1. Start your walk at Bus Shelter F, designated by the F on a large silver column. Walk west toward Pine Avenue. Along the way you’ll notice animal mosaics decorating the ground. The first letter of each animal’s name corresponds with the letter of each bus shelter. Cross Pine and turn left on the street, walking past the historic First National Bank of Long Beach building, which now houses an Italian restaurant on its first floor.
2. Continue north on Pine Avenue until you reach the Pine Square shopping mall. Hang a left at the Johnny Rockets and head to the upper right corner of the mall’s courtyard for your first staircase. Head up 28 steps, and veer left at the top toward the nearby staircase to head down 27 steps. Return to Pine Avenue, where you’ll bear left. Cross at East Third Street and turn right to head east on East Third Street.
3. Walk along East Third Street until you reach a 38-foot high glazed tile mosaic mural on your left, titled “Typical Activities of a Beach and Harbor City” at Harvey Milk Promenade Park. Head up the 40 steps to the left of the mural. Walk northeast across the parking lot to the next staircase, 42 steps down. Turn left (past the Crab Shack Express), and then an immediate right, crossing the crosswalk over East Third Street. Turn left onto the Promenade, a pedestrian-only path.
4. From the Promenade, turn left onto First Street, and then right onto Long Beach Boulevard. At the corner of Long Beach and Ocean Boulevards, you’ll see a historic mural romanticizing the many inhabitats of Long Beach, including the Tongva, its original residents. It was created by Millard Sheets & Associates Designs in 1979. Head east on Ocean Boulevard. Turn right on Linden Avenue, and then turn left on Seaside Way. Where the street dead ends, you’ll find your next staircase to the right. Head 42 steps up to Shoreline Drive.
5. Bear left on Shoreline and then left on Ocean Boulevard. Cross Linden Avenue and then immediately turn left on its other side, headed south. Turn right on Seaside Way, and then immediately right into your next staircase. Head 49 steps up. At the top, you may see a shiny sign reading “Public Accessway.”
6. Head west, walking under apartment buildings, alongside multiple yellow and red long surfboard art pieces. To your left, you’ll see part of artist Wyland’s mural, “Planet Ocean,” on the Long Beach Arena. Completed in 1992, it was the world’s largest mural at the time. Continue west, crossing a bridge over South Hart Place onto the Long Beach Terrace Theater and Plaza.
7. At the plaza’s fountain, make two quick lefts and head down 29 steps. Then jog south to the next staircase, heading 29 steps up, back to the terrace. Turn left and follow the path to the next staircase, going down 38 steps on the southeast side.
8. Head southeast around the Long Beach Arena, pausing to admire a closer view of the aforementioned ocean mural. Continue southeast through the parking lot gate. Just before reaching Shoreline Drive, turn right onto the walking path at Rainbow Lagoon Park.
9. Follow that walking path until you reach a square spiral stairway that leads up from the Rainbow Lagoon path. At the top, take the walking path north toward the Long Beach Convention Center. Turn right into the area between the convention center and Hyatt Regency Long Beach, and take the white staircase on the left up and then follow it down. Take an immediate right and take the staircase up that’s just past a mural of the menacing herons. After 23 steps up, head northwest and turn left down a large staircase that leads to the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. Head north, walking away from the ocean and toward East Seaside Way.
10. At the last palm tree on the Motorsports Walk of Fame, turn right onto your next staircase, heading 47 steps up, taking you from street level to the same level as the Long Beach Convention Center. Head northeast to the Rainbow Bridge walkway, appreciating the plants growing alongside this path. Turn right to exit the bridge down 29 steps and then continue farther down another staircase 29 steps down, turning right on Collins Way. Note: This staircase is sometimes closed for construction. If open, take the staircase up 24 steps to Ocean Boulevard, and hang a left.
11. From Ocean Boulevard, head west. Take a left on Pine Avenue, and then a right on Seaside Way. You’ll soon find your next staircase on the right, a set of 38 steps up, in an area called Pike Park, an homage to an amusement park that thrilled residents until its closure in the late 1960s. Up those steps, you’ll jag left (or west) down Walk of 1,000 Lights, once an impressive light display and boardwalk. Take this until it ends at Biona Court. Turn left and walk until you reach a staircase leading down and out of a parking structure. Head down 36 steps.
12. Back on Seaside Way, head west toward South Chestnut Place. Bear left on South Chestnut Place, taking the sidewalk under the parking structure to head to Shoreline Drive. Cross Shoreline, and then take it northwest under the Queens Way overpass. Your next staircase is on your left, just after you cross under the bridge. Head 25 steps up.
13. Take the sidewalk south, veering right to go down seven steps of a small staircase. Continue south, over Golden Shore, and skirt the eastside of the Catalina Express building, which you might have entered on your way to board a ferry to Catalina Island. Head toward the boats and water.
14. Join the multi-use walking and biking path, heading south, and get ready for a little adventure. Bear left into a parking lot with about 10 palm trees lining its eastern side. Walking south to the parking lot’s exit, you’ll see your next set of stairs, across Golden Shore. Cross carefully here.
15. Head 43 steps up this first staircase after crossing Golden Shore. Up the staircase, you’ll bear right and follow the sidewalk to cross the Queens Way Bridge. Pause here to take in the views of the water and city.
16. Near the large green road sign for the Port of Long Beach, bear right down your next set of stairs. Turn right, walk under the bridge and follow the sidewalk as it curves around Queensway Drive. You’ll find your next set of stairs beside a Queen Mary-themed wayfinding sign. Turn right and head 52 steps up. You’ll now walk over the other side of the Queensway Bridge, parallel to the bike path. From here, you can see the Queen Mary, whose maiden voyage was in 1936. Aw, what pretty blue water!
17. Near the end of the bridge, bear right to head down your last set of stairs in this area. You might have noticed that the four staircases around the bridge are mirror images of each other. Once down, carefully cross Golden Shore and head east through the parking lot ahead of you. At the tan Pierport Landing building, jag left onto the short dirt path, and walk north past the building, over the teal 16-sided star art on the ground. This is a nice spot to take a break, or grab a drink from the nearby water fountain.
18. Follow the pedestrian path northeast, past the Aquarium of the Pacific. Soon after you pass the sidewalk vendor hawking custom-name keychains, you’ll turn left up the Harbor Cruise steps, and then cross Aquarium Way, walking toward Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Head east to the steps just past the restaurant. Take those 36 steps up.
19. Bear right, heading to the bridge that resembles a roller coaster. This 450-foot pedestrian bridge over Shoreline Drive used pieces of the Pike’s Cyclone Racer, once billed “the fastest and steepest ride in the world.” Partway through the bridge, you’ll bear right down toward Aquarium Way. Head east to the next staircase next to Forever 21.
20. Take 36 steps up, and head north past Cinemark. Bear left down 36 steps. Once down, head north, past Cold Stone Creamery, toward Seaside Way. Turn right on Seaside Way, and then left on Pine Avenue. From here, you can either stop and enjoy the restaurants and shops around you, or head north on Pine Avenue to complete your walk by turning right on First Street.