L.A.'s goal: complete a 51-mile L.A. River bikeway from the Valley to DTLA. The reality: it's coming along. The Studio City section is not a straight shot, but with some finagling you can walk along the river starting at the steps leading down from the Tujunga Avenue Bridge (at Ventura) all the way to Fulton Street. In an effort to avoid the heat, Barbara and I middled out three sections for today's hike. We started at the Colfax Avenue Bridge, its first version was demolished by timber and rock debris in the 1938 Los Angeles flood; and its 1956 second version was replaced in 2011 by the spiffy bridge and its snazzy staircase that we took down to the river. We crossed the rickety footbridge to the north side of the river and walked west under the bridge on the dirt path along the river toward Moorpark Street. On our right, the backyards of Studio Village. On our left, CBS Studio Center founded in 1928 by Mack Sennett. Its 18 sound stages, streets, and offices have housed everything from Republic Picture westerns to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, Seinfeld, and American Housewife; and it's the West Coast home of CBS News. This strip of the river is also the junction of the Los Angeles River and Tujunga Creek (that little "Y" in the photo below is actually a big deal that explains the multiple bridges around Studio City.) Barbara and I left the river path to cross the Moorpark Bridge and pick up the southern side of the river path, backtracking for less than a block to a path leading up to Radford Avenue—a little detour that ends with a secret surprise and big treat, the Radford Art Walk. A joint project between CBS and the Studio City Beautification Association, the Art Walk was conceived by local Studio City artist Karl Johnson and CBS Studio City president Michael Klausman, and designed by Francesca Corra. Fifteen of Johnson's sculptures in steel, stone, ceramics, leather, wood, and glass stand along a quarter-mile stone path lined with old film cans and studio scraps—totally worth a visit! The Art Walk ends catty-corner from our next destination, the Radford to Laurel Canyon greenway stretch. A pretty little park with a very large snake sculpture led us to Laurel Canyon Boulevard. We crossed the boulevard to the entrance of the second greenway stretch, Laurel to Whitsett Avenue, and more of the same clean and well-manicured stretch of trail along the river. I've been asked if there are homeless camps along the L.A. River in this area. There was a small one under the Colfax Bridge, but none after that. The few people we met were masked joggers and dog-walkers, and happy dogs. Because we wanted to keep our hike a reasonable length, we stopped at Whitsett and walked back along opposite side of the river. This hike can be extended another 2-1/2 miles, round trip, by starting at Tujunga Ave. and hiking to the newest stretch of the greenway from Whitsett to Fulton Ave. then turn back. No matter what type of exercise you're up for, if you live in the area and want a quick escape from busy streets, hike the L.A. River!