Streetsblog Los Angeles

There were lots of cameras, but only one outlet broadcasted the parklet opening live.

It felt like a political rally.

“Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow” was blaring from the speakers. One speaker at the microphone, LADOT Pedestrian Coordinator Valerie Watson, proclaimed, “It’s the dawn of a new day!” from the podium. Roughly 100 people gathered in a circle, hooting and hollering at the applause lines (“Let’s hear it for UCLA!”) .

But, despite the presence of Jose Huizar, one of the Council Members that represents Downtown Los Angeles, it wasn’t a political rally. It’s was the opening ceremony for the second and third parklets in the City of Los Angeles. Parklets are extensions of the sidewalk, usually into what was a car parking area, that provide seating and recreational public space to encourage increased pedestrian use and community interaction.

This morning in front of LA Cafe, at 639 Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, the Spring Street Parklets were officially open for business. These parklets join the Highland Park parklet as the only ones of their kind in city limits. On February 16th, the third Parklet will open in El Sereno. All four parklets are inside Huizar’s Council District 14.

While L.A. is not the first city to turn parking space into open space, the city has tried to do something different and unique with their parklets. In Highland Park, the parklet is not attached to an eatery, but is more of a communal open space that just happens to be located in what used to be a parking spot. On Spring Street, the theme is exercise. In addition to chairs, benches, and tables, both parklets have a pair of exercise bicycles. The one in front of LA Cafe also has a foosball table, although nobody pointed to that as an example of exercise equipment.

“More and more, Downtown Los Angeles is becoming an increasingly vibrant and dynamic place to live, work, shop and entertain,” said Councilmember José Huizar. “The Spring Street parklets will add to Downtown’s unique urban atmosphere, encouraging and supporting a pedestrian-friendly, local experience…we are creating a model that can be used throughout the city.”

In fact, the story of all four of L.A.’s parklets started at the community level. When Living Streets L.A. and Huizar’s office teamed to create community created projects in El Sereno and Highland Park, both communities selected parklets. At the same time, the Downtown Neighborhood Council, pushed by Watson and President Patti Berman were pushing a separate program to bring parklets to the Downtown.

“It all kind of worked out,” Huizar said of the timing of the two programs.

Read more…

City leaders and neighborhood advocates gathered on York Boulevard Saturday for the grand opening of the first Los Angeles parklet. Kris Fortin/LA Streetsblog

The first of Los Angeles’s four parklets opened up Saturday on York Boulevard in Highland Park. While its the second of its kind in Greater Los Angeles, it may be one of the few parklets across the nation that isn’t tied to any one business as it sits adjacent to a crosswalk, and is in front of a bank and a hardware store.

“In the city of L.A. we are prioritizing cars over people. We want to flip that,” said Jose Huizar, CD14 Council Member.

Living Streets L.A. began working to install parklets at York Boulevard almost two and a half years ago. Working with community groups, city departments, and CD14 offices, three more parklets will open up — two on Thursday on downtown’s Spring Street, and one on Feb. 16 in El Sereno. All four parklets are part of a pilot project to launch and support a citywide parklet policy.

Huizar along with Councilmember Jan Perry, introduced a motion in 2011 to support the pilot projects and directed City departments to develop a long-range plan to support parklets throughout the City.

Parklets across the country have been heavily supported by restaurant services, and in affluent parts of town. The first parklet in Southern California opened in Long Beach in front of a restaurant on Retro Row, which is lined with vintage shops and wine bars. Read more…

People gather at the Virgin de Guadelupe shrine in the parking lof of El Mercado de Los Angeles. With the emergence of parklets, and exploring the alteration of parking spaces to create people space, the Mercado's virgin shrine, which occupies a parking space, has taken on a life of its own as a social and spiritual space. Photo: Kris Fortin

The Virgin de Guadelupe shrine is one of the most recognizable landmarks at the Mercado de Los Angeles. The christmas lights that drape over the shrine make it one of the brightest and colorful spots in the Mercado parking lot at night, even with the Mercado only a few steps away.

Though patrons regularly visit to place flowers and offerings at the foot of the tiled painting, what’s often lost is that it occupies a prominent parking space near the back entrance of the Mercado. With so much attention on parklets in Southern California and across the nation, the virgin shrine highlights what can happen when a community,  not just planners or architects, have a say in shaping its environment.

Since the Virgin de Gualdelupe shrine started in Boyle Heights, it has taken on a life of its own. Forty years ago, female clay pot and apron vendors paid a painter to to cover the back wall of the Mercado parking lot with the image of the Virgin de Guadelupe, according to a 2011 Los Angeles Times article.

Esmeralda Bermudez, the Times reporter that wrote the article, described the evolution of the shrine:

“Over time, the painted virgin took on a life of her own. People brought her flowers and candles, kissed her robe and placed photos of their loved ones at her feet. Eventually, the swap meet manager paid to make her permanent, in tile. Read more…

Table view. Photo: Joe Linton See more of Joe's Parklet Pictures at the end of the post.

Last Friday, January 20th 2012, Long Beach opened its, and Southern California’s, very first parklet. It’s located in Long Beach’s Retro Row district, on Fourth Street just east of Cherry, directly across from the Art Theater. It’s right in front of Lola’s Mexican Cuisine at 2030 East Fourth Street, LB 90814 (map.)

The way parklets work is that a curb parking space is replaced by a platform that serves as a mini-park. It’s a bit like a Park(ing) Day temporary park becoming a longer term mini-park. Parkets are fairly common in San Francisco, and now spreading all over, including, soon hopefully, Downtown Los Angeles.

Long Beach’s Bicycle-Friendly Business District program was initially working with Retro Row businesses to look at more extensive, more permanent traffic-calming and place-making solutions, such as bulb-outs. The cost was prohibitive and the time frame long, so they settled on cheaper and more immediate measures. Read more…