On Sunday my wife surprised the family with a guided hike around the old Hollywoodland neighborhood in Los Angeles. Our guide was Hargobind Singh, or Hargo for short. He met us at the corner of Hollywood and Highland and drove the four of us (plus another couple who also lived in Los Angeles) in his immaculate minivan a short distance to the Beachwood Canyon neighborhood of Hollywood.

As he drove he shared a little history of the Hollywoodand area. It was established as a housing development in early 1920s and specialized in building storybook fantasy houses: castles, Tudor homes, and the like. The Hollywood sign was erected as an advertisement for the development project and read “Hollywoodland.” It was meant to stay up for just a year, but people liked it and it soon became a symbol for the motion picture industry, not just the housing development. The neighborhood has been the home of many famous folks, including Aldous Huxley, Bugsy Siegel, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Swanson, and James M. Cain.

While in the minivan
I peppered Hargo with questions about his tour company, LA Active
Adventures. An amiable and calm fellow, Hargo told me
he started the company about three years ago on his wife’s
advice. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hargo had become the de
facto tour guide for visiting relatives from Texas, and he
ended up discovering a lot of hidden gems in Los Angeles. The
idea behind his company is to offer tours targeted at people
who live in LA and want to see things other than the usual
tourist attractions like Universal Studios, Disneyland,
Hollywood Boulevard, etc. Hargo told me that up until a couple
of months ago, the business had been basically paying for
itself. But then he offered a deal on a Groupon-like site (I
can’t remember which one) and 1700 people signed up for tours.
Now he’s very busy, conducting 2-3 tours per day.

Hargo crossed Franklin and parked near the Beachwood
Market. We all got out and followed him as walked up the
sidewalk at a good clip. In a couple of minutes he pointed out
a staircase (top photo) and said that the hike would consist of
865 stair steps and two-and-half miles. My 13-year-old daughter
and her friend groaned, but the prospect of a vigorous hike
sounded great to Carla and me.

By the time we went up
the first set of stairs, my thighs were burning and I was
huffing and puffing, even though I consider myself to be in
pretty good shape. I wondered how many steps I had just taken,
but I was too embarrassed to ask Hargo. (We ended up climbing
about five more staircases, most of them even longer and
steeper than this one).

Hargo was
knowledgeable about the neat old houses in the neighborhood. We
took turns posing for photographs in front of this faux Moorish
entryway, which had a wooden door encrusted with large colorful
cut glass.

Further along the
way, we came across this nifty little treehouse, which was
built in a tree that seem to be growing on public property.

Here’s an example of
a storybook architecture house with a lovely curved roof.

There were plenty of
toyon trees along the walk. Another name for the toyon is the
Christmas berry or the Hollywood plant. The berries are edible,
and can be eaten raw or boiled. Click
here for a close-up of the berries. (NOTE: I removed
the original photo, as several commenters said that the berries
were *not* toyon, and replaced it with the photo above, which
shows what Hargo told us *are* toyon berries.
Again, do not use this photo as a source to
identify toyon berries, especially if you plan to eat them
because you could poison yourself.)

This is the most
well-known staircase in the Beachwood Canyon area. Made from
granite, the center divider was originally a cascading fountain
that was converted into a garden after the fountain stopped
working.

At the top of the
staircase I noticed these copper pipes with large metal nuts on
them. The sets of nuts were numbered from 1 to 8. Hargo told me
what they were for, but I would like you to guess their
purpose.

Did you know that
the city of LA was made in India?

The Hollywood sign
popped into view many times during the hike. As you can see,
the weather was spectacular. It was about 70° at noon.

Hargo told us the
scientific name for this plant, but I only remember the
informal name: the Mercedes-Benz plant.

You can see why in
this picture.

This is a fennel, or
wild anise, plant. Hargo told us an interesting story about it:
when Spanish missionaries came to California they brought
fennel with them to grow in their medicinal gardens. They used
it as a kind of air freshener, tossing it on the ground of
their buildings so that when people walked on the fennel it
would crush the plant and release the sweet smelling volatile
oils. As a result, fennel seeds would stick to people’s feet
and the plant started growing in the wild. It’s all over LA
now.

Here’s an example of
a castle, one of many in the hills of Beachwood Canyon.

We got a nice look
at Lake Hollywood, a reservoir and dam that William Mulholland
designed in 1924. At the time the reservoir provided the city
with most of its water needs. Of course back then the
population of Los Angeles was 1 million people (today it’s 11
million).

Welcome to
Hollywoodland. Now Relax and Slow Down. After all the
stairclimbing, I didn’t need to be reminded to slow down. Carla
asked Hargo if any of his clients ever had trouble completing
the hike. He said occasionally people will tell him that they
can’t go any further, and he will walk back to his minivan and
drive back to pick them up.

The man who lives in
this house is in his 90s. He’s an artist who worked and lived
for many years with an Indian tribe in Alaska. According to
Hargo, they gave him permission to paint this image of a beaver
on his garage door.

On our way back to
Hargo’s minivan I saw this old
Toyota Land Rover, which I ought
to submit to Old
Parked Cars.

This hike turned out to be a
fantastic way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon.
Hargo gave us a 50% discount ticket for a “future adventure,”
and we are definitely going to use it.