Get Your Kicks on Route 66 As The Great Los Angeles Walk 2026 Celebrates the Mother Road on November 21!

 

For our 21st edition of The Great Los Angeles Walk, we're hitting the Mother Road! It's the 100th anniversary of Route 66, so why not get our kicks by walking the last several miles of the iconic highway — in this case, it's the full length of Santa Monica Boulevard!

As always, the Walk will take place the Saturday before Thanksgiving, which this year is Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026. We'll meet at Echo Park's Lady of the Lake statue at 9 a.m. -- and then walk Route 66/Santa Monica Boulevard (which, I know, is now actually Route 2!) in its entirety, to the ocean. We'll end, naturally, at the Santa Monica Pier's "End of Route 66" sign.

This is also a special year personally for the walk, as I'm celebrating my 30th (!!) anniversary in Los Angeles. Most of you know that The Great Los Angeles Walk was born in 2006 as a way to mark my first decade in L.A. That year, the Saturday before Thanksgiving in 2006 I decided to walk the length of Wilshire Boulevard after being inspired by the book "Wilshire Boulevard: Grand Concourse of Los Angeles" (by Kevin Roderick and J. Eric Lynxwiler), I asked the readers of my blog Franklin Avenue to come join me for a day-long stroll across the city.

In 2007, for the encore, I 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; in 2023, the Walk went in a square, beginning and ending in Griffith Park; in 2024, we walked from USC to UCLA; and in 2025, to celebrate the 20th Great Los Angeles Walk, we returned once again to Wilshire.

If you're not familiar with the Walk, please go read this wonderful feature in the Los Angeles Times, which perfectly encapsulated what we're all about: 

L.A. isn’t a walking city? The man behind Great Los Angeles Walk would like a word

The last time we walked down the full length of Santa Monica Blvd. was in 2008 — check out the recap here.

And in 2013, we met at the Lady of the Lake statue to walk down Sunset Blvd.; here's a photo from that gathering (which you may also recognize from this website's header):

Last year's Walk was perhaps our biggest yet; read all about it here. As always, the Walk is completely free and is meant to serve as a grassroots way for Angelenos to get together and explore their community and share it with others. Stay tuned and make sure to email us at greatlawalk@mail.com to get on our email list!

Here's what the route will look like — don't worry, a real map will come soon, this is just a guideline. 

And as you know, our rule is always the same: You can walk as much or as little as you want! FAQ, including the real map, will come later. More details to come!

The 8th Annual Great Los Angeles Walk Is Ready For Its Closeup: Sunset Boulevard!

It all started in 2006 as a way to celebrate my 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), I decided to walk the street’s entire length. About 40 of you joined me.

In 2007, for an encore, I chose another downtown-to-the-ocean route: Pico Boulevard. The 2008 Walk took on Santa Monica Blvd. (via Sunset). 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, Walk participants marched to the ocean via Hollywood Boulevard. And last year, we once again headed from downtown to the ocean, but this time via Melrose.



For our EIGHTH edition of the Great Los Angeles Walk, Mr. DeMille, we're ready for our close-up. That's right: We're finally tackling Sunset Boulevard.



Our 2008 walk actually began on Sunset (specifically, where Cesar Chavez turns into Sunset downtown), but veered onto Santa Monica Blvd. -- which means, believe it or not, we haven't yet marched down Sunset through Hollywood, and we haven't yet tackled the famed Sunset Strip. This year, we will!



But here's the rub: Sunset Boulevard is 22 miles long -- a bit too long for our Great Los Angeles Walk, which usually lasts between 16-18 miles. Plus, west of Beverly Hills, Sunset twists and turns and becomes a bit too dangerous. So we won't be walking the entire length -- but we'll be walking the most interesting parts. And we'll still be walking to the ocean -- but via a more pedestrian-friendly street. The full route (and afterparty location!) will be announced later.



Since we've already walked the far east side of Sunset, we're also switching things up a bit with the starting point. For the first time, the Great Los Angeles Walk won't be starting in the heart of downtown. Instead, we'll be meeting on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23 at 9 a.m. at ECHO PARK LAKE.


(Photo via KCRW.)

That's right, the scenic and newly rehabilitated Echo Park Lake seems like the perfect place to meet up before we start our day.

Stay tuned for much more information on this year's walk via our new Facebook page, our Twitter account or the Great LA Walk website.