| Santa Monica Stairs | |
| Image Place: | File:Santa Monica Stairs.jpg |
| Place Type: | Stairways |
| Image Caption: | The stairs descending from Adelaide Drive |
| Coordinates: | 34.0319°N -118.5106°W |
| Location: | Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Height: |
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| Steps: |
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| Surface: | Concrete, wood |
The "Santa Monica Stairs" refer primarily to a pair of outdoor stairways in California descending to the northwest from Adelaide Drive in Santa Monica, to Santa Monica Canyon in Los Angeles.
The two well-known stairways descend from Santa Monica to Los Angeles (Santa Monica Canyon). The mis-named "7th Street stairway" has its upper end across from 526 Adelaide Drive, and leads down to Entrada Drive, across the street from Amalfi Drive. It consists of 152 wooden steps and 18 concrete steps in a straight path, about 5.5 feet wide, separated by three horizontal landings. Altogether the 170 steps produce an overall vertical change of about 110 feet.
The "4th-street stairway" begins at the intersection of 4th Street and Adelaide, leading down to Ocean Avenue Extension. It consists solely of concrete flights interconnected by right- and left-hand turns. There are 189 steps producing an overall vertical change of about 115 feet.
On the Pacific Palisades side of Santa Monica Canyon is the so-called "secret Mesa stairway", which is much less used although it has more steps than either of the above. The base is on Mesa Road, next to 404 Mesa and about a 10-minute walk from West Channel Road. 201 concrete steps rise about 100 feet to the intersection of Upper Mesa Road and Amalfi Drive. There is no railing except for the topmost 18 steps, so descending requires caution. (The stairs are sometimes incorrectly called the "La Mesa stairs"--La Mesa Drive is elsewhere in Santa Monica, and there is a La Mesa Stairway in the city of La Mesa in San Diego County.)
Public transit access to the Santa Monica Canyon stairs is available via Metro Los Angeles bus 534 and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus line 9.[1]
Several other lengthy staircases nearby descend from Palisades Park bluffs to overpasses crossing Pacific Coast Highway to the beach:
Some area residents have complained that the stairs have become too popular, and attract too many exercisers to the wealthy neighborhood of multi-million-dollar properties.[2] [3] [4]