Nature is just around the corner in the City of Angels

LA Times Best Seller and four-time award winner from three Outdoor Writers Associations, including Best in Show and Best Guidebook! Expanded 6th edition includes 160 day hikes in and around Los Angeles and over 230 maps. Hikes range from boardwalk strolls along the ocean to shady canyon trails that lead to panoramic overlooks. This is an essential guide to discovering the city's thousands of acres of public green space as well as many access points to the coastline.

Residents and travelers will find this comprehensive guide essential to locating an amazing number of hiking trails throughout the 50-mile-long Santa Monica Mountains. The range parallels the coastline in southern California, dividing the Pacific coast from the interior valleys. Included are 138 day hikes, with an additional section of 13 hikes that traverses the full length of the 68-mile Backbone Trail. 496 pages with clear trail descriptions, ample maps, index. All hiking levels.

People all over the world have seen Los Angeles’s famed "Hollywood" sign and the iconic domed Griffith Observatory. Both are part of Griffith Park, a place visited by more than 10 million people each year--more than Yosemite and Grand Canyon National Parks combined. Rugged and vast, the 4,511-acre Griffith Park encompasses a sprawling 70-mile long network of trails, ranging from paved paths through manicured landscapes to challenging ridgeline climbs, and is a destination for hikers, trail runners, cyclists, equestrians, picnickers, and museum-goers. It’s a unique outdoor space in a city that is not well known for its outdoor amenities. Discovering Griffith Park uses the park’s extensive trail network as an anchor to explore the park in full, whether on foot, wheel, or hoof. Readers will also find out where the best views of the Hollywood sign are, where they can catch free Shakespeare on summer evenings, and how to attend one of the legendary Los Angeles Breakfast Club meetings for good food, good friends, and a bit of early morning learning

Containing walks and detailed maps from throughout the city, Secret Stairs highlights the charms and quirks of a unique feature of the Los Angeles landscape, and chronicles the geographical, architectural, and historical aspects of the city’s staircases, as well as of the neighborhoods in which the steps are located. From strolling through the classic La Loma neighborhood in Pasadena to walking the Sunset Junction Loop in Silver Lake, to taking the Beachwood Canyon hike through “Hollywoodland” to enjoying the magnificent ocean views from the Castellammare district in Pacific Palisades, Secret Stairs takes you on a tour of the staircases all across the City of Angels. The circular walks, rated for duration and difficulty, deliver tales of historic homes and their fascinating inhabitants, bits of unusual local trivia, and stories of the neighborhoods surrounding the stairs. That’s where William Faulkner was living when he wrote the screenplay for To Have and Have Not; that house was designed by Neutra; over there is a Schindler; that’s where Woody Guthrie lived, where Anais Nin died, and where Thelma Todd was murdered . . . Despite the fact that one of these staircases starred in an Oscar-winning short film—Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box, from 1932—these civic treasures have been virtually unknown to most of the city’s residents and visitors. Now, Secret Stairs puts these hidden stairways back on the map, while introducing urban hikers to exciting new “trails” all around the city of Los Angeles.

Discover hidden gems of wilderness in the Los Angeles metropolitan area! Despite the imminent presence of the city, there are thousands of acres of natural, undeveloped land with hundreds of miles of trails. Hikes range from boardwalk strolls along the ocean to shady canyon trails that lead to panoramic overlooks. Residents and adventuresome travelers will find this book essential to locating an amazing number of hiking opportunities.