A Neighborhood Where Snow Plows Can't Go

Following the post-Christmas blizzard, George Salorio shoveled through four-foot-high snowdrifts along the length of July Walk, where he has lived since 1982. He, his son Justin, and their neighbors must do this, otherwise they have no way to get to their cars on nearby streets, since their homes are without driveways or garages.

“Neighbors, as usual, also dug out and therefore allowed us access to both Walnut Street and Park Avenue,” Salorio said about the Dec. 26-27 storm.

While West End and Canals residents live on some of the narrowest streets in Long Beach, creating problems for snow removal after storms, Walks residents never see snow plows drive past their front windows — because their homes are separated only by sidewalks.  

The 10 blocks of Walks have no direct street access. The bungalows on each walk face east and west and are sandwiched behind homes facing north and south from West Park Avenue, the neighborhood’s northern border, to West Beech Street to the south. The walks themselves run north-south, from Lindell Avenue, the eastern border, to New York Avenue. The homes are little more than arm-spans apart, and their “yards” are best described as patches of grass.

This close proximity, however, has made the historic area known for its neighborly intimacy, whether homeowners are picking up groceries for one another or shoveling snow together to clear a path to the surrounding streets. 

Whenever snow falls heavily, Jamie Lynch of May Walk uses his snow blower out to clear his walk and surrounding areas, about 15 to 20 homes in all. Lynch said that while he and many Walks neighbors help each other dig out to their cars, their neighborhood suffers from a lack of parking and a reluctant to leave their parking spots.  

“When it’s snowing, they’re better off leaving their cars where they are, let the streets get cleaned up, then they can go about their business, because if they dig themselves out, they’re almost guaranteed that they will never get that spot back again anyway,” Lynch said. “We’ve grown accustomed to that.”

Another issue is the height of the homes. During the post-Christmas storm, Lynch said his neighbor had to climb out his window where there was less snow because it had mostly drifted to his front door and blocked him from getting out of his home that, like many there, has almost no elevation.

September Walk resident Kate Falvey is still recovering from surgery and her neighbor, Jim Allen, shoveled her stoop and path in front of their homes out to West Park Avenue after a recent storm.  

“I went out with my shovel and all was done,” Falvey said. “He's done this for me before. I had open-heart surgery this past fall and Jim knew about it. Met him and his wife in the grocery store and thanked him profusely. He said, ‘don’t even think about lifting a shovel if we get hit again.’”

Gordon Hemsley, a who has lived on May Walk all of his 22 years, recalled how as a kid he shoveled neighbors’ properties and paths and earned a few dollars. These days, though, he joins with others on his Walk to work together, and not just to shovel snow.    

“During one of last year's storms, I was out shoveling along with others on the Walk,” he said. “At the beginning of this past holiday season, the whole Walk worked together to put up arches and other decorations.”

Lynch, who is head of the Walks Association, a civics group, said that the neighborhood looked into hiring a private landscape company to clear the sidewalks, but residents ultimately decided against it.

“The fact of the matter is the liability on insurance is just to great,” he said. “It’s not cost effective. We really just work on helping each other out.”