With its grand staircase and perfect lawn, Janss Steps looks like a place simply meant for panoramic senior photos or your average summer picnic. While both of these do take place, Bruins have spent years bringing chaos and creativity to this area. When you pass by the steps, you will find different kinds of students, groups, and activities on each patch of grass and every step. It’s safe to say that Janss was not intended to be a playground for young adults, but then what would we do with all of our (super limited) free time?
I’m convinced most students only approach Janss with one intention: to ride something down them, not climb them. Whether that be the actual steps or the grass beside them, students always seem to find a new sliding method.
Starting with ice-blocking, Bruins love to buy frozen blocks from the nearest grocery store and launch themselves down the grassy slope. You’d be surprised at how fast a student on an ice block can go. The grass and dirt stains acquired match those of the slip-and-sliders. My personal favorite, and most frequently occurring in late Spring, slip-and-slides turn the hill into a soapy mess. Not only are there speakers cycling playlists with no clear genre, but the grass finally gets watered!
Some Bruins take a more coastal approach, bringing surfboards, skateboards without wheels or even cardboard boxes. While not always the most successful when it’s dry out, the rain transforms Janss into a grassy wave. Watching students carve down the hillside can be both impressive and a bit concerning.
Steering away from gliding down the grass, every now and then you’ll come across a tightrope walker. With a slack line stretched between two trees, Janss becomes a pop-up circus. Some Bruins go farther than just walking or balancing, they jump across and manage to stick the landing.
That being said, not all Janss characters are thrill seekers. Scattered around the ice-blockers and slacklines are Bruins lying on blankets or hammocks, studying, painting, having picnics, and even having incredibly philosophical conversations. At the end of the year, you’ll see these conversations start to pick up as graduation creeps closer. While Janss was probably never intended as a spot for tearful senior goodbye’s, I’m sure I will find my way there next year too.
Lastly, I can’t miss out on an opportunity to discuss the “Undie Run,” an event that Janss most certainly never saw coming. Once a quarter, the steps become a meeting ground for thousands of students in their underwear. This tradition inevitably places the many different characters of UCLA all in one spot.
Together, these characters make Janss Steps more than a staircase. This unpredictable space is home to some of the most imaginative, and occasionally the strangest, activities on campus, allowing students to remember that college is supposed to be ridiculously fun.