Photo courtesy of Will Campbell
As many of you have heard by now, Marc Abrams (known to most as Silver Lake’s Walking Man) passed away last night. To honor the man who became such a fixture in our community, a few of us have decided to organize a memorial walk in his honor, beginning this Sunday at noon. We will meet at West Silver Lake Drive and Moreno, We will meet in the grassy field next to the Silver Lake Recreation Center, near where he began his daily walks, then follow his usual route.
In 2004, Abrams outlined his route in an interview:
“I usually loop around the lake, and then go down West Silverlake to Rowena, and then Hyperion, and then Griffith Park Blvd. down Sunset, back down Silverlake to the reservoir, and then back and loop around the lake again. So it’s about 15 miles altogether.”
All are welcome to join. Details below:
What: Memorial Walk to Honor Marc Abrams
When: Sunday, July 25 at noon
Where: LOCATION CHANGE! The response has been so overwhelming that we need to accommodate a larger number of attendees. For safety purposes, we have moved the starting location a few blocks away to the grassy field next to the Silver Lake Recreation Center, right at the edge of the Silver Lake Dog Park – a much better place to congregate as numbers arrive. The Silver Lake Recreation Center is located at 1850 W. Silver Lake Dr. 90026. CLICK HERE FOR AN OUTLINE OF THE ENTIRE ROUTE.
Pour on the sunblock, don your short shorts, bring along a folded New York Times and just walk – that’s what he would have done.
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Verdell accidentally became Internet famous for three minutes after tweeting about her unfortunately timed gynecological exam during a 2008 earthquake. She is a charter member of the Los Angeles Diorama Club, believes in supporting local businesses and is a ridiculous collector of vintage jewelry, hats and gloves. Working in PR for a major Hollywood studio, Verdell is a skilled motorcycle rider and does most things left handed. Yes, that too.
Damn. I wanna be there. Any idea how long it will take? I have to pick someone up at LAX around 3-ish. Guess I could just walk until it’s time to bail…
Thanks for the heads-up on this!
I run the lake almost every other day and would see him everytime. I would then stop at the goodbrew for a cold hempale hours after and he’d still be walking! What an icon! RIP walker.
Hey Scott, As long as you can join, you can bail at any point. See you Sunday!
I’ll see you there!
And I’ve mapped the route as he described it:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3900979
It comes up just short of 7 miles so I’m betting he did it a couple times to come up with that 15-mile distance.
Will, I’ve been trying to figure that out, too. Since I’d seen him walk both ways on all those streets, I think he meant once he gets to the lake, he loops and walks the route backwards, all the way back to the lake, then loops the lake again.
Sad to miss this walk, hopefully we can do it again!
Thanks, Will! See you Sunday.
i think the route is spot on. We’ll see you guys @ Moreno on Sunday. Thanks!
And remember to be shirtless!
15 miles will take about 4 hours at a walking pace.
I am thinking that most people will do one complete circuit, so about 2 hours – and then those who wish to do the entire route again will keep on keeping on.
I have lived in Silver Lake for over ten years now and he was one of the first people I saw when I moved in, it was conforting seeing him walking in the morning as I left for work or in the evening as I was coming home, then he started appearing on all these murals in the hood, I loved it!!! He will be missed, it feels like a part of Silver Lake left us, me, our wonderful neighborhood:( I love Silver Lake and all of my neighbors! Thank you to all of you who I don’t see walking around but make Silver Lake the best place to live in LA!!! Much love!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137094406322602 > Official Facebook Event for Memorial Walk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/RIP-Silver-Lake-Walker-Marc-Abrams/128063263904302 > Facebook Tribute Page
All of us who contribute to the Walking in LA blog will be participating and I posted this on our blog and Twitter (@wewalkLA). Thanks so much.
Great idea. See you Sunday.
Dr. Abrams was my doctor for 8 years before he retired. He has done soo much for my family and I. I loved his hours and he was just soo caring. I’m very sad that he has passed! I was shocked to hear about it. My condolences to his wife Cindy and to his family back home!
The Ponce Family
Looking forward to this. But take warning Silver Lake, I’m not necessarily someone you’d want to see shirtless! (Now to find some neon green shorty shorts before Sunday.)
Here is a link to Lauren Malkasian’s short doc about “The Walking Man.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8RolyHokyM
RIP
Sad to learn of Dr. Marc’s death. He was one of the original nominees for “Who’s Who in Silver Lake”. Here’s the link: http://www.thesilverlakenews.com/featured-merchants/
This is such a shock! The Walking Man was indeed a fixture. Whenever I would walk from my house to Trader Joe’s along Griffith Park Blvd., about eight times out of ten I’d see him trucking along. I’d always wanted to say hi, but he was so engrossed in his reading that it seemed like it would’ve been an intrusion, so I never did. *sigh* I will certainly join in on the walk, but will probably meet up with it along Hyperion and stay in until it gets to Sunset, as I’m not really able to do long walks these days.
Greetings Miss RFTC,
I’ve been trying to track you down to send you a message. Would you mind shooting me an email? I am a friend of Cindy, Marc’s wife, and we were planning to do something along these lines… Awesome to see it’s happening! Just want to talk about some logistics. misterstyles2k@yahoo.com. Thanks!
Thanks, Mister Styles. Will e-mail you now!
LOCATION CHANGE! The response has been so overwhelming that we need to accommodate a larger number of attendees. For safety purposes, we have moved the starting location a few blocks away to the grassy field next to the Silver Lake Recreation Center, right at the edge of the Silver Lake Dog Park – a much better place to congregate as numbers arrive. The Silver Lake Recreation Center is located on Van Pelt Place, between Silver Lake Blvd and West Silver Lake Drive.
I was very saddened to hear of his passing, and am very curious about the details as they seem sketchy.
Dr. Abrams was definitely one of the greatest things about Silverlake. One night a drunken group of about 12 people stumbled out of El Conquistador and happened upon the walking man. In our drunken state, someone asked if we could take a picture, and the awesome guy that he was, he said yes! This was a little over a month ago and it’s really sad that he is no longer around. I know this community will miss him, and I know this drunken group will cherish our pictures with Dr. Abrams.
To the organizers of this memorial walk: THANK YOU! thank you for honoring and remebering Dr. Marc by organizing this walk, I feel so much better that I can share my sadness with others, and rejoice in a man who was an inspiration! Thanks!
New post outlining the proposed route for Sunday’s walk: http://blogging.la/2010/07/23/updated-route-for-sundays-memorial-walk/
Dr. Reader Walkerman. We will miss you.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/silver-lake-walking-man-was-under-investigation-in-drug-death.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+lanowblog+%28L.A.+Now%29
Just finished watching Hot Tub Time Machine.
Thanks for sharing, Freddy. It is sad that he may have committed suicide, but that doesn’t change our plans. Tomorrow, we walk!
Well, this page looks way more professional than my yahoo blog. I think I will use WordPress aswell.Your thoughts on this Regards.