The Stairways of UCLA: More Than Just a Climb
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is renowned for its academic excellence, stunning architecture, and vibrant campus life. Among the iconic buildings and verdant landscapes, however, lies a less-celebrated but equally defining feature: its numerous staircases. These stairs serve as a constant presence, bearing witness to the daily lives of students, faculty, staff, and visitors alike. They are more than just a means of traversing the hilly terrain; they are an integral part of the UCLA experience, shaping the physical and social landscape of the campus.
The Ubiquitous Stairways: A Defining Feature of UCLA
The stairs of UCLA serve as a constant amid the tides of an ever-moving campus. They bear witness to thousands of leisurely ascending visitors, to students following the tradition of skipping the sixth step on the Kuruvungna steps, and to the intrepid UCLA staff and faculty who take on the “12 Staircases of December” challenge. UCLA's stairways are more than just functional infrastructure; they are landmarks, meeting points, and even sources of campus lore. They contribute to the unique character of UCLA, distinguishing it from other universities.
The "Death Stairs": A Test of Endurance
One of the most infamous staircases on campus is the "Death Stairs." This daunting set of 60 steps is so steep that the ascent is often marked only by the audible breathlessness of fellow climbers. For students living on the Hill, the cluster of residence halls aptly named for its uphill location, simply getting breakfast can present a strenuous test of physical aptitude, potentially involving a perilous encounter with these stairs.
Evelyn Luu ’21, recognizing the impact of stairs on student life on the Hill, explored the question of which staircases students prefer and which they avoid. As Luu catches her interviewees at the end of their ascent, her questions are met with a pause for breath.
The "Awkward Steps": A Source of Levity
In contrast to the "Death Stairs," the "Awkward Steps" offer a more lighthearted experience. The varying lengths of each step necessitate a lunging gait, a loping stride, or even hopping, turning the simple act of climbing into a comical endeavor. A trip back from campus by way of the “Awkward Steps” may offer a little levity as the length of each step necessitates a lunging gait, a loping stride, even hopping.
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The Hill: An Uphill Battle
This integral aspect of campus life prompted Evelyn Luu ’21 to take a closer look at how stairs impact student life on the Hill -- the aptly named cluster of residence halls that quite literally signal a daily uphill battle. For students, simply getting breakfast presents a strenuous test of physical aptitude.
Bruin Walk: Navigating the Crowd
Bruin Walk is one of the main walkways through campus. It’s almost always crowded with students and club tables advertising their events. When you’re already running late, it’s best to steer clear, unless you want to be stopped by clubs, vendors and someone hoping you’ll sign their petition. Navigating Bruin Walk can easily add extra minutes to your commute, leaving you holding five flyers you never asked for, making it best to use an alternate route.
Informal Guidelines: Navigating UCLA Life
UCLA has thousands of students and countless tours throughout the year. While these tours help new students and visitors navigate the campus and understand the history behind the buildings, they often miss some of the most important tips. Here’s five of the informal guidelines every true Bruin lives by.
Rule 1: A napkin on the table in the dining halls means the spot is saved. UCLA houses the No.1 dining hall in the nation, and with the thousands of students living in the dorms, it can get crowded in the dining halls during peak meal times. It may be difficult to acquire enough seats for all of your friends, but if you see a napkin on the table, chances are it isn’t just leftover trash, but that the chair is already reserved and it’s time for you to find another table.
Rule 2: If you’re going up one flight of stairs, it’s better to take the stairs than the elevator. Most dorm buildings only have one or two elevators, so for students living on higher floors, waits can be brutal. If you’re only going up one floor, it’s usually better to take the stairs than to hold up the elevator and get hit with death glares from people trying to make it to the ninth floor.
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Rule 4: Never go to Powell Library during finals week. You may think that that’s the perfect place to lock in on campus, with the best aesthetics and an easy way to romanticize the study grind. But chances are, during finals week there won’t be a single spot and you’ll waste more time finding a chair than studying. On top of that, with a packed library, Wi-Fi will be much slower and it’s best to find another spot in the various libraries and study lounges across campus.
Rule 5: In-N-Out is one of the restaurants that stay open the latest during the night. When the dining halls have closed and everything else has shut down, it may be your best bet. It is open well past midnight, giving you a perfect spot to fulfill those late night cravings instead of DoorDashing and spending an extra $15 on delivery for food.
The Architectural Style of UCLA
The architectural language of UCLA’s earliest buildings is rooted in the Lombard Romanesque style of northern Italy. That choice wasn’t accidental. The architects wanted a style that aligned with Southern California’s Mediterranean climate and cultural sensibilities. Kerckhoff Hall is the exception - and intentionally so. Because it was conceived as a student building, the director, architects and possibly Mrs. Kerckhoff wanted it to have a different character. They chose a Gothic style. While the rest of the original quad speaks in a unified Romanesque voice, Kerckhoff stands apart, signaling that student life had its own distinct place and spirit on the emerging campus.
As for Royce Hall and its neighboring trio of buildings, a lot of symbolism is at play. The university’s founders wanted to gesture toward the lineage of Europe’s earliest centers of learning. If you walk into the front lobby of Royce Hall today and look up at the eight painted “wooden” (disguised concrete) beams, you’ll see the seals of 16 European universities, two on each beam, starting with the oldest: Bologna and Paris, Oxford and Cambridge, Padua and Salamanca, Prague and Montpelier, Heidelberg and Uppsala, St. Andrews and Leyden.
A Campus of History and Innovation
On Feb. 19, 1926, a 75-ton granite boulder hauled from Perris Valley in Riverside County was placed on the site that would become UCLA’s new home in Westwood. Today, Founders’ Rock sits across from Murphy Hall at the northeast corner of Dickson Court and Charles E. Young Drive. Its original intention was to serve as a marker, similar to “Founders’ Rock” in Berkeley, where the University of California was dedicated in 1860.
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When ground was first broken on May 3, 1927, the first structure built was the Arroyo Bridge. It was needed to transport building materials across the deep ravine, or arroyo, which originally cut through the campus. On Sept. 21 of that year, Dr. Ernest Carroll Moore, the first director of the University of California at Los Angeles, or the Southern Campus, as it was called by the student yearbooks, turned the first shovel of earth for the construction of what would go on to be UCLA’s famed quadrangle.
Before his death, lumber and energy magnate William G. Kerckhoff, who helped bring electricity to California, told his wife, Louise, that he wished to fund a building for student purposes. She ultimately gave more than $715,000 toward its construction and more than $100,000 for its furnishings.
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