Secret Stairs #16: Allesandro Loop, 2 miles, 700 steps.

Back to Echo Park. The first photo below is an iconic 1956 shot of saxophonist Art Pepper walking with his sax in the neighborhood we hiked today. Steep and hilly? You bet. If it snowed in L.A., some of these streets would make perfect sledding hills. Our first set of 114 stairs ended beyond the roof of the white house in the photo. Photo 3 is a charming walk-street where residents schlep their groceries up the steps home from the street waaay below. Above is a treasure: one of L.A.'s few remaining century-old wooden staircases not converted to cement in the 1920s. Never thought I'd consider 2 miles a 'short walk' but what this hike lacked in distance, it made up for in altitude and the variety of staircases, plus the early 1900s craftsman homes.