Santa Monica Stairs

Santa Monica Stairs are a pair of outdoor staircases in California near Pacific Palisades descending Santa Monica Canyon to the northwest from Adelaide Drive.(4th Street & Adelaide Drive, Santa Monica, California 90402)

Details

The one that begins near the intersection of 7th Street leads to Entrada Drive. It consists of a mixture of wooden and concrete flights in a straight path, about 5.5 feet wide, separated by three horizontal landings. Altogether there are 160-170 steps producing an overall vertical change of about 109 feet. (roughly similar to an 8 story building)

The one that begins near the intersection of 4th Street leads to Ocean Avenue Ext. It consists solely of concrete flights interconnected by right- and left-hand turns. There are 187-189 steps producing an overall vertical change of about 111 feet.

Several other lengthy staircases nearby descend from Palisades Park bluffs to overpasses crossing Pacific Coast Highway to the beach:

• One near Montana Avenue has 168 steps rising about 105 feet above PCH.

• One near Idaho Avenue has 48 steps rising about 30 feet above the California Incline.

• One near Arizona Avenue has 111 steps rising about 65 feet above PCH.

• One near Broadway has about 30 steps rising about 50 feet above PCH.

Controversy

Some area residents have complained that the stairs have become too popular, and attract too many exercisers to the wealthy neighborhood of multimillion-dollar properties.^[1][2][3]

See also

• Culver City Stairs
• Stair climbing
• Tower running

References

1. Ben Tracy (February 18, 2009). "Santa Monica's Disputed Steps". CBS News TV report. Retrieved February 24, 2010.
2. "Where the Traffic Median Is a No-Pilates Zone". New York Times. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
3. "The Most Popular Gym Is the City Itself". New York Times. 2010-06-06. Retrieved 2013-09-03.

External links

• Facebook page for the Santa Monica Stairs
• Santa Monica's tourism page mentioning the overpass staircases