August 9, 2024
by David Ryan
3 Comments

An Amazing Urban Hike in Los Angeles

Last month I wrote a blog post about the amazing discoveries Bob Inman and I made when we wandered through the incredible Arroyo Seco Corridor in the northeast Los Angeles and Pasadena area. On the very next day I did the Whitley and Hollywood Heights hike from Bob Inman’s book, Urban Hikes Southern California. The hike was fantastic, and the book should be on the bookshelf of everyone who likes to explore in Los Angeles.

Here’s a link if you want to buy a copy – Click Here!

The hike begins a little bit north of the Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue subway stop. When I got off of the subway and made it up to the street level, my first impression was that this is a very hectic place for a hike. But when I looked down at the sidewalk, I realized that I was in the middle of the famous Hollywood Star sidewalk. And when I looked across the street, I noticed a McDonald’s and walked over there for breakfast.

I couldn’t help but to notice all the stars in the sidewalk. There were even stars for people I had never heard of, but when I reached the star for Marilyn Monroe, I was right at the front door of McDonald’s.

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July 15, 2024
by David Ryan
4 Comments

Wandering Through the Amazing Arroyo Seco Corridor

Last week I had the opportunity to wander around the Arroyo Seco corridor with Bob Inman. Bob, the author of Finding Los Angeles by Foot, An Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles (6th Edition), and Urban Hikes Southern California, is a (if not the) foremost expert on all things LA. The Arroyo Seco (Spanish for Dry Creek) flows (or trickles) down from the San Gabriel Mountains through Pasadena and northeast Los Angeles and joins the Los Angeles River less than two miles north of Los Angeles’ Union Station. The Arroyo Seco corridor is one of the many fantastic places to explore in Los Angeles and is an ideal place to wander.

I first visited the Arroyo Seco corridor when I went on a wonderful Bob Inman-led walk several years ago before Covid. My most distinct impression from that walk was the abundance of cobblestone structures throughout the Arroyo Seco basin. Since I’m always on the lookout for ubiquitous details that give an area distinction, I thought that the use of cobbles and boulders pried out of a dry streambed to build a wall to be very cool and couldn’t wait to come back to see if the cobbles that I noticed were a  one-off or something widely used throughout the area.

And finally, after all these years, I was able to get back Los Angeles last week to get another crack at walking around the Arroyo Seco area with Bob Inman.

As background regarding the use of cobblestones in the Arroyo Seco area, Charles Lummis pried out boulders and cobbles out of the dry streambed and built an amazing cobblestone house called El Alisal on the banks of Arroyo Seco at the base of Los Angeles’ Mount Washington neighborhood in 1895. In his time Lummis was a larger than life character who at one time was an anthropologist, journalist, activist, and you name it.

This is just a peek at El Alisal. The house is now owned by the City and only opened occasionally. I am told that the interior of the house is spectacular.

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February 11, 2024
by David Ryan
0 comments

Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico

For the better part of the last two years the dogs and I have been wandering to places that make New Mexico special. Most of them several times. These are places that you’ll only find in New Mexico and are important enough or compelling enough to warrant a trip across the country, or over the ocean, to check out.

To begin, the nation only has 25 UNESCO-Designated World Heritage Sites. Three of them (Carlsbad Caverns, Chaco Canyon, and Taos Pueblo) are in New Mexico. This is more than any other state. And when you throw in the state’s incredible landforms and sense of place, you have an amazing state to explore. I doubt if any other state has as much to discover.

Through this effort, Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico is now available. In many ways the new book continues the theme of discovery described within 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: Albuquerque and The Gentle Art of Wandering. Both of those books stress all that is waiting for you to experience when you get out and allow yourself to see all wonders around you. Wonders and gifts that are already there and waiting for you to discover.

Wandering in the Clear Light of New Mexico features:

  • 30 Gold Star locations – these are the special locations worth a drive across the country to check out.
  • 18 Silver Star locations – these locations may not warrant a drive across the country, but are still very cool and worth checking out while you’re in the area.
  • 7 Bronze Star locations – these too are very cool and worth checking out while in the area if you have an interest in them.
  • 5 Sidebar locations – these are locations of special historical or cultural interest and are unique to the state.

Many other extraordinary and interesting places are also described within the context of traveling to the primary locations.

In addition to the three World Heritage Sites, you’ll discover:

  • Landscapes and landforms that will knock your socks off.
  • Locations that have inspired great works of art.
  • Amazing archaeological sites.
  • Native communities.
  • The World’s First Designated Wilderness Area.
  • The nation’s most remote and beautiful monastery.
  • The site of the very first atomic bomb explosion and many other locations of scientific, historical, and cultural achievement.

The book is already available at several retail outlets and several talks are already scheduled. With the rollout just starting, more will be coming. Please return to this website for updates.

The book has 320 pages, over 200 color photos, and detailed driving directions. The book retails for $21.95 and is available at retailers and this website.

Click on CLEAR LIGHT on the MENU bar for upcoming talks and retail outlets.