King of the Hill

Now suffering from macular degeneration, Shankman can no longer read without a magnifying glass, but he still has a keen eye for plant and animal life. On a recent walk, he offered a wild mustard bloom to a companion and asked if she could see a long-stemmed white flower blooming anywhere. "It's about time for them," he says. "Coming up here to see the greenery, I don't need a glass. I feel the presence of a hawk, or the quail. When I'm reincarnated — and I don't believe in it — I want to come back a hawk." Whatever happens, Shankman's will provides some $15,000 to the city — to help create more parks.

When he was younger, Shankman took a far more impressive hike, walking (over several weekends) the California beach from the Mexican border to San Francisco. But it is Griffith Park that has sustained him. "The park has been a perfect retirement. It soothes me, it caresses me, it tells me that it's okay to go on living."

And the relationship continues to evolve. Occasionally, Shankman plants something. One year it was 100 Watsonia bulbs, another time he spread a pound of (or about 500,000) poppy seeds. More recently, with the help of some of his friends, he placed an old outdoor chair at a junction on the trail. He put it there just in case he gets tired and needs to sit down and rest a while. He hasn't used it yet.