In defense of Los Angeles as a superb walking city

I am shocked that so many people in the comments, and on Twitter, scoffed at this notion which I put forward the other day.

First, in Los Angeles the weather is almost always very good for walking.  That is a big plus, to say the least.  It is not just that the average quality of experience is high, but you can make advance plans to be walking and arrange your life accordingly.

To be concrete, here are a few of the many splendid walks in the greater Los Angeles area: Almost anywhere in mid-Wilshire, downtown Santa Monica, Melrose, central Westwood, Beverly Hills, a blossoming Downtown (just don’t jaywalk), Pasadena and Glendale, most residential parts of Hollywood, almost any beach locale (and there are many), and even (limited) parts of Sunset.  How many cities have great walks where you can be on the beach and/or see the mountains?  Or where you can stop for first-rate ethnic food almost anywhere?

I will grant that Santa Monica Boulevard is not ideal for walking on many of its parts, nor is all of Culver City.  Is Manhattan’s Park Ave. always so fascinating?

My personal favorite walk is to start somewhere such as Olympic and walk up Vermont, exploring side streets along the way and stopping for Asian food or pupusas.  My two favorites car drives are Sunset and then Griffith Park all the way down to the bottom of Western, or vice versa, stopping for Belizean food along the way.

Here is my earlier post on which are good walking cities, London wins the overall #1.

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