Comments on: Our Practical Stairway, Documented

By: Fragmentary Evidence

Fragmentary Evidence — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:05:10 +0000

[...] The trail is a pleasant enough place to take a walk, but with truly glorious parks like Joaquin Miller and Redwood and Sibley just up the street, I’d be surprised if it’s used very much for recreation except by people who happen to live in the neighborhood. So it was heartening to see how well-used the trail is for quotidian, utilitarian purposes. In my half hour walking up the trail and back, I passed at least a dozen people who were clearly walking home from the grocery store, or biking home from errands, or walking down to Montclair Village to go to a coffee shop or the bank or wherever. That’s more people than I sometimes see walking around in my own denser, more walkable neighborhood! Since there are no sidewalks on most residential streets in Montclair, and the curvy and steep roads can make for tiring, long, and dangerous walking, I doubt that most of those people I saw would have been walking to and from Montclair Village if they didn’t have the trail. (There are some public stairways around Montclair which serve much the same function.) [...]

By: Andy K

Andy K — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 21:19:54 +0000

Love these hidden paths.

By: JP

JP — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 22:18:33 +0000

Two more suggestions for those who love our public stairways:

1) The “Walk Oakland” map (I bought mine from the Oakland Heritage Alliance, but there’s a list of other vendors here http://www.oaklandpw.com/Page129.aspx, including Great Good Place for Books in the Village) has all sorts of public pathways and stairs marked on it.

2) Stephen Altschuler’s book “Hidden Walks in the East Bay and Marin” is a great resource for exploring. We’ve had a lot of fun picking walks from it and learning about our neighborhood and others.

By: montclairoak

montclairoak — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:36:23 +0000

Stairs are located between Merriewood and Thornhill Drives. From Thornhill, pass the elementary school and look for the painted crossway – not too far from the Valley View turn-off.

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:21:49 +0000

Where is this? Just moved to the neighborhood and haven’t seen this yet.