Hundreds set to walk 16 miles from Echo Park to Santa Monica Pier in annual Great Los Angeles Walk

Hundreds of strangers are expected to spend part of their weekend simply walking when the Great Los Angeles Walk holds its annual pre-Thanksgiving outing on Saturday, Nov. 21, this year honoring the centennial of Route 66.

The free event begins at 9 a.m. at Echo Park Lake, near the Lady of the Lake statue, and ends roughly 16 miles later at the "End of Route 66" marker at the Santa Monica Pier. Anyone can take part just by showing up.

"For years people were asking us, 'What are you doing?'" said Michael Schneider, founder of the Great Los Angeles Walk. The answer is nothing more than walking. The strolls are maximalist by design, usually covering the entire length of a chosen thoroughfare. Past routes have included Sunset Boulevard, Melrose Avenue and Ventura Boulevard.

The tradition started in 2006 with Wilshire Boulevard. Schneider, who had reached the milestone of living in Los Angeles for a decade, was inspired by a book about the street's history to walk its entire 15.8 miles on foot. He invited others to join through his blog, Franklin Avenue, and about two dozen people showed up.

That first group popped into storefronts, stopped by restaurants, sneaked into the Park Plaza Hotel near MacArthur Park and made their way up to the roof. "That kind of unearthed a whole new side of Los Angeles as we walked down Wilshire," Schneider said. By the time the trek reached the ocean, participants were already asking about the next year, and the walk has landed on the Saturday before Thanksgiving ever since. "I inadvertently turned it into an annual tradition," he said.

The 2007 installment covered Pico Boulevard, with restaurant recommendations along the route handpicked by the late Pulitzer-winning food critic Jonathan Gold. Schneider later added themed walks, including the March of Los Pobladores, which retraces the final leg of the 1781 journey taken by the original founders of Los Angeles from the San Gabriel Mission to downtown, and a USC to UCLA walk when the rivals faced off on game day.

This year's route starts in Echo Park, runs the whole way down Santa Monica Boulevard and finishes at the pier, totaling about 16 miles. "You see so many different versions of Los Angeles," Schneider said.

As many as 600 people now join the walk, Schneider said, and its reputation has grown with the crowd. One year the group walked past Magic Johnson. "He waved at us," Schneider said. "Probably was wondering why [there were] hundreds of people walking past where he was." These days, he added, "Now we find a lot of people who know who we are. You hear people say, 'Hey, it's the Great L.A. Walk.'"

Schneider stressed that the walk is meant to be leisurely and that everyone moves at their own pace. "I try to tell people every year, 'Take your time,'" he said. "Your body will thank you, too." More information is available at greatlawalk.blogspot.com.