Stan’s Obligatory Blog

12/24/2005

The Ride Before Christmas

Filed under: — stan @ 11:29 pm

Route map and photo locations

(With major apologies to Clement C. Moore, and thanks to www.rhymezone.com)

‘Twas the day before Christmas, and here in L.A;
We went for a bike ride, no snow for a sleigh;

We rode from Pasadena, the Rose Parade town;
Orange Grove west, and soon we went down;

Colorado St. Hill, in to Eagle Rock;
Yosemite Drive was down the next block;

A right turn on Fletcher was just the right bill;
On into Silver Lake, down the big hill;

A brief stop in Silver Lake, in some nice shade;
The “Music Box Steps” where the movie was made;

Snow White’s wishing well was also some fun;
At Second and Larchmont it stood in the sun;

On Virgil!, on First St!, on Second! and Third!;
Across Hancock Park we rode undeterred;

To the big House of David with statues, fake snow;
A cheesy display, but impressive show;

North on Rossmore, we went to go see;
The Hollygrove Home, it is history;

Marilyn Monroe lived there as a child;
Seeing it in person, we were quite beguiled;

West to La Brea, it was just a short jog;
To stop and see Pink’s, the famous Hot Dog;

North into Hollywood, we passed my old house;
The garage where I once had run over a mouse;

Then Hollywood Boulevard, the glittery street,
Was next on our route, it’s always a treat;

A left turn on Bronson, and up a slight hill;
We turned left on Franklin, the climb was near nil;

Riding up Beachwood, ahead was a sign;
It said “HOLLYWOOD“, letters all in a line;

A left turn on Ledgewood and the hill was so steep;
We soon found ourselves almost ready to weep;

Right on Durand, the last part of the climb;
Up to just right below the big Sign;

The street said “No Outlet”, which caused us to frown;
At the top of the hill, so we turned and rode down;

A right turn on Ledgewood, and up once again;
To Mulholland Highway, which was there at its end;

Down off the hill, we passed the dog park;
Then turned left on Tahoe, without a remark;

We rode past Lake Hollywood, and then up the hill,
So hard and so steep it about made me ill;

Down in to Burbank, then Forest Lawn Drive,
And on into Glendale, riding under I-5;

On Kenneth and Mountain, rolling eastward until;
Verdugo Drive north, up Hospital Hill;

Then down back to home, a nice downhill glide;
Merry Christmas to all, and it was a good ride!

51 miles
cycling

3 Responses to “The Ride Before Christmas”

  1. Gene Says:

    Hi Stan,

    Charles Osgood would be envious.

  2. Tom Stormcrowe Says:

    Hello Stan, if I ever get out to LA, we’re gonna ride! It looks like you had a great ride! Mine was 22 miles in frigid winds and COLD rain up in Fort Wayne, IN at a wet and rainy 35 degrees! I still had a ball though and enjoyed the WTF looks from the pansies that won’t ice ride here in the Hoosier state! MY favorite was the guy who suggested I might be more comfortable in a car!::GRIN::

  3. G.M. Grena Says:

    Stan, thanks for this tip on the Music Box steps! This morning (7 years later) I drove there to record some details, & since your website is the gold-standard for L.A. staircase info, I thought it would be a good idea to post them here (I’m also posting info on your 11-18-2012 entry regarding the Body Snatchers Steps).

    Counting the steps in each flight from bottom to top:
    25
    11 (Ollie-gets-run-over flight)
    (baby-carriage-encounter landing)
    13
    15
    12
    10
    10
    (police-call landing)
    10
    (professor-encounter landing)
    7
    8
    12
    for a total of 133.

    I didn’t measure each one, but the bottom one varied from 6″ on the left to 5″ on the right, & the top one was 5.5″ to 6.5″. According to Google Earth, the approximate elevation distance is 72 feet (418′-346′), which makes the average step about 6.5″.

Powered by WordPress