Ready to put the rubber to the road, via your sneakers that is, and march from city to sea with the Great Los Angeles Walk? It’s 17 miles of traipsing through Los Angeles, not for a cause nor a title nor a time, but for the walk.
The event will take place Saturday, Nov 17, the Saturday before Thanksgiving, beginning with a kick-off at Disney Hall at 8 am. The actual walk will start at 9 am and journey west along 1st St and onto Beverly, north on Virgil, then west again on Melrose Ave to Santa Monica Blvd and out to the ocean.
You can join the walk at any point, and those of us in the Larchmont / Hancock Park area could connect with the group up on Melrose, making it an approximately 12 mile route instead of the full 16.9. La Cienega and Melrose is considered the approximate half-way point and will be the location for a one hour lunch break.  Several hikers will be Twittering as they walk, including the organizer at @greatlawalk so check Twitter to figure out where along the route the group can be found at any given time.
One does have to make plans on how to get back home, but the Great Los Angeles Walk people have sketched out a variety of ways to do this, from dropping off a car at the end of the route earlier in the day, to taking Metro back to your starting point. You can find many answers to a variety of questions on the Franklin Ave. website.
They expect about 250 walkers, and encourage people to sign up ahead of time.
Why are they doing this? In the words of the organizer:
Why not? There’s no special reason, no charity, no protest, no issue we’re promoting — other than a passion for Los Angeles. In 2006, I organized our walk down Wilshire to mark my 10th anniversary in Los Angeles. But it was so much fun, and it was a chance to meet so many new people, that we did it again in 2007, down Pico; in 2008, via Sunset and Santa Monica Blvd.; and in 2009, we hit West Adams as we walked down Adams and Washington to Venice Beach. In 2010, we returned to Wilshire for the fifth walk, and in 2011, we hit Hollywood. This year, it’s Melrose’s turn. ÂSome Larchmont Buzzers are planning on joining the walk and would love to get a group from the neighborhood to walk together. Interested in adding a long stroll to your list of athletic accomplishments? Send an email to [email protected] and we’ll make it happen. It should be a great way to burn a few calories prior to consuming a lot more on Turkey Day.
Saturday, Nov 17, 2012 8 am meet, 9 am walk – to late afternoon? Meet on steps of Disney Concert Hall 111 S. Grand (at First St downtown)
