Secret Stairs #5: Mt. Washington, 3.2 miles, 466 steps

So good to be back on the steps after a 2-week hiatus! We only have 2 more stair hikes to finish off Fleming's Secret Stairs list and move on to the 40+ hikes in Fleming's Secret Walks book. After a year, we're addicted to the zen, views, and LA history lessons. This week we climbed the streets and steps of 940-ft. high Mt. Washington, adjacent to Highland Park. Barbara and today's hiking friend Mark Browning Milner gett a history lesson from local resident Nancy Lilly on a staircase paralleling the former tracks for a funicular railway built in 1909. For a nickel, thousands of people rode from the trolley station south of Figueroa below us and up the rail to the 1910 Mt. Washington Hotel at the top. The exclusive 14-acre hotel (Chaplin stayed there when he filmed silents in the Arroyo Seco) only had 18 rooms and was amenity heaven. In 1925 it was sold to the Self Realization Fellowship, the SRF international headquarters remain there today. Only got a pic through the gate—we got there before the grounds opened. Steep roads, great views, really friendly dogs, and nice people. Second most interesting staircase was in three parts: rail ties, dirt steps, and concrete. Next week—> back to the ocean!