By Ken Kramer
Here is an historical fact: The StairMaster was patented in 1987 and, according to Deep Dive sources, it was quickly embraced by celebrities like Arnold Schwarzenneger, Cher, and Oprah. 75-years earlier they might have been impressed with our county.
When developers were imagining the residential neighborhoods of Mount Nebo and Windsor Hills in La Mesa, they right away saw both a problem and an opportunity. Let’s say a friend lived in a house on the street directly above you. It might be close enough to wave or shout, but to actually get up there required hiking a lot of winding streets and was a time-consuming trek. Down the hill, La Mesa Village with its shops and stores seemed tantalizing close, but your pedometer told a different story.
So, as a shortcut, those builders built a system of public stairways that remain to this day. Near Canterbury and Windsor Drives is the most remarkable of several. It crosses two other streets while ascending 245 steps to the aptly named Summit Drive. Perfumed by blossoming backyard citrus trees, it takes the mind back to Buffalo Nickel days when neighbors might have greeted a passerby with a wave and a lemonade.
Ok, maybe I am over-romanticizing a bit, but the Secret Stairs of La Mesa, as they are sometimes called, are a throwback to a time when developers thought more about people than cost per square foot.
You can see the result in other San Diego area communities like Rolando and Valencia Park, where walkways and public stairways provide a very human connection that unifies the neighborhood and provides a kind of charm local residents rightly celebrate. In 2022 in Valencia Park, community volunteers and donors stepped up to clear away brush that had overgrown stairs linking Las Alturas to Churchward Street. On one afternoon, four local artists came and began painting poppies on the steps and walkways leading up to them. Allegedly, when the neighborhood was being built there were still many open lots, and the developer’s wife would love to gather wildflowers. It is said that he built the shortcuts for her. I love that story.
There are certainly more mighty staircases in our county. Our beaches, and the San Diego Convention Center, offer extremely challenging workouts that Arnold, Cher, and Oprah would doubtless endorse. And the stairs of La Mesa, Rolando, and Valencia Park see their share of fitness seekers. But these public stairways stimulate much more – an appreciation of the elegant partnership between contractor and community; a gratitude for intelligent human planning all those years ago, and a thanks for what, history has proven, was a really good idea.
