Lifestyle
9 L.A. locals share their favorite walks in the city
Los Angeles is teeming with beautiful places to walk, but for many of us, our favorite paths are those that are closest to home. These are the walks we do again and again, when we need to shake out our blues, get a new perspective or just enjoy some of our city’s famous sunshine. So it comes as no surprise that when we asked readers to share their favorite walks, many of you responded with a path in your neighborhood.
L.A. really is a walking city.
Explore our ground-level guide to the people and places keeping our sidewalks alive.
As someone who recently relied on suggestions from friends across the city to help me choose — and plot — the 11 most essential walks in L.A., I can say that there is nothing better than exploring an area through the eyes of a local. Their insights and experience add a deeper dimension to a walk. Each time a friend showed me around, I came away with a new appreciation for the part of the city they call home.
So it is with great gratitude and pleasure that I present a handful of the walks submitted by our readers who generously shared their own expertise on where to walk, and what to see. Nobody knows a city better than those of us who live here.
Reader Rick Jashnani submitted this image from his Ballona Creek walk.
(Rick Jashnani)
Down the Ballona Lagoon nature path, back on the beach, and over to the marina to close the loop
Starting location: Start at 4001 Via Dolce, Marina del Rey
Distance: 2.5 miles
Length of time: 60 minutes
What makes it special: ”The nature walk is really pretty and borders a wildlife sanctuary where you can see egrets and other migratory birds. There are always little lizards on the path as well. As you turn the corner to the ocean, you can see larger seabirds and if you’re lucky you can see dolphins. The marina is always nice to check out the calmness of the water and all the boats. Plus, if your dog is well-behaved, you can generally take him or her off leash and no one will bug you.”
— Rick Jashnani, Venice
Reader Ducan Addicott submitted this photo from his Mount Lowe excursion.
(Ducan Addicott)
Mount Lowe Trail/ San Merrill Trail to the ruins of the Mount Lowe Hotel
Starting location: The corner of Loma Alta Drive and Lake Avenue. Goes all the way up to (34.21097° N, 118.12077° W)
Distance: 5 miles
Length of time: At a fast pace, around an hour and 45 minutes. At an average pace, about three hours
What makes it special: ”Since my family lives near the trail, we occasionally hike the trail to the top of Echo Mountain (where the Mount Lowe Hotel remains are) to see the view of Los Angeles.”
— Duncan Addicott, Altadena
Reader Thomas Nagano submitted this photo from his Hill Top walk.
(Thomas Nagano)
Hill Top View
Starting location: North Thomas Avenue in Lincoln Heights
Distance: 3 steep miles up and back.
Length of time: 45 minutes
What makes it special: “The 360 degree view from ‘Flat Top.’”
— Thomas Nagano, Los Angeles
Hikers walk across the Mark Ridley-Thomas Bridge, which stretches over La Cienega Boulevard and links Kenneth Hahn Park to the Stoneview Nature Center.
(Allison Zaucha/For The Times)
Culver City park to Baldwin Hills Park to Kenneth Hahn Park
Starting location: “From Culver City park, start off in the parking lot near the Boneyard and take the wooden ramps up the hill. Walk across Bill Botts field to the connector to the Baldwin Hills park. Walk to the top of the hill, enjoy the views and then find the parking lot. At the back of the lot is a path that connects down the hill to Stoneview Nature Center. Do a lap around the nature center, pick a piece of fruit or rest on a bench, then take the path back out of the nature center and walk over La Cienega into Kenneth Hahn Park. If you are walking for fitness you can do this in a couple of hours. You can spend more time in any of the parks as you walk.”
Distance: About 3 miles
Length of time: Two hours
What makes it special: “It is so cool to see all these parks linked to each other and find such a long walking route in L.A. that really doesn’t pass along any roads. You can make the walk longer by spending more time in these parks or walking longer routes through the parks or you can just go for a walk and consider the parks marker points as you go from Culver City to Kenneth Hahn.”
— Lisa Collins, Culver City
Greer Cowan submitted this photo from her Griffith Park hike.
(Greer Cowan)
Riverside trail in Griffith Park
Starting location: 2715 N. Vermont Canyon Road, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Distance: 2 miles
Length of time: 30 minutes
What makes it special: “I grew up in rural Vermont and it’s hard to describe to friends and family why I’ve chosen to live in L.A. This is a place where I bring people who visit me in LA from the East Coast to demonstrate what I love about it. The walk has a gorgeous view of downtown but it’s peaceful and away from cars and pavement. When I bring people from Vermont to this walk they start to understand what I love about L.A.”
— Greer Cowan, Los Angeles
A boy plays in the fountains in Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to Gloria Molina Grand Park to L.A. City Hall
Starting location: 555 W. Temple St.
Distance: .5 miles
Length of time: 15 minutes
What makes it special: “As I ease into the morning work day, I park at the underground parking garage next to Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. I cross Temple Street by the court buildings constructed in the late 1960s and early 1970s and walk over to Grand Park. I start my trek at 7:15 am and finish around 7:35 am — not a long walk time down the escaliered concrete staircases but it helps me to see nature and ease any anxiety I have before I start work during my monthly three-day work days in downtown L.A. As I get close to the L.A. City Hall, there are police officers moving overnight persons camping in the park out so that city hall workers, mostly female, arrive to a safe environment before entering city hall’s employee entrance.”
— Thomas Foster
Reader Larry Blivas submitted this photo of his walk from the Venice Pier and the Santa Monica Pier.
(Larry Blivas)
From the Venice Pier to the Santa Monica Pier along the beach
Starting location: Washington Boulevard and Ocean Front Walk
Distance: 2 miles
Length of time: 1-2 hours depending on your pace
What makes it special: “If you walk along the beach next to the water this is the most memorable walk in Los Angeles, with the most beautiful beaches full of birds, sea lions, surfers, dolphins, occasionally a few whales and the most beautiful surf! You can walk it barefoot or as many people do, wear lightweight tennis shoes. [You can go with] your dog or with a friend or by yourself. It is really incredible. If you walk along the walking bike path it has the Venice Art Walk, many bicycles and it ends at the Santa Monica Pier, [where you can] enjoy the festivities. The other option is to start at the Santa Monica Pier and walk to the Venice Pier and back for a beautiful walk, exercise and best day of your life!”
— Larry Blivas, Los Angeles
Self Help Graphics 50th annual Dia De Los Muertos event at the East L.A. Civic Center.
(Sarahi Apaez/For De Los)
Highland Park Metro Station to East Los Angeles Civic Center
Starting location: Ave. 59 to Figueroa St. through downtown LA and then east on E. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd. to the ELA Civic Center.
Distance: About 12 miles
Length of time: 3-4 hours depending on whether there’s a parade or a march happening
What makes it special: “It cuts to the core of Los Angeles, from its oldest community along the Arroyo Seco to its oldest cultural hubs and sprawling historic avenues, and crossing five freeways and the raging rivers of clanging metal below. I’ve been doing it for several years and it is never the same walk, like a search for meaning.”
— Richard Vasquez, Los Angeles
The labyrinthal channels of Marina del Rey
Starting location: Admiralty Way and Bali Way
Distance: 2 miles
Length of time: 30 minutes
What makes it special: “Sights and sounds don’t come much more spectacular than a saunter around the labyrinthal channels of Marina del Rey. You have the Ballona Lagoon offering pleasant tidal salt marsh views ideal for brandishing binoculars where one can espy many a seabird sneaking up on unsuspecting french fries. And further walk away your woes as you peer waterward at salty-sneezing harbor seals, sun-soaked kayakers, and spry runaway skiffs cascading along the horizon with swollen sails.
I enjoy any ambulatory miles I can accumulate in the Marina area. From morning jaunts evaluating artisanal turnips at the Famer’s Market every Saturday morning near Mother’s Beach to tranquil late afternoons spent strolling among the shelves of the Lloyd Taber-Marina del Rey Library. The custom sail-shaped windows look out onto the sunset.
Ahoy, it’s a showstopper.”
— Tommy Bui, Pacoima
Jessie Buckley has been nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of William Shakespeare’s wife in Hamnet.
Kate Green/Getty Images
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Kate Green/Getty Images
Actor Jessie Buckley says she’s always been drawn to the “shadowy bits” of her characters — aspects that are disobedient, or “too much.” Perhaps that’s what led her to play Agnes, the wife of William Shakespeare, in Hamnet.
Buckley says the film, which is based on Maggie O’Farrell’s 2020 novel, offered a chance to counter a common narrative about the playwright’s wife: that she “had kept him back from his genius,” Buckley says.
But, she adds, “What Maggie O’Farrell so brilliantly did, not just with Agnes and Shakespeare’s wife, but also with Hamnet, their son, was to bring these people … and give them status beside this great man. … [And] give the full landscape of what it is to be a woman.”
The film is nominated for eight Academy Awards, including best actress for Buckley. In it, she plays a woman deeply connected to nature, who faces conflicts in her marriage, as well as the death of their son Hamnet.
Buckley found out she was pregnant a week after the film wrapped. She’s since given birth to her first child, a daughter.
“The thing that this story offered me, that brought me into this next chapter of my life as a mother was tenderness,” she says. “A mother’s tenderness is ferocious. To love, to birth is no joke. To be born is no joke. And the minute something’s born into the world, you’re always in the precipice of life and death. That’s our path. … I wanted to be a mother so much that that overrode the thought of being afraid of it.”
Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes and Joe Alwyn plays her brother Bartholomew in Hamnet.
Courtesy of Focus Features/Courtesy of Focus Features
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Courtesy of Focus Features/Courtesy of Focus Features
Interview highlights
On filming the scene where she howls in grief when her son dies
I didn’t know that that was going to happen or come out, it wasn’t in the script. I think really [director] Chloé [Zhao] asked all of us to dare to be as present as possible. Of course, leading up to it, you’re aware this scene is coming, but that scene doesn’t stand on its own. By the time I’d met that scene, I had developed such a deep bond with Jacobi Jupe, who plays Hamnet, and [co-stars] Paul [Mescal] and Emily Watson, and all the children and we really were a family. And Jacobi Jupe who plays Hamnet is such an incredible little actor and an incredible soul, and we really were a team. …
The death of a child is unfathomable. I don’t know where it begins and ends. Out of utter respect, I tried to touch an imaginary truth of it in our story as best I could, but there’s no way to define that kind of grief. I’m sure it’s different for so many people. And in that moment, all I had was my imagination but also this relationship that was right in front of me with this little boy and that’s what came out of that.
On what inspired her to pursue singing growing up
I grew up around a lot of music. My mom is a harpist and a singer and my dad has always been passionate about music, so it was always something in our house and always something that was encouraged. … Early on, I have very strong memories of seeing and hearing my mom sing in church and this quite intense mercurial conversation that would happen between her, the story and the people that would listen to her. And at the end of it, something had been cracked between them and these strangers would come up with tears in their eyes. And I guess I saw the power of storytelling through my mom’s singing at a very young age, and that was definitely something that made me think I want to do that.
On her first big break performing as a teen on the BBC singing competition I’d Do Anything — and being criticized by judges about her physical appearance
I was raw. I hadn’t trained. I had a lot to learn and to grow in. I was only 17. I think there was part of their criticism which I think was destructive and unfair when it became about my awkwardness, or they would say I was masculine and send me to kind of a femininity school. … They sent me to [the musical production of] Chicago to put heels on and a leotard and learn how to walk in high heels, which was pretty humiliating, to be honest, and I’m sad about that because I think I was discovering myself as a young woman in the world and wasn’t fully formed. … I was different. I was wild, I had a lot of feeling inside me. I could hardly keep my hands beside myself and I think to kind of criticize a body of a young woman at that time and to make her feel conscious of that was lazy and, I think, boring.
On filming parts of the 2026 film The Bride! while pregnant
I really loved working when I was pregnant. I thought it was a pretty wild experience, especially because I was playing Mary Shelley and I was talking about [this] monstrosity, and here I was with two heartbeats inside me. Becoming a mom and being pregnant did something, I think, for me. My experience of it, it’s so real that it really focuses [me to be] allergic to fake or to disconnection.
Since my daughter has come and I know what that connection is and the real feeling of being in a relationship with somebody … as an actress, it’s very exciting to recognize that in yourself and really take ownership of yourself.
I’m excited to go back and work on this other side of becoming a mother in so many ways, because I’ve shed 10 layers of skin by loving more and experiencing life in such a new way with my daughter. I’m also scared to work again because it’s hard to be a mother and to work. That’s like a constant tug because I love what I do and I’m passionate and I want to continue to grow and learn and fill those spaces that are yet to be filled — and also be a mother. And I think every mother can recognize that tug.
On the possibility of bringing her daughter to travel with her as she works
I haven’t filmed for nearly a year and I cannot wait. I’m hungry to create again. And my daughter will come with me. She’s seven months, so at the moment she can travel with us and it’s a beautiful life. And she meets all these amazing people and I have a feeling that she loves life and that’s a great thing to see in a child. And I hope that’s something that I’ve imparted to her in the short time that she’s been on this earth is that life is beautiful and great and complex and alive and there’s no part of you that needs to be less in your life. You might have to work it out, but it’s worth it.
Lauren Krenzel and Susan Nyakundi produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
Bruce Campbell
I’m Battling Cancer
Published
Bruce Campbell has revealed he has cancer, but says it’s a type that’s treatable, though not curable.
“The Evil Dead” actor shared the news Monday in a message to fans, writing, “Hi folks, these days, when someone is having a health issue, it’s referred to as an ‘opportunity,’ so let’s go with that — I’m having one of those.” He continued, “It’s also called a type of cancer that’s ‘treatable’ not ‘curable.’ I apologize if that’s a shock — it was to me too.”
Campbell said he wouldn’t go into further detail about his diagnosis, but explained his work schedule will be changing. “Appearances and cons and work in general need to take back seat to treatment,” he wrote, adding he plans to focus on getting “as well as I possibly can over the summer.”
As a result, Campbell says he has to cancel several convention appearances this summer, noting, “Treatment needs and professional obligations don’t always go hand-in-hand.”
He says his plan is to tour this fall in support of his new film, “Ernie & Emma,” which he stars in and directs.
Ending on a determined note, Campbell told fans, “I am a tough old son-of-a-bitch … and I expect to be around a while.”
Neve Campbell in Scream 7.
Paramount Pictures
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Paramount Pictures
The OG Scream Queen Neve Campbell returns. Scream 7 re-centers the franchise back on Sidney Prescott. She has a new life, a family, and lots of baggage. You know the drill: Someone dressing up as the masked slasher Ghostface comes for her, her family and friends. There’s lots of stabbing and murder and so many red herrings it’s practically a smorgasbord.
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