I know there are many walks around town that are pleasant, but let me tell you about one that invokes the history of Los Angeles and how it came to survive as a city in a desert.Since it’s in an upscale neighborhood that tends to be a bit quiet about its existence, the hiking path is off the beaten path, right in our midst.
The walk we’re talking about is around the Hollywood Reservoir often called Lake Hollywood. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has an access road around the water that is easy to walk or jog and it’s in one of the most iconic of Hollywood settings: under the Hollywood sign, with a deep blue sky above, LA city spread out below into the distance, pine trees shedding needles and cones, slow moving ducks on glassy water, palm fronds and pampas grass hiding wild life on the shore, and plush homes cantilevered over the steep slopes. What more could there be? Since nothing is really perfect let’s toss in a little L.A. history of hubris and downfall.
