Sol Shankman's 93rd Birthday

Nonagenarian Sol Shankman walks the gauntlet of friends and familymembers celebrating his 93rd birthday in Griffith Park where Councilmember LaBonge named a bench for the avid hiker on his favorite trail.

Councilmember Tom LaBonge hosted a 93rd birthday party this morning for avid Griffith Park hiker Sol Shankman by officially dedicating to him a new bench on the nonagenarian’s favorite trail in Vermont Canyon.

“I hereby declare this Sol Shankman’s bench, so that people know a guy named Sol Shankman hiked here for 30 years. Here, here,” Mr. LaBonge said to about fifty friends, members of Mr. Shankman’s family and avid Griffith Park hikers who had gathered for the event. “We should all be so lucky to live to be 93.”

Mr. Shankman added quickly: “To be 93 and vertical,” eliciting a laugh from the crowd.

Part of the trail Mr. Shankman hiked to his new bench was nearly vertical but he hiked the one-third mile trail despite offers of rides from the Griffith Park maintenance crew that installed the bench for him.

Mr. Shankman began daily hikes in Griffith Park in 1976 to address a serious heart malady. Soon thereafter, his health quickly improved. The experience converted Mr. Shankman, a retired chemist who owned a Shankman Lab in Los Angeles in 34 years, into a champion of hiking. All told, Mr. Shankman has walked roughly 31,000 miles in Griffith Park over the past 30 years. In a series of hikes during the 1980s, he also walked from Tijuana to San Francisco along the California coast.

Besides Mr. Shankman and his daughter Janet Williamson, his grandson Gavin Williamson, his girlfriend Anneliese Clay, Honorary Mayor of Griffith Park Louis Alvarado, Dr. Paul Fleiss and other members of the Hilltoppers hiking group.