Another year, another street conquered!
The Great Los Angeles Walk returned to Pico Boulevard for its 11th edition, and hundreds of passionate Angelenos -- fueled by love of city and community and eager to walk across the city -- hiked from downtown's Grand Hope Park to the ocean on Saturday, Nov. 19.
Together, we kicked things off in the morning with quick comments from Carter Rubin, who represented the Mayor's office and its Great Streets LA initiative, as well as author and legendary endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, who gave the crowd a pep talk and shared information about her new organization, EverWalk.
From there, the crowd experienced many different cross sections of Los Angeles on foot, including the Convention Center (currently home to the Auto Show); the city's shortest street (Powers Place); the beautiful old homes of Alvarado Terrace; the amazing St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral; the Central American-dominated Byzantine-Latino Quarter; a slice of Koreatown; the diverse restaurants and shops of Mid-City (tacos, soul food, California cuisine, even a Swedish deli); the closed (for the Sabbath) Jewish shops and restaurants west of Fairfax; the Fox lot; the Rancho Park golf course; a collection of murals in Santa Monica; the cool breeze as we marched toward the ocean; a celebratory drink at Chez Jay's; and much more.
Here are some highlights from the day:
Congregating at Grand Hope Park
With some of the crowd
More of the crowd
Carter Rubin addresses the crowd
.@CarterRubin thanks everyone on behalf of @MayorOfLA for taking time to explore LA's streets and neighborhoods on foot! #glaw pic.twitter.com/3VlKnsg2Xw
— Great Streets (@LAGreatStreets) November 19, 2016
Diana Nyad speaks
Crowded sidewalk
Heading down Hope, on to Pico
On our way
Heading to Pico
Downtown mural
Truly not sure what's happening here
Muhammad Ali mural
Convention Center
El Parian
Powers Place, LA's shortest street
Alvarado Terrace
City of LA time switch
Pico street crew
Christmastime is here
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral
Entering the cathedral
Inside the cathedral
Details inside the cathedral
Now that is quite a throne
More inside the cathedral
Byzantine-Latino Quarter
Frida
View inside one of the many, many bakeries on Pico
Have a seat!
Street art on Pico
The most disturbing art on Pico: A horrifying pizza murder in progress.
Paletas! I got a delicious cucumber chile bar!
Popsicle stop at Mateo's on Pico @greatlawalk #glaw 5 miles down, 10 to go! pic.twitter.com/LQ895YFtdX
— Jill Smolinski (@JillSmolinski) November 19, 2016
Passing by Pico murals
Boxing on Pico
The chairs of Pico
L.A. treasure Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles!
Members of the Pico Great Streets LA initiative
Surprise music performance on the route by Taliesin Day
#glaw Taliesin Day pic.twitter.com/zHm6Pgkczk
— pfinck (@pfinck) November 19, 2016
Lunch break at 2 Cents (where I enjoyed ox tail tacos!)
Definitely need to return to Olson's Scandinavian Deli -- for their candy selection alone! (Below)
Taking you up on this, Metro!
Uh oh, did someone lose this?
The ghost of Charles Bukowski can be found up and down Pico
Half way point at La Cienega
Ghost business sign
Cat tag
Keeping an eye out
There were a surprising number of vacuum shops up and down Pico. Anyone else notice?
Someone needs to translate this for me
The Church of Type: a letterpress enthusiast's dream
Cookies and goodies at Caprice Bakery
"Love" by Allison Kunath: One of many Beautify Earth murals found in Santa Monica.
Pico Piggy
Darth Skater
Mural by Chris Saunders
Santa Monica muralist Clinton Bopp in action
Red rooster
Pico mural
Selfie with some of the Walkers at the beach
Sunset at the ocean
Even the LA Rams tweeted their support yesterday:
Our @LARamsCheer out enjoying the @greatlawalk today! #GLAW #WeLoveLA pic.twitter.com/HmxpPUo58E
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 19, 2016
@greatlawalk #glaw thanks for an amazing experience...until next year pic.twitter.com/ISsCjRhyBI
— Henz (@MeGustaHank) November 20, 2016
#glaw @greatlawalk pic.twitter.com/J104aSrfTG
— Dallas Testa (@DallasTesta) November 19, 2016
#EverWalkNation representing at the #GreatLAWalk today! 15 Miles, Pico Blvd from #DTLA to the #Beach! #EverWalk with @diananyad #diananyad pic.twitter.com/gSBPr9b1El
— EverWalk (@everwalkusa) November 20, 2016
Send us links to your photos! And we'll add some roundups below.
