June 8, 2014
by David Ryan
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Wandering with the Big Parade in Los Angeles

One week ago I finally made it to the Big Parade in Los Angeles. The Big Parade is a public stairway walk, now in its sixth year, conceived and organized by the writer Dan Koeppel. I first learned about the Big Parade and the whole notion of public stairways in an article that Dan wrote for the September 2010 issue of Backpacker Magazine.

Within two weeks of reading the article I was on my way to Los Angeles to spend my entire time in town walking around neighborhoods and climbing stairways. It was and still is one of the best trips that I have ever taken.

What makes the stairways so appealing for wandering is that they were built for people traveling on foot. They provide short cuts and allow you to go where a car cannot go. And when you wander on foot you have given yourself the opportunity to be right here, right now. When you do that you can see all that is around you and see that it is all wonderful as you explore new neighborhoods.

Dan developed the Big Parade to share the stairways with people who may not know about them. Going on the Big Parade is good way to learn where they’re located and to get started. Once you know that they’re there, you can then go out and start wandering on your own.

If you live in Los Angeles I suggest that you get a copy of Finding Los Angeles by Foot: Stairstreet, Bridge, Pathway and Lane by Bob Inman. The book is indispensable for the walker as it covers every neighborhood of Los Angeles that has a way to get around on foot. The book is available at Amazon.

Rather than keep talking about the Big Parade, let me show you some of what we saw along the way.

Day One of the Big Parade began in downtown LA and worked its way to Echo Park. Here we are climbing up a stairway in Echo Park.

Day One of the Big Parade began in downtown LA and worked its way to Echo Park. Here we are climbing up a stairway in Echo Park.

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May 18, 2014
by David Ryan
12 Comments

New Public Stairways in the Miami – Globe, Arizona Mining District

A little over two years ago, I wrote a blog post about the 147-step Keystone Stairway in Miami, Arizona. (Click here to read that post.) That post generated a few comments and some tips on finding other stairways in the Miami – Globe area of Arizona. After two years, my dog Petey and I finally got a chance to check them out last week.

Our first stop was the mining town of Globe, Arizona on Highway U.S. 60 about 90 miles east of Phoenix. Our tip was to look for a stairway at the end of Apache Street and on Sutherland Street. We found both stairways and some other surprises.

We parked on Apache and found a sidewalk running perpendicular to the end of the street.

This is the sidewalk at the end of Apache

This is the sidewalk at the end of Apache

We followed the sidewalk to the 82-step Apache stairway. Unfortunately these stairs seem to be neglected and do not appear to get much use.

As you can see, the stairs do not get much use

As you can see, the stairs do not get much use

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April 27, 2014
by David Ryan
4 Comments

Back to Bisbee and It’s Even Better than I Thought

My dog Petey and I returned to Bisbee, Arizona to get more information for the Bisbee stairway guide that I have been working on for the past three months. And it’s a good thing we went back because we found some new (for us) stairways and many, many things we hadn’t noticed before.

The Bisbee project has been like peeling an onion without a core. There’s been no end to the layers and no end to all there is to find when you wander in Bisbee. I’m betting I’ll make new discoveries long after the book is done. But that’s why Bisbee may be the most interesting small town in America.

In my many walks, I have talked to many people who told me that they have lived in Bisbee for thirty-five years and they are still making new discoveries. In a meeting with Andy Haratyk, the City of Bisbee’s public works operation manager, he told me that he tries to climb every stairway once a year, but he can’t. He keeps finding ones that he never saw before.

For example, when I photographed a stairway to use as an example of one I would not describe in the book because it only led to one house, I noticed a walkway near the house. When we went down to check it out, we found that the stairway continued on to two more levels of houses. When we reached the end, we came upon a sidewalk that connected this particular stairway to four other stairways. We’ve truly been walking in a wonderful maze, and this 60-step stairway is now in the book.

It turns that this stairway kept going beyond the house in front of us.

It turns out that this stairway kept going beyond the house in front of us.

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