Secret Stairs #8: Highland Park—Highlands, 3.2 miles, 342 steps.

Hard to get a fix on the current personality of this neighborhood. Instead of joggers and dog-walkers, we were greeted along the way with blinks from lazy cats on porches, and squawks from hundreds of parrots living in trees at one corner. In the early 1900s Highland Park was a haven of artists and intellectuals, but by the late 20th century gangs had taken over. Today, many of the Craftsman homes and period bungalows, some built as far back as 1905, are in heartbreaking disrepair. Others, like the 1907 Craftsman pictured below—significant enough to be named a Historic-Cultural Monument—were spared by the city or by gentrification. A neighborhood slowly on the mend. As you can see in the other pic, staircases could use some TLC.