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Secret Walks: A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles
Revised and Updated in September 2020!
Secret A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles is a sequel to the popular Secret A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles , and features another collection of exciting urban walks through parks, canyons, and neighborhoods unknown and unseen by most Angelinos. Each walk is rated for duration, distance, and difficulty, and is accompanied by a map.
The walks, like those in Secret Stairs, are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarks—the original Bat Cave from Batman , the lake where Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show , or the storage barn for one of L.A.’s oldest wineries. The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American “Venice.”
Written in the entertainingly informed style that has made Secret Stairs a Los Angeles Times best-seller, Secret Walks is the perfect book for the walker eager to explore but tired of the crowds at Runyon Canyon or Temescal Park.
Secret A Walking Guide to the Hidden Trails of Los Angeles is a sequel to the popular Secret A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles , and features another collection of exciting urban walks through parks, canyons, and neighborhoods unknown and unseen by most Angelinos. Each walk is rated for duration, distance, and difficulty, and is accompanied by a map.
The walks, like those in Secret Stairs, are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarks—the original Bat Cave from Batman , the lake where Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show , or the storage barn for one of L.A.’s oldest wineries. The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American “Venice.”
Written in the entertainingly informed style that has made Secret Stairs a Los Angeles Times best-seller, Secret Walks is the perfect book for the walker eager to explore but tired of the crowds at Runyon Canyon or Temescal Park.
- GenresTravelNonfictionHistory
240 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2015
23 people are currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Charles Fleming
61 books12 followersCharles Fleming teaches entertainment reporting at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California. He has written for numerous magazines, including LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, the New York Times, and Vanity Fair. He is the author of High Concept: Don Simpson and the Hollywood Culture of Excess and the coauthor of The Goomba Diet: Living Large, The Goombas Book of Love, A Goombas Guide to Life, My Lobotomy, Three Weeks in October: The Manhunt for the Serial Sniper. He lives in Los Angeles."
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2024
This book features exciting urban walks through parks, canyons, and neighborhoods unknown and unseen. Each walk is rated for duration, distance, and difficulty and is accompanied by a map.
The walks are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarks, such as the original Bat Cave from Batman or the lake that Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show.
The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks famous: the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American Venice.
Since we will visit this winter, I hope to check out one or two of these walks. Most likely, the walk in Venice in which he details the history of the canals.
The walks are filled with fascinating factoids about historical landmarks, such as the original Bat Cave from Batman or the lake that Opie learned to fish on The Andy Griffith Show.
The book also highlights the people who made the landmarks famous: the infamous water engineer William Mulholland; the convicted murderer and philanthropist Colonel Griffith J. Griffith; Charles Lummis, who walked from Cincinnati to Los Angeles to take a job on the L.A. Times; and tobacco millionaire Abbot Kinney, who dug canals to drain the marshes south of Santa Monica and create his American Venice.
Since we will visit this winter, I hope to check out one or two of these walks. Most likely, the walk in Venice in which he details the history of the canals.
May 26, 2022
I love to hike/walk and this book is a 10 for me!!! Love to learn about new places to find in and around LA. Only wish it was on audible or kindle though. You have to read while walking with this one -LOL!
August 24, 2017
A good description of the walks, how to find them, and what to expect. I highly recommend the guide.
December 26, 2016
Good ideas for walk/ hikes. Could use better editing. Referred to a freeway with the right number but wrong name. And, in CA, we put "the" before the names and numbers of our freeway but never our i.e. Pacific Coast Hwy or simply PCH, but never "the" PCH. Also, some walks aren't that secret to natives.
October 8, 2015
Great guide to little known hikes in Los Angeles. The book provides directions to hiking locations and on the hikes themselves- the best parts are all the little known facts about the hiking locations interwoven throughout the text. I'm inspired to check some of these out!
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December 1, 2018I don't feel that I can give a rating to this book, as I haven't done any of the walks in it recently. There are a few I've done in the past. The descriptions here generally agree with my memory, so that's a good sign.
As for the writing, I'd give it 3 stars. The language is generally plain and clear, exactly what you want in a guidebook. There's enough personality to give the feeling that an actual person is saying these words. I imagine the author is quite an engaging guide.
The bits of local history and descriptions of plants and rocks are interesting, though generally superficial. There are occasional lapses in grammar and confused directions, and one walk which doesn't match its map, which make me wish that the publisher had hired a better copyeditor.
As for the writing, I'd give it 3 stars. The language is generally plain and clear, exactly what you want in a guidebook. There's enough personality to give the feeling that an actual person is saying these words. I imagine the author is quite an engaging guide.
The bits of local history and descriptions of plants and rocks are interesting, though generally superficial. There are occasional lapses in grammar and confused directions, and one walk which doesn't match its map, which make me wish that the publisher had hired a better copyeditor.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews