Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.
Walk like an Angeleno
There are plenty of great places to walk in Los Angeles. You just have to know where to go. (Illustrations by Alva Skog / For The Times; Photos by Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times, Al Seib / Los Angeles Times and Wojtek Zagorski / Getty Images)
Though walking might not be built into the lives of most Angelenos, L.A. is still a wonderful place for a stroll. Its sidewalks are lined with blooming foliage, its street corners packed with culinary delights and its skies perpetually clear. You just have to know where to go.
I only recently rediscovered that. Let me set the scene: It was late October. I was preparing to host a Halloween party, juggling a few major work projects, in the midst of signing a lease for a new home and perpetually stressed about the election. When I accidentally shattered a glass pitcher on my kitchen floor, I knew I’d reached a breaking point. So I decided to abandon my immediate plans and go on a long early-evening stroll.
Winding behind the Eagle Rock rec center into the hills, I watched kids practice soccer and imagined a life where all I needed to do was kick a ball. I savored the wind rustling through the century-old trees around Occidental College. I took in the view at the top of a hill and felt briefly minuscule. And came out on the other side of campus to bask in the smells, noises and conversational snippets of York Street in Highland Park. Instead of thinking about all the things I needed to do, or the many things outside my control, I dedicated myself to the task at hand: exploring.
I had willed a renewed appreciation for my mobility and my community — all by putting one foot in front of the other.
Which brings me to our recent walking guide. It celebrates the people and places keeping L.A.’s sidewalks alive. Here are 8 ways you can start moving through them.
- Go on an essential L.A. walk. How much of L.A. have you really seen? Times reporter Deborah Netburn assembled 11 walks for the curious and open-minded L.A. explorer that comes with mapped-out routes. Each is under 3 miles and designed to reveal a new side of an L.A. neighborhood.
- Join a local walking club. Going for a stroll is even better if you can make friends along the way. Times reporters Jeanette Marantos and Kailyn Brown found 10 community groups that regularly walk together. Options range from deliberately “slow walkers” to fast-paced staircase climbers.
- Follow a daylong, 27.4-mile journey along one L.A. boulevard. Times reporter Jaclyn Cosgrove traversed the entirety of Washington Boulevard in a day and lived to tell the tale. The journey opened her eyes to the city’s endless diversity.
- Discover the benefits of a walking ritual. Times reporter Deb Vankin has walked the same 5.4-mile path in Griffith Park 400 times — a ritual that, as she reports in vivid detail, provides a unique perspective.
- Take a celebrity-guided stroll. For each episode of his podcast “Walkin’ About,” comedian Allan McLeod accompanies a celebrity on their favorite L.A. walk. Perhaps one might inspire your next trek?
- Embark on a tour of L.A.’s Free Little Libraries. There are 1,600 book-filled boxes that allow you to grab or donate something to read in L.A. County. Times contributor Jackie Snow rounded up 8 neighborhood walks that will bring you to a few especially impressive outposts.
- See just how walkable your neighborhood is. There are many criteria out there to determine an area’s “walkability.” Times reporter Adam Tschorn applied his own subjective L.A. standards to come up with a pithy ranking.
- Participate in the annual Great L.A. Walk. Hundreds of people will traverse L.A. tomorrow for the ninth annual Great L.A. Walk thanks to organizer Michael Schneider. You can learn about its history in Vankin’s profile of Schneider. Or join yourself. This year it will begin at the city’s oldest palm tree in Exposition Park at 9 a.m. and end at UCLA’s Bruin statue. As a bonus, I’ll be there at the beginning to hand out issues of our walking guide. Details about the meeting spots and walking path can be found here.
It’s my sincere hope that this list helps you out of the house and onto L.A.’s wonderful sidewalks. The best way to start something new is to go one step at a time.
Today’s top stories
A bomb cyclone moves down the West Coast on Wednesday as seen from space. (Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere / National Weather Service)
A bomb cyclone storm could cause rain the L.A. area. How bad will it be?
- Forecasters say Southern California could see rain beginning this weekend and into early next week. The rainfall is expected to be less severe than in Northern California, where some areas may receive more than 12 inches.
- The monster storm kicks off California’s rainy season, but officials say it’s too early to tell what the rest of the winter could bring.
- The storm is so large that it was seen approaching California from space.
The latest in the Trump transition
Phillips 66 was indicted for allegedly dumping wastewater into L.A. County sewers
- A federal grand jury indicted Phillips 66 for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act by dumping tens of thousands of gallons of oil and grease into the county sewer system, the Justice Department said.
- The alleged dumping took place at the company’s Carson refinery, which is expected to close late next year.
Shohei Ohtani unanimously won his third MVP award
What else is going on
- Whooping cough — highly contagious and potentially dangerous — has surged in California to levels not seen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Women will make up nearly half of the California Legislature, setting a new record in Sacramento.
- Eric and Lyle Menendez will appear in court on Monday as they seek to downgrade their first-degree murder conviction and potentially be freed.
- A human skull and bones washed ashore in Palos Verdes Estates, sparking an investigation.
- The burning of a tree in South Los Angeles led firefighters to a grim discovery.
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