The Secret Elevator in the Hollywood Hills

The elevator towers over the streets and garages below it. Rozette Rago

The path to the tour is paved with flowers and palms. Jessica Hester/Atlas Obscura

Its European roots are clear. Jessica Hester/Atlas Obscura

The tower is easy to spot from a distance. Jessica Hester/Atlas Obscura

The stairs are steep. Jessica Hester/Atlas Obscura

Going up! Rozette Rago

Avoiding Regret (Used with permission) (Creative Commons)

The High Tower Elevator might prompt you to do a double take. One minute, you were scaling the steep, winding streets of the Hollywood Heights neighborhood. The next minute, you were…transported to Europe of centuries past?

The five-story tower, a short walk from the Hollywood Bowl, went up around a century ago, to spare the residents of this notoriously hilly enclave from huffing and puffing their way to their doors. It’s modeled after Italian campaniles, or freestanding bell towers, and offers an easy path skyward, with a killer view of downtown L.A.

To climb aboard, you have to be a resident of one of the surrounding homes. These were designed by the architect Carl Kay, and went up between 1935 and 1956.

Even if you can’t catch a ride, the elevator is worth a stop—partly just because the route to it feels hidden and nearly magical. On the way up, beginning on Camrose Drive, you’ll pass plenty of palm trees, beautiful blooms, and lizards sunning or scuttling in the sunshine. It will be easy to cast yourself in a daydream about Old Hollywood.