessica Dr. After a short steep climb you will come to a six-pointed star intersection. Cross Nobhill and turn right onto Oneonta Dr, and stay right at the fork, and continue on Oneonta on a long S-bend. When the road finally straightens out, you will see a stairway going uphill to the left:

Climb the stairway, and note the painted tiles on the landings between the stairway flights. At the top, turn left onto Olancha, passing mile 7, and continue past Palmero and when you come back to Oneonta, veer right and go back to Nobhill, and turn left onto Nobhill, and then left at the fork onto Frieda Dr, and continue over the crest on Frieda and down the hill to a sharp bend to the left. In the middle of that bend on the far side of the road is an entrance to a stairway going down:

At the bottom, you will cross the street and turn left and go downhill on Cleland, however, if you need water, there is a park to the right with a water fountain. Continue downhill on Cleland two blocks to El Paso, cross it and turn left and take El Paso to Ave 49, turn right and climb the hill to Mendota Ave. Turn right and follow Mendota Past Farnham and Dexter, passing mile 8, and down what looks like a driveway, and at the end of the driveway to your right is a walkway leading to a small downward stairway:

At the bottom of the stairway, turn right and walk downhill on Ave 50 to Irvington Pl. Cross Ave 50 on the near side of Irvington and follow it over the top of a hill then down the other side all the way to Ave 54, and turn right. The next block is Raphael, and you will turn right again and there is a stairway at the end of the steep street:

Climb the steps and turn left onto Umbria and then left on Aldama, and at Ave 54, cross to the south side of Aldama, and follow it to Ave 56, cross the street and turn right heading down hill to the southeast, crossing Monte Vista and Marmion, to arrive at Figueroa St. Turn left at Figueroa and continue to Ave 58. This is the lunch stop. Feel free to eat anywhere you like between Ave 55 and Ave 61. There is a great mural at Ave 61, around the bend to your left from Figueroa. Do meet back up at Ave 58 and Figueroa, after lunch. Continue the walk by crossing Figueroa on Ave 58 and the street ends into a down-going stairway:

Descend the stairs and continue south on Ave 58, then right on Benner, then left on Ave 57, taking it due south past Omaha to mile 10, where you have reached the end of this section of the walk.

Miles 10-15: Continue south on Ave 57 to Via Marisol.  Cross Via Marisol, and go left on the sidewalk and take it over the bridge over the I-110 freeway and LA River , and shortly after the street makes a kink to the left, there is a stairway going up and to the right:

Climb the stairway, and go right at the top, and continue up Bushnell Way up the hill, and when it bends to the left, to become Terrill Ave, there is a stairway continuation ahead:

Climb the stairs, which bend to the left and continue climbing to the peak walkway. From here stairs also go down, and the name changes from Bushnell to Pullman:

Descend the stairway and at the bottom go left on the frontage road to Terrill, then right onto the sidewalk of Monterey. Take the relatively wide sidewalk (compared to the other side) south and at the end, cross the frontage road to the right and continue south on Monterey reaching mile 11 shortly before Debs Park Rd, and then continue south on Monterey to Via Marisol. Cross Monterey on the far side of Via Marisol, and climb the hill up to Via Mia and turn right onto the near side sidewalk, and go down the hill past Collins Ave, where Via Mia changes name to Carnegie St and after the pavement ends, continue up the dirt trail to a small wooden stairway:

Climb the wooden steps and turn right at the top, and continue southwest on Harriman Ave to Edison St, turn right, and pass Collins and turn left onto Hellman Ave. Take Hellman down to Cassatt, and turn right and climb the hill. When you reach Oak Hill Ave to your left, there will be a stairways with shot steep steps to your right:

Climb the steps, then turn around and come back down and continue south on Oak Hill Ave to Paula St, turn right and then left onto Monterey (cross Monterey if traffic is light, otherwise cross at the intersection to the south), and head south to Huntington, go right then right again onto Browne Ave, which diagonals upward, then bends to the left heading west. You will pass Hillview Pl, then the homes will end, and beyond that is a large open field. Immediately past the last home is a stairway leading up and to the right:

Climb the stairway cross the street and turn left onto the sidewalk of Florizel, and take it west past Mckenzie Ave where you will be walking along Rose Hill Park to your right. As you approach the intersection with Boundary Ave, go right across the grass to the restrooms and water in the park for short break. After your restroom break, head south on Boundary, and cross Florizel and at Victorine, you will see a stairway across the street:

Climb it and take the path to the left, and and go left at the fork to arrive at the top of another stairway:

Descend this rather elegant arc-shaped stairway and continue east (veering left) onto Mercury Ave, taking it east to Huntington Dr, where you will veer to the left and continue east along Huntington past Monterey and Collis, where the road will continue along the base of an uphill slope to your left, then reach an open parking area, where you will look for the stairway at the back of it:Climb the steps which are uneven and may be overgrown with tree limbs. At the top turn right onto Academy St, and stay to the right on the steep downhill, to find a side-stair:

Go down the side-stair, and turn right on Hillsdale, then right again at the T, then left onto Huntington Dr.  Take Huntington northeast 4 blocks to Pueblo, and cross Huntington on the far side of Pueblo. Continue northeast on the south side of Huntington, and stop at the El Sereno Library to check out the Red Car Mural (and the Library has restrooms). At the next street, Lifur, you might notice a stairway in the median to your left. We will descend it later on. For now, continue to the next block, Poplar, cross it, then cross it and turn left and you will see a stairway in front of you:

cross in the crosswalk, climb the stairs, cross the street at the top, and turn right on the sidewalk. Pass 4 buildings to reach a driveway with an overhead decorative wrought iron arch leading back from the street to a series of apartments and a long up-slope stairway:

Climb the stairs and turn left onto Almont St, and follow Almont past Hall and look for the signpost for the Edison Walk, which goes down to the left:

Descend the stairway which has a flights at top and bottom with a long ramp in the middle, down to Huntington, and turn right, walking until you reach a painted crosswalk. Cross it to the left reach the 15 mile mark, which is the end of this section of the walk.

Miles 15-20.8: Continue down the ramp to a crosswalk leading to a small stairway:
Go down the stairway, cross Huntington, and continue south on Lifur, past Oakland and take the second intersection with Navarro to the left onto the far side sidewalk, and continue west to Chadwick, turn left, and turn left again on the near side of Templeton following it past Portola and Pueblo to Castalia. Go right and uphill on Castalia to the stairway at the left end of the cul-de-sac:

Climb the stairway, veer left and continue on Barstow St, then left at mile 16 onto Phelps Ave on the near side sidewalk, and take it south 3 blocks to Lynfield, and continuing past Lynfield, you will reach a stairway entrance to your left:

Climb both stairway sets, watching for traffic as you cross Lynfield Circle between the two sets. At the top turn right and continue around Chadwick Circle to find the Far Pl stairway to your right, noting the great views of the neighborhood from the stairway:

Go down both stairways being careful to look for traffic on the street, Lynfield, between the two stair sets. At the bottom, continue on the northeast side of Far Pl then forward and diagonal left on Budeau Pl, at the intersection with Budeau Ave. Continue due east on Budeau Pl, then right on Round Dr, which becomes dirt, then right again on Newark Ave, still dirt, and down to the next block which is paved Lombardy Blvd. Turn left onto Lombardy, staying on the narrow near side asphalt sidewalk, going down the steep hill past two streets to Ithaca Ave. Cross to the diagonal opposite (south) side of Ithaca and walk on the sidewalk westward to Belgrade Ave, then cross to the other (north) side of Ithaca, passing mile 17, and continue west on Ithaca to Gratiot St and go left two short blocks to Alhambra Ave, Cross Alhambra, which can be busy, so be patient and use a large gap in the traffic. Once across Alhambra, turn right and walk on the sidewalk about a 1/3 of a mile to where it bends around to the left and becomes Valley Blvd. Walk up the bridge of Valley over the RR tracks, and cross to the opposite side of Valley where it meets Marianna Ave. Once across, pass Williams, Marianna, and Cavanaugh, and as you approach a white building to your right with “TIRE SHOP” in bright red/black letters, look for a walkway to your right with chain-link fence on either side, leading to a stairway:

Go up the walkway and stairway emerging onto Borland Rd, and turn left, and continue on Borland to reach Beatie Pl, shortly after passing mile 18, then go right and up the hill one block to Bohlig Rd, where Beatie becomes a wooden stairway:

Climb the steps and turn left at the top onto Lafler Rd, and take it to Tuller, go left again, and look to your right over the guard rail for a dirt trail leading down and to your right:Climb over the guard rail, and take the trail down the hill to Paseo Rancho Castilla, and cross to the diagonal opposite corner of the crosswalks ending opposite the CSULA parking Structure C. Here is a map of the area containing the next 4 stairways and the break stop Starbucks on the Cal State LA:

Turn right and follow the west Circle Dr sidewalk south to the main walkway leading to the Parking Lot C, turn left, cross the wide crosswalk and go straight the parking structure stairway, or Stairway #1 on the photo above. Go down both 20 step flights to ground level, turn right and follow the south side of the parking structure and after exiting, turn slightly right and you will see a stairway going back up to Circle Drive, labeled Stairway #2 in the photo. Climb the 43 steps and cross Circle Dr, then turn left and follow Circle to the next crosswalk, cross it to the left, and in front of you and to the right is a long down-going 100 step, Stairway #3. Take the stairs down and continue to your right down the pathway that heads due east along the south side of the campus housing. Past the housing there is a fenced off area, walk around it to your right, to head southwest, and ahead and to the right is a very long, 159 step stairway also going back up to Circle Dr, labeled Stairway #4. Climb the long stairway, and cross Circle Dr, then veer right to go around the right (north) side of the Effective Teaching and Learning Building.  Continue to diagonal between the Library to the left and Arena Theater to your right, climbing 10 step Stairway #5, and continue heading northwest to reach the Student Union, just past mile 19, which has a Starbucks at the north end. This is your final break stop on the route. After your break is over, walk around the north end of the Student Union to your left and go to crosswalk on Paseo Rancho Castilla across from the west exist of the Student Union. Cross the crosswalk and climb the walkway ramp up the hill to Landsdowne Ave. At the end of the ramp, continue straight ahead on Landsdowne, which after crossing Tuller, changes name to Cavanaugh Rd. Continue up Cavanaugh and at the far end of the CSULA student lot, look for a stairway to your left cutting the corner on the curved street:

Climb the stairway, turn left at the top and go around the parking lot entrance on the left to climb a 7 step flight to reach O’Sullivan St, then go right and down hill to Cavanaugh, turn left and follow Cavanaugh up and over the top of the hill to a fork, then then take the left fork onto Williams Pl, and follow Williams down toward Valley Blvd, and at the last bend to the right leading to Valley, look to your left for the entrance to a long stairway. This is the Heidelman Stairway, which at 234 steps is the longest single set of stair-street stairway flights in LA County (recall that Baxter St single set stair-street stairway  in Silver lake has “only” 231 steps):

Climb the long staiway, catch your breath at the top and turn right, and continue on O’Sullivan Drive is fairly straight with double kink in the middle, then makes a right bend, then a sharp bend to the left, going from southwest to south, and changes name to Seigneur Ave. Follow Seigneur south, past mile 20 to where it starts to make a long sweeping curve to the right, and look on the left for for a gap between houses. At the far side of the gap is a stairway leading down:

Go down the stairs and veer slightly right to continue downhill to Eastern Ave, and turn left and follow eastern eastward. Cross 3 streets, then at the complicated intersection with Paseo Rancho Castilla and State University Dr, Cross Paseo Rancho Castilla, then cross State University, to end up on the southeast corner. Turn left and walk slightly north of west along State University Dr, with the I-10 freeway and El Monte Busway to your right. At the next intersection, round the bend to the right onto Campus Rd, and follow it to Ramona Blvd. Cross Ramona, turn left, and walk up the hill. The sidewalk ends before reaching Eastern Ave, into a stairway to the left:

Climb the stairway, and at the top cross Rogers St, and turn right onto the sidewalk, and take it to Eastern Ave. Cross Eastern, then turn left, and follow Eastern southward to the bus stop at the next intersection with City Terrace Dr.

Congratulations, you have completed Segment M of the LA Loop!

Stairway Data Table

Seg#	SS#	SW#	In-300	Zip	Stairway Name	Up	Down
M01	411		B16	90042	Ave 66		24
M02	412		B18	90042	Avenue 64	61
M03	413		B15	90042	Andes Walk	46
M04	414		B14	90042	LaFollete Walk	30
M05	415		B13	90042	Sterling Walk	66
M06	416		B12	90042	Upper Monte Vista	22
M07	417		B11	90042	Grimke Walk		45
M08	418		B1	90042	Granada St	127
M09	419		B3	90042	Salient Dr	132
M10	420		B2	90042	Abbot Pl	56
M11	421		B4	90042	Lynn St	60
M12	422		B5	90042	Eldred St	196
M13	423		B6	90065	Danforth Dr		56
M14	424		B7	90065	Oneonta Dr/Olancha Dr	132
M15	425		B8	90065	Cleland Ave/Frieda Dr		66
M16	426		B9	90042	Mendota Ave		14
M17		136	N/A	90042	Irvington School	10	10
M18	427		B10	90042	Raphael St	27
M19	428		A12	90042	Avenue 58		80
M20	429		A11	90042	Lower Bushnell Way	62
M21	430		A10	90042	Upper Bushnell/Pullman	124
M22	431		A9	90042	Pullman St E		130
M23	432		N/A	90032	Oak Hill Ave	20	20
M24		137	N/A	90032	Victorine/Rose Hill Park	27
M25		138	N/A	90032	Mercury/Rose Hill Park		22
M26	433		D9	90032	Browne Ave/Florizel St	103
M27	434		D10	90032	Carnegie St	20
M28	435		D12	90032	Academy St	129
M29	436		D11	90032	Academy St Side-Stair		50
M30	437		D14	90032	Poplar Bl Median	21
M31		139	N/A	90032	Huntington/Almont SW	123
M32		140	N/A	90032	Huntington/Almont NE		69
M33	438		D13	90032	Edison Walk	75	75
M34		141	N/A	90032	Lifur Ave		5
M35	439		D15	90032	Castalia Ave	19
M36	440		D16	90032	Lower Phelps Ave	83
M37	441		D17	90032	Upper Phelps Ave	98
M38	442		D18	90032	Upper Far Pl		95
M39	443		D19	90032	Lower Far Pl		73
M40	444		D20	90032	Valley Blvd/Borland Rd	18
M41	445		D21	90032	Beatie Pl	54
M42		142	N/A	90032	CSULA #1		40
M43		143	N/A	90032	CSULA #2	43
M44		144	N/A	90032	CSULA #3		100
M45		145	N/A	90032	CSULA #4	159
M46		146	N/A	90032	CSULA #5	10
M47	446		N/A	90032	Cavanagh/O’Sullivan	37
M48	447		D22	90032	Heidelman Stairway	234
M49	448		D23	90032	Seigneur Ave		51
M50		147	N/A	90032	Eastern/Alley		24
M51	449		N/A	90063	Helen Dr	23
					Total Stair Steps —>	2447	1049
					Total Stair-Streets —>	39
					Tot Non Stair-Street Stairs >	12