THE 19th ANNUAL GREAT LOS ANGELES WALK TRAVELS FROM USC TO UCLA ON NOVEMBER 23, CELEBRATING OUR LOCAL COLLEGE RIVALRY
LOS ANGELES (Nov. 8, 2024) -- Hundreds of Angelenos will hit the sidewalks once again on Saturday, November 23, for The Great Los Angeles Walk 2024 – the annual event (always held the Saturday before Thanksgiving) that dispels the myth that “nobody walks in L.A.”
(Read more about it via this week’s profile in the Los Angeles Times here: https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2024-11-08/great-los-angeles-walk-michael-schneider)
This year’s 19th annual Great Los Angeles Walk (http://www.greatlawalk.com) will celebrate the local collegiate rivalry between USC and UCLA, a football game that will play out later that evening at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. We won’t venture close to that event, but instead will travel from USC (via nearby Exposition Park) to the UCLA campus starting at 9 a.m..
This year’s Walk will meet at a little-known Los Angeles landmark: The city’s first palm tree (which harkens back to the 1800s), now standing in Exposition Park, facing the Memorial Coliseum. From there, we’ll walk through the park and past the California Science Center, California African American Museum, Natural History Museum, Memorial Coliseum and the future Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to get to Vermont Ave. We’ll then head north to Washington Blvd., then west to Culver City.
After Culver City, we’ll go north on Overland, scoot over (via Pico) to Westwood and walk our way to UCLA, where we’ll finish the day at the campus’ famed Bruin statue.
All told, this year’s Walk will clock a little under 15 miles. Attendees will be encouraged to explore the city in a safe way, and follow proper safety protocols. As they walk through Los Angeles, they’ll document what they see and share that experience with others. It’s not a race – attendees are encouraged to take their time, explore, learn about their city and even build community with others. The Walk will end with a celebration at a venue to be announced later.
L.A. journalist and blogger Michael Schneider launched the Great Los Angeles Walk in 2006 as a way to celebrate his tenth year in Los Angeles. Inspired by the book “Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles,” by Kevin Roderick (with research by J. Eric Lynxwiler), he decided to walk the street’s entire length.
In 2007, for an encore, he chose another downtown-to-the-ocean route: Pico Boulevard. The 2008 Walk took on Santa Monica Blvd. In 2009, the event kicked off in the historic West Adams district and walked to Venice Beach via Adams and Washington. In 2010, for its fifth edition, the Great Los Angeles Walk reprised its original Wilshire journey. In 2011, participants marched to the ocean via Hollywood Boulevard. In 2012, the Walk traveled across Melrose Avenue; in 2013, Sunset Boulevard; in 2014, the Walk traveled across the San Fernando Valley via Ventura Boulevard; in 2015, the Walk took on Olympic Boulevard.
In 2016, the Walk returned to Pico; in 2017, it tackled Beverly Boulevard; in 2018, in honor of Jonathan Gold, we walked on 6th Street, including through Koreatown; in 2019, we walked down Colorado Blvd. from Arcadia and Pasadena, and then through Highland Park to downtown via Figueroa; in 2020, the socially distanced edition returned to Wilshire; in 2021, the event retraced the steps of L.A.’s first settlers (Los Pobladores) from San Gabriel Mission to downtown; in 2022, it once again explored West Adams on the way to Venice; and in 2023, the Walk started and finished at Griffith Park.
The Great Los Angeles Walk grew from dozens of participants to hundreds, and continues to expand each year – always the Saturday before Thanksgiving -- as more Angelenos join in to explore their city on foot.
As always, the Walk is completely free. It is up to the participants to decide how much or how little of the walk they want to do. The Great Los Angeles Walk has been featured in Los Angeles magazine, the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. Weekly, KCAL-Channel 9, KABC-Channel 7, LAist.com and KNBC.com. In 2012, the LA Weekly recognized The Great Los Angeles Walk in its "Best of L.A." issue. More recently, the Walk was included in the book "The Best Things to Do In Los Angeles: 1001 Ideas" by Joy Yoon.
The official hashtags of The Great Los Angeles Walk are #greatlawalk and #glaw. Social media users can follow along all day on the walk's official Instagram feed, @greatlawalk, as we continually post our location.
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