If you're up early enough Saturday, you may want to join the Bixby Knolls Strollers, an uptown walking group marking its two-year anniversary.
In 2008, Gordon Cohn, 77, agreed to attend the first walk to help support the event's organizer, his son, Blair Cohn, who serves as the executive director of the Bixby Knolls Improvement Association.
The elder Cohn did not plan to walk more than once, but he and his wife Lois, 76, had so much fun and made so many friends they've been on nearly every stroll since -- missing only when they are out of town.
"The walk itself has just brought goodwill and friendship," Gordon Cohn said, "and, I think, surprise fallout benefits that I don't think Blair or any of us ever anticipated."
Those surprises came by way of invitations to dinner parties, picnics, even weddings from a diverse group of people they never expected to meet.
The size of the group varies from 40 to 50 walkers, who avoid redundancy by changing the routes, which range from about 3.5 to 3.9 miles.
Strollers have covered 374 miles in two years.
Along the way they have passed through the Dominguez Gap, Rancho Los Cerritos, Scherer Park, Bixby Mansion on La Linda, Igor's Alley, Forest Lawn Cemetery, Los Cerritos, Virginia Country Club, California Heights, Sleepy Hollow and the Atlantic Avenue business corridor.
One time they walked over to the Metro Blue Line Station on Wardlow Road and took the train to downtown Long Beach, where they got off and walked the waterfront.
At 7:15 a.m. on Saturdays, walkers meet at the It's a Grind cafe, 4245 Atlantic Ave. They socialize, charge up on coffee and pastries and at 7:30 a.m., hit the pavement -- or the dirt, the gravel or whatever surface they may be crossing that day.
Members walk at their own pace.
"The purpose of the Strollers is to bring the community together and walk around the neighborhoods to become familiar with the businesses and other sites here in this part of the city," Blair Cohn said in an email. "Each week I hear how people are discovering places they hadn't seen before and that is very satisfying. It's a great group of people, and many new friendships have grown out of the weekly strolls."
Other than waking up early on a Saturday, there is no cost -- or residency requirement -- to join the Bixby Knolls Strollers. It's OK to bring dogs.
For more information, call the association 562-595-0081 or write info@bixbyknollsinfo.com.
