Big Parade LA

2013 Routes, Timetables, and Program are posted!

dankoeppel — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:15:00 -0700

WE ARE READY!

The routes and timetables are final. Tons of media mentions and info about the Big Parade: KPCC, Atlantic Cities, NBC-LA, Alissa Walker, TimeOutLA, the Eastsider, Modern Hiker, Daily Beast, KCET, SoCalHiker, and more…

Read those, or cut to the how-to, schedules, list of speakers and entertainers, and detailed info on the event and how you can join us here.

And remember, while we’re walking, you can see where we are - and intercept us - by checking the map links, posted every 15 minutes on the Big Parade twitter feed.

Stair Trek - Toughest Urban Walk on the Planet?

dankoeppel — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 08:48:00 -0800

Happening this Saturday, February 23, 2013. 24 miles, 80 stairways, 6000 feet of elevation gain. Join us!

Two New Epic Walks Scheduled

dankoeppel — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 08:54:11 -0700

“Epics” mean routes over ten miles; we traditionally do them on holiday weekends. These are the final Big Parade-organized walks until September, but more our friends are still doing events throughout the summer.

First, the Epics:

JUNE 24, Multiple Mashup: This is an experimental walk that pretty much combines pieces of everything else we’ve done. It starts downtown with ramps and passages; moves into stairways through Angelino Heights and Echo Park; hits the dirt in Elysian Park; then heads along freeway passages to the L.A. River. Total mileage: about 12.

This walk has lots of options, too: as part of the Los Angeles Design Festival, the first two miles of the route - urban tunnels - will be an easy jaunt, with a looped return for those who’d prefer a shorter option. A second bailout (via bus) will be offered at six miles.

More info on our Facebook event page, here.

July 4: Flattop/Greenbelt, Version II: n April, we walked my “virtual greenbelt” - fifteen tough miles along the dirt trails of Northeast LA, including the amazing and endangered-by-development Flattop Hill, in Montecito Heights. I’ve reworked the route, made it a little - just a little - less killer, and we’ll walk it on the Fourth of July. This is the last epic until Fall, so don’t miss it!

Facebook event page here.

Regular Walks by Big Parade friends and collaborators:

Bob Inman will be leading walks on Thursday nights throughout the summer.

Dave Ptach organizes the Tuesday night Tomato Pie walk.

Please check the event links for updates and info.

Bob Inman's Roving Art Gallery...

dankoeppel — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:54:00 -0700

For Big Parade 2011 and 2012, Bob Inman - leader of the prologue, my personal stairway guru, and author of “A Guide to the Stairways of Los Angeles” - put together these amazing before/after pix, showing the street scenes we were passing in historic context. Many of the pictures were from his own decades of Southern California shooting; many more came from his father’s collection (Clarence Inman was head photographer for the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation through the 1970s.)

Unfortunately, some of the pictures were stolen before we got to see them, and the size of the Big Parade 2012 crowds made it difficult to properly show off those that survived. So I’ve reposted them here. If you missed them, have a look and see what you should have seen. (Click to enlarge images.)

2013 Routes and timetables are live!

dankoeppel — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:31:00 -0700

THE 2013 ROUTES AND INFO ARE POSTED. Though these are fundamentally final documents, please check with for last-minute changes on Thursday, May 16.

Get ready…this is what you need to join the Big Parade (links are to PDF documents.)

The HOW-TO, which details how you can join us, what to bring, what to expect, etc.
The Day One schedule, which will tell you what you’ll see and when on Saturday, May 18.
The Day Two schedule, for Sunday, May 19. If you are joining late in the day, please read the special parking note!
The Code of Civility, which by participating in the Big Parade you agree to follow.

If you want more specifics, including stairway counts/lists, detailed routing data, or mass transit info, go here for Day One and here for day two.

Saturday will include a kid’s segment; a special segment devoted to ugly buildings; a visit to the Barlow Respiratory Hospital Site in Elysian Parkr; Angelino Heights Victorian architecture; Silverlake; and finally the Music Box Stairs and a free community pot luck supper (please RSVP). Lunchtime music from the Ukelele Orchestra of the Western Hemisphere.

Sunday will include Silverlake, including the urban wilderness of the old Corralitas Red Car Property; a compact loop of 11 stairways in the Franklin Hills, a walk through Griffith Park and a discussion of parrots with Charles Hood. Lunchtime music from the Swords of Fatima.

And don’t forget, there’s a on Friday, May 17, there’s a prologue walk, led by Bob Inman, if you’re really ready to go.