Walking from Westwood to Santa Monica with the Sierra Club

I was planning to do something else entirely different on Saturday, January 12. But the day before I decided to check the Angeles Chapter Sierra Club hike schedule online just for the heck of it… because what I was planning to do was necessary but boring. Lucky me, there was a walk from Westwood Blvd. and Wilshire Blvd. to the ocean. Okay, forget necessary, I was on board.

Photo above was our view of the high rises as we moved westward from Westwood.

This statue honoring the Spanish War Veterans stands outside the 114-acre Los Angeles National Cemetery on Wilshire.

So I took the Santa Monica Big Blue Bus Line #12 up to the starting point. My mother swears she is responsible for Santa Monica naming their buses so, and, given the circumstances I believe her, although she never received credit… and I think that is worth some kind of compensation… okay, a whole other story.

At first I thought Westwood to Santa Monica? That is some kind of heavy-duty walk. But it is only about five miles and certainly do-able.

For Angelenos this has been an unusually severe winter, experiencing daytime temperatures in the 50s F (the 10s C). I know, we are weather wimps, but we are not used to it. Worst of all, we had about three days with no sun. Seriously, that is unheard of.

So for this walk I wore a t-shirt under my long-sleeved polo shirt with a jacket over that and an extra folded-up windbreaker in my bag. Oh, and a scarf. And I brought along gloves for good measure.

All the above photos are on the grounds of the Veterans Administration in the Westwood area.

It turned out to be a beautiful day. Halfway through the walk I shed my jacket. Even at the beach I didn’t need it. It wasn’t exactly warm but the wonderful sunshine made everything seem better. Days without sun in LA is like a blizzard in other parts of the country. I’ve been in blizzards and I know.

But you out there in Bad Weather Land probably don’t go to bed every night wondering if you will be woken up at 3:00am by The Big One, the 8.0 on the Richter Scale earthquake that will be the end of civilization as we know it. So count your blessings as you shovel that white stuff.

This beautiful park is all part of the VA. Apparently there has been some talk of selling of this valuable land to developers. Just what we need in LA, more condos and less green space.

This was view about 4.5 miles away from the shining sea. Can you see the sliver of the blue Pacific Ocean at the very end peeking between the buildings?

One entrance to the Los Angeles National Veterans Park.

 

A stark reminder that the American dream didn’t happen for a lot of people.

Artist Tony Delap’s sculpture The Big Wave you see spanning Wilshire Blvd. at center of the photo is considered the unofficial gateway to Santa Monica. 

This building was originally Home Savings. Many people have asked what style of architecture is this? Well, it’s Home Savings. What can I say? Fortunately, most of these buildings around LA have been preserved by subsequent take-overs by Washington Mutual and Chase Bank.

Yes indeedy, people dressed in the the traditional whites still play the British game of bowls in Santa Monica.

Beautiful display of flowering plants at Whole Foods.

A sad tribute to Claire Rose, victim of a hit and run on her 20th birthday July, 2012.

1940s TV in a store window.

Lovely art deco theater, The Wilshire, now closed.

Callahan’s Restaurant – Vienna Bakery, example of streamline art deco architecture. This area was full of art deco buildings before being torn down in the 60s and 70s… nice to see some are still standing.

Can’t find any information about this building as I write this but myguess is it was built circa 1940. I’ll do some research.

Streamline moderne. I love architecture. I especially love the art deco era.!

I enjoyed talking to some lovely, interesting ladies on our walk. At the end of our journey in Santa Monica we split into two groups to have lunch. Some were taking the Metro line #780 back to Westwood.

I was catching the Metro line #733 back to Culver City so I went to lunch with a quartet of adventurous women who had all met on Sierra Club walks and were spending the day in Santa Monica.

We walked along Palisades Park to Santa Monica Place. We bought our Iunches at various places in the food court and sat on the roof with a splendid view of the ocean with the sun beating down on us. A glorious January day.

I would have liked to spend the rest of the day with these women but that necessary project was still waiting for me. So I left them, hoping to meet another day.

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Santa Monica on Dwellable

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