There are fewer than 700 steps on this walk, but it still has some breathtaking climbs and drops.
1. Fleming starts this walk at the nightmare triple intersection of Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard and Hillhurst Avenue. I recommend doing anything you can to avoid that, such as parking on a nearby residential street like Rosalia Road (where I parked) or North Commonwealth Avenue, both of which connect to Sunset Drive, where we will start our walk heading east.
2. Be sure you walk on Sunset Drive — not Sunset Boulevard — toward the hills, which, yes, we are going to climb.
3. Walk past Rosalia Road and North Commonwealth Avenue on Sunset, and turn left on Hoover Street.
4. Walk two blocks up Hoover, past Clayton Avenue (jog a little to the right to stay on Hoover) and West Camero Avenue to where the street ends in front of the Hoover Walk, a double-sided staircase with a colorful and slightly graffitied mural. We had to step over a small smoldering fire of dried leaves someone started on the eighth step, but we made it to the top — 38 steps total — otherwise unscathed.
5. Now you’re on Prospect Avenue. Turn right and walk past Talmadge Avenue, with the Prospect Studios on your left. This is a historic Hollywood production facility, initially the home of Vitagraph Studios in 1915 until it was purchased by Warner Bros. in 1925, where they made many movies, including the first talkie, “The Jazz Singer.” ABC purchased the facility in 1948 and it became home to many popular television shows, including “Grey’s Anatomy.” The studio now is owned by Walt Disney Co., which acquired ABC in 1995.
6. Keep walking on Prospect past Myra and Sanborn avenues. The road will start climbing; just past 3976 Prospect, as the road curves left into a blind curve, look for your next set of stairs to the right — the Prospect Walk.
7. These stairs go up 57 steps, without handrails, to Deloz Avenue. Cross the street and continue up another 71 rail-less steps to Hollyvista Avenue. Cross that street and take a deep breath for the final stage — 168 steps up to Franklin Avenue, the top of Franklin Hills.
8. As you catch your breath at the top, look to your right to admire the lovely home with the two-masted boat etched on its chimney and yards with great succulent/cactus landscaping. Then turn left on Franklin and head downhill.
9. When the road begins turning to the right toward Radio Street, look to your left for the Radio Walk staircase. There are some lovely views here at the top of Hollywood, Century City and the Sunset Strip. But now you must begin your descent, which comes in two stages, first 127 steps back down to Hollyvista and then across the street another 97 steps down to Deloz.
10. Turn right on Deloz for just a few steps and then bear left onto Melbourne Avenue (the sign is well hidden by the surrounding trees). Follow Melbourne as it bends to the right, past the playing fields of the Lycée International de Los Angeles (a bilingual French-English K-12 school) and the Norman Harriton Community Garden of Franklin Hills on the left. There are some lovely homes through here, but note the profusion of signs warning about security cameras — a common feature on almost all of my stair walks.
11. As Melbourne curves, it becomes Sanborn Avenue, and at the end is the next step of stairs, 85 wide steps up to Franklin Avenue.
12. This is a busy three-way intersection, with lots of traffic merging onto Franklin from St. George Street directly in front of you. If you have time, take a short detour to the magical Shakespeare Bridge to your left, where you can take photos through the crazy turrets and stare down at the wild garden below, but walk carefully because the sidewalks are narrow. We opted to gaze from a distance and then continued our walk by turning right on Franklin. We crossed to be on the sidewalk, heading uphill, but the sidewalk disappeared after a few houses, so it’s back to street walking, but here, where the road curves up to the right, the traffic isn’t as fierce.
13. Bear right past 3959 heading onto Hollyvista as it winds downhill.
14. Bear right again onto Deloz, passing the Radio Walk steps on your left (unless you want a super workout, in which case you can run up the Radio Walk steps, turn right on Franklin and walk about a block, then run down the Prospect Walk steps to rejoin the walk).
15. If you opt for the sane-and-sensible route, walk straight on Deloz, up and over a small rise, past the Prospect Walk and Hollyvista.
16. When you reach Clayton Avenue, take a moment to admire the Hansel-and-Gretel-style house at the corner and then turn right, heading downhill. As the road winds down, look to the right for some great views of Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood sign, but keep an eye out for traffic since Clayton is another winding, narrow street without sidewalks.
17. Just after Clayton makes a big bend to the right, look to your left for your final staircase under a massive sprawling pine. This is a short climb of 41 steps to the cul-de-sac end of Sanborn Avenue.
18. Walk straight on Sanborn until you reach Cumberland Avenue. Turn right and walk down a very steep hill, past Myra, where the road thankfully flattens and begins a small climb for a block until you reach Talmadge Street and turn left.
19. Walk a short block on Talmadge to Sunset Drive, where you turn right and return to your car.
