Secret Stairs #34: Beachwood Canyon, 2.6 miles, 861 steps

It's impossible to describe this hike in the hills above Beachwood Village and beneath the Hollywood sign without mentioning the history. As most know, the sign was originally constructed as an advertisement for Hollywoodland, a 1923 gated community funded by, among others, LA Times publisher Harry Chandler. Residents over the years include Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Bugsy Siegel (who ran a speakeasy in a hillside chateau from 1938-39), Keanu Reeves, Busby Berkeley, and Madonna. Barbara and I passed chateaus and castles—castles!—with tennis courts, swimming pools, and riding stables, all spaced on the mountainside with six sets of Hollywood granite stairs, averaging 144 steps each, taking residents (most likely their staff) to the village and trolley lines below. Each looming staircase drew a "Holy moly, seriously?" from Barbara and me, especially the granddaddy of the Beachwood steps—a double staircase (last picture) originally with a stream cascading from planter to planter in the middle. Couldn't help but feel the history and old money surrounding us as we walked.