This Is Why Sherman Oaks Will Never Bike or Walk

Came back from an eventful visit to the Bay Area this weekend. My mode of transportation, the Greyhound! The cheap and gritty way of travel. I always make sure to never shower, less I want some 6'9, 485 lb coughing bum closing me into a window seat.

Equally cheap was the method of transportation I chose to get from the Greyhound station in North Hollywood on Magnolia Blvd. to my casa back in Panorama City on Nordhoff.

I walk/ran 8 miles in the dark. West on Magnolia, North on Woodman.

I was planning on taking the bus once I hit Woodman, but I wasn't sure where the 158 bus would take me. It said Devonshire...but me remembering the lessons they tell engineers...if you don't know what to do, don't do anything.

On that string of conservatism I ran/walked West on Magnolia for about 2 or 3 miles

I was pretending this was a military drill, as I had my backpack full of crap, a water canteen, and cargo pants.

The thing that I couldn't but notice, that is relevant to this blog?

A nice chunk of that route is unwalkable/unrunnable. I felt like I was fighting for my life just running and walking through in the dark, as I stepped different terrains from mud, to cracked sidewalks, unkempt lawns, to phantom, disappearing sidewalks.

Perilous isn't it.

Try and locate a sidewalk one of these streets.


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Don't see any sidewalks?

Well, neither did I.

I was stuck running/walking those paths from 6-8 on a November night.

There are some plots of land where there's no sidewalk, but just dirt or manicured lawns. Imagine having to cross these at night where there are no street lights and only cars are passing through at 50 mph.


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What exactly do you do when there is no sidewalk and you're just on people's grass?

Is that their fault, or yours? City of LA's?


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Beneath that big tree is a great place to dump a body at night.


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If I wasn't a fit male who likes running and saving tons of money with keen awareness, there would be no way I'd walk from the station to my house.

Pictures posted in case anybody ever wanted visual, physical proof of the utter unwalkability of the San Fernando Valley, particularly in Sherman Oaks.

And why is unwalkability so bad again?

Unwalkability generally means not safe. Not safe means insecurity. Insecurity means borders and fences. Borders and fences mean disconnection. Disconnection means a lack of continuity and community. A lack of continuity and community means less attachment, less personal meaning to residents, less investment in city infrastructure.