SECRET STAIRS OF LA
I'm a history geek, but perhaps not in the typical way. I used to fall asleep in history class when I was in high school.
When I'm in a new place, I need to know everything about it. I immediately go to google to learn as much as possible about wherever I am. I often times will buy books about places that I'm drawn to. I'm obsessed with maps. I collect.
I had seen the book "Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases of Los Angeles," by Charles Fleming being displayed for years. I always thought "hmm, I'd love to check these out, but when? The book will probably just end up sitting there and collecting dust."
You see, from the time I moved to LA in 2008 until August 2017, I had worked in television. If you have any idea of what that world is like, you'll know that it leaves next to zero time for the normal things in life. In the most recent year, I had lost time to exercise, read and do various other things necessary to keep me sane. I also started hating LA. The only part of LA that I was seeing was the long, traffic filled commute to and from the office every day. On weekends, I fled as much as possible so that I could go do something I loved: adventure and photography. I became even more drawn to spending time in nature than I had in the past.
When I finally followed my heart this past August and decided it was time to do what I loved and what was healthy for me - (full time Photography) I found myself coming across this book in another LA bookstore. I bought it. I thought it would be a good way for me to exercise and to start appreciating LA again. I did a few of the routes and decided from then on, I was going to bring my camera with me every time. Charles Fleming writes of 42 secret staircase routes in his book. To keep things exciting for myself, I every time I choose a new route, I choose by using a random number selector. (Like I said earlier, geek.)
I'm still inspired.