High Tower Elevator

Sometimes I feel like I’m Columbising (urban dictionary taught me this) the «secret» stairs around town, considering there’s a whole famous book about them and they’re easily google-​able, but when I tell people about my stair «discoveries,» they’re always in such awe and want to go themselves. This, coupled with the fact that I can’t find Unilocal entries on some of these stairs, makes me think, wait, maybe I AM THE MUTHA EFFING COLUMBUS.
So for these stairs, just google «Hightower Secret Stairs.» The first result will be a PDF from the Secret Stairs book called «Walk #37 Hollywood Bowl and Hightower Loop». Just print that ish and go. The stairs aren’t continuous so you’ll need this to at least find out where to go for the next set of stairs. It’s just a guide so you can veer off as you feel necessary to explore whatevers. YOU DO YOU. Just leave a trail of breadcrumbs and/​or donut pieces to find your way back.
For one, I didn’t even know this time-​space-​warp of a neighborhood even existed behind the Hollywood Bowl, but it absolutely does. And it’s a rather peaceful one too. It has all the charm but without the pretentiousness of other hillside communities. The crowning glory and namesake of this «urban hike» (shown in all the photos) is the Hightower that’s actually just an elevator for residents who live at the top of the hillside. It’s cool and unique to see mostly because of the fact that it’s an elevator that’s so elaborate (YOU can’t use it though, it’s for THEM). But I thought the BEST thing about this hike was the little walkable Alta Loma neighborhood around the Hightower. Like, it’s literally ONLY walkable, you can’t get to the hood from any motorized vehicle. Residents have to park down in the Hollywood Bowl area and then walk up to their homes through a maze of CUTE pathways and stairs, and for some, using the tower/​elevator. I mean, I wouldn’t personally live in this secluded, anti-​grocery carrying, foot-​oriented hell, but it’s such a trip to see!
So not only do you get to discover a new place in our beloved city, but you also get some good exercise on several sets of stairs (there’s one set that’s actually pretty intense), you get to pick the house you imagine you’ll live in one day even though we both know that’s not true, and you get a butt-​load of Instagrammable photos. And if you don’t Instagram your photos, really what’s the point?
The only thing I would say is that parking will be nearly impossible around the area of the stairs, so I suggest you either take the subway to Hollywood/​Highland or park along the residential streets off of Hollywood Boulevard, grab a bite to eat, and then walk up to the stairs as if you were too cheap to pay for Hollywood Bowl parking and had to walk up with all your picnic gear, aka welcome to my life. Enjoy and happy Columbising!

The High Tower elevator is a five-​story elevator built in the 1920s. It was designed by architect Carl Kay in the style of a campanile, a freestanding bell tower, seen in Bologna, Italy. The elevator is used by the residents who live in High Tower Court. Carl Kay also designed the fourplex of homes located at the top of the elevator. The homes are of the Streamline Modererne design, a type of Art Deco architecture. Lloyd Wright designed the fifth home located in the back of the property.
The day I visited I was lucky enough to be able to ride in the elevator. I kindly asked one of the residents that happened to be heading home. The elevator has been featured in a number of movies such The Long Goodbye, The High Window, and Dead Again. There is also a nearby stairway that is featured in the book Secret Stairs of Los Angeles.
Once you reach the top you can take a nice stroll along Broadview and Alta Loma Terrace and enjoy some of the unique looking homes. The walkway leads to the Hollywood Bowl parking lot. I read that it was modeled after sidewalks of Positano, Italy. Along the way you’ll pass another notable home, the B.A.G. Fuller House, a Los Angeles Historic-​Cultural Monument.