Advocates Wonder Why Some Echo Park Staircases Are Off Limits

A century ago in Los Angeles,  municipal stairways were as frequented as, perhaps, our highways are today. They were used primarily to access streetcar lines, but they also gave residents a great workout.

But over time, the city began closing these historic right-of-ways. Closures occurred on the basis of nuisance complaints—burglary attempts, drug deals, loitering, broken steps, excessive trash. Some were closed through an ordinance called an "irrevocable permit," which allows you to close stairs temporarily (say, for a clean-up). The problem occurred when the city issued these permits and never revoked them--for as long as 30 years. Today, most of L.A's stairs are closed through the correct vehicle code provisions, Vacation of Street Process and state law Section 37359."

It was suddenly lawful, even in the public's interest, to barricade publicly owned land—evidence wasn't always required. Stairs once closed, remain closed for decades for problems that may no longer exist.

In 1990, a city council motion shut down the Parkman-Westerly Terrace stairs due to criminal activity from 20 years ago.The  Sunset-Sanborn stairs closed temporarily after loitering complaints. A loitering complaint also locked off the Fargo-Rockford stairs, now closed for a decade. Over Thanksgiving, residents near the Effie-Mohawk stairs attempted to lock their own gate without city permission, though it was later reopened.

"Most of criminal activity happened 30 years ago. Why don't they open them now?" asked Professor Phyl van Ammers, who teaches Urban Studies and Planning at California State Northridge and researched the effect and legality of city's closures of its municipal stairways in "Urban Studies & Planning: Undoing Community Design: Edendale."

"There could be crime anywhere. Are you going to close everything?" van Ammers said, noting that stairs should be treated as public streets.

"What is it about stairs that make them more uniquely crime-ridden than the street right in front if it?"

Parkman-Westerly closure is an isolated incident in Councilman Tom LaBonge's district, according to LaBonge Communications Deputy Todd Leitz, who blames safety and sanitation, gangs and poorly lit stairs. He said that opening stairs "requires some get-togethers and discussion."

While LaBonge organized a stairs clean-up, Leitz points to budget cuts for being unable to do more. "Cleaning and maintaining public stairways is under the purview of the Bureau of Street Services, part of the L.A. Department of Public Works," he said.

Still, many support a reopening. "Crime would be reduced if people could use them," said Bob Herzog of Silver Lake History Collective. "There's a romantic, Mediterranean quality about the stairs, we want to see them preserved and used."

Charles Fleming, author of Secret Stairs: A Walking Guide to the Historic Staircases argued that many closed public stairs exist in both Tom LaBonge and Eric Garcetti's districts.

"Both men say they are concerned, but neither has been concerned enough to take action," Fleming said. "Stairs are like public parks, the correct response is not to close them.  I think it's to bring [in] more people."

Others like resident Jim Schneeweis question the city's lax attitude about cleaning decrepit stairs.

"I'm not sure why the city closes public stairways," he said, adding that for years one local stairway was littered with garbage and graffiti, until community members got together and cleaned it.

"In three hours, a group effort managed to do what the city should have done years ago," he added.

Another concern is that once officially closed, select individuals still can access the stairs.

With the Parkman-Westerly Terrace closure, nearby residents were given private access by way of a key. One interpretation was that, in effect, the city council was gifting publicly owned property to adjacent property owners—an illegal act, according to the California Constitution, Article 16, which prohibits a municipality giving away public property.

Van Ammers, who included the illegality of this act in her research, also points to a 1994 case that finally challenged the city's action about gifting.

In Citizens Against Gated Enclaves v. Whitley Heights Civic Assn. a California court of appeal held that the city could not withdraw streets and stairways from public use while allowing some to use those streets.

Despite potential hazards from closures, many said they feel stairs are public and belong to the community.

"To say it's impossible to open them and give public land to private citizens is absolutely wrong," said Elizabeth Bougart-Sharkov of the Urban Design and Preservation advisory committee of the Silver Lake neighborhood council.

For now, community efforts like Los Angeles Stairstreet Advocates and Fleming's monthly stairs-walk groups push to educate the community.

"It's shocking to me how few people know about the staircases at all," he said. "Stairs are heavy pedestrian areas that would allow active, healthy use by citizens."

Wanna scout more Echo Park stairs? Check out the Echo Park Historical Society's map.