After two weekend rainouts, Barbara and I were excited to hit the trail this morning for a return to  eastern Pasadena's hillside sidewalks and staircases. As the Pasadena population boomed from 1886 (est. 5,000) to 1920 (est. 45,000), residents moved in all directions including a "streetcar suburb" in the hills going down to Pasadena's eastern border at Figueroa Street. Automobiles were just catching on in the 20s, and east Pasadena residents working in DTLA had to navigate the hills to catch a Pacific Electric trolley on Figueroa south to LA. To accommodate the trudge up and down, the City of Pasadena constructed a series of staircases in the hills. Barbara and I had hiked the area in 2015, following Charles Fleming's Secret Stairs #1, and this time we followed Weekend Sherpa's selection—a short 1.9 mile hike that covered (gulp) a thousand stairs up and down six or seven (we lost count) staircases. The area is pretty, and the homes are collection of architecture from Craftsman to Victorian, Spanish adobe, and modern. A slight disappointment: where were all the holiday decorations? We saw a few, but nothing like the displays of lights and blowups in the flatlands. Finding the steps is always a challenge, but we learned long ago to search for the lampposts that landmark each city staircase. A great to return to fantasy house shopping and cardio stair climbing.