Major Changes to Friday’s Park(ing) Day Ride – No More Santa Monica!

All images from the Park(ing) Day LA website

Unfortunately, I have to announce some major changes to the planned Park(ing) Day ride for Friday.  Unlike last year, there aren't any parks planned for the City of Santa Monica so it seems like a bad idea to try and start a ride at 7:30 A.M. at the "Critical Mass Canon" because, well, there wouldn't be anything to do.

However just because Santa Monica doesn't want to be part of this year's festivities, a Park(ing) Day volunteer told me that the city was going to require a permit for every space because "parking spaces are for cars," doesn't mean we're going to ignore the Westside.

A quick note, I won't be carrying too much extra water or supplies so people are encouraged to bring their own.  We'll be "riding legal" and will make stops as time permits for supplies but the only stops that are guaranteed to have food are in East Hollywood so come prepared.  However, at every stop I'll be leaving a map to our next space.  So, if you're late and want to catch up or want to just do your own ride, you can just follow our maps.  We won't be leaving a map at the start of the Westside Ride because there won't be anyone staying at the park after the Greensters leave at 10:00 A.M.

We're still going to divide the ride into three parts, a westside, a mid-city and a downtown ride with the following starts.  For full routing, read on after the jump.

9:00 - Meet for the Westside Ride at Media Park, aka Crank Mob Park, in Culver City.  Media Park is on Venice Boulevard across the street with the strip mall with a Blockbuster Video and an In and Out Burger.  For those people preferring street addresses, the park is between Culver and Canfield Boulevards.  The ride will include four other stops and end in Venice at around 10:30.

11:30 - Meet at the Mid-City West Community Council Park(ing) space at the corner of 3rd and Fairfax.  They're space is right next to the Third Street Farmer's Market and this six space loop should end between 12:30 and 1:15 at the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council's BBQ at Heliotrope Boulevard just North of Melrose

1:30 - We'll leave the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council's spot, head up to Sunset Boulevard and then race down Sunset, through the Downtown and end at the Empowerment Congress' space in South L.A.  From their I'll be heading back to East Hollywood before heading home.  Riders are encouraged to hang out and head to Echo Park for the 7:00 P.M. "Ride-In" movie screening.

Here's the information for the full route, broken down by section.

Westside:

We'll start at the Load(ing) Zone, aka Crank Mob Park, aka Media Park in Culver City and then head down to the Cunningham Group's Architecture Park at 4056 Del Rey Ave in Marina Del Rey.  From there, we'll head to the space in Venice, DEX at 1338 Abbot Kinney Blvd., before ending with the stop at the Venice Environmental Park.  From there, anyone that's hanging with we will race up to Olympic Boulevard and head east until we hit Crescent Park Blvd.  We'll head North on Crescent Park until we hit Fairfax Avenue.  We'll take a right until we end up at Third and Fairfax.

Mid-City

The Mid-City Ride is going to be a big "U" until we head east to the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council's mega-park.  At 11:30, we'll head out of Third and Fairfax and head South to the "Metered Dance Station" at 5443 W Pico Blvd.  From there we'll head North-East to the two parks near the Wilshire/Western Metro Stop.  We'll head North East to the Rios Clementi Hale Park Studio at 639 N Larchmont Blvd before heading to the park at Heliotrope and Melrose.  As I've mentioned many times before, they're having a cookout for carnivores and Pure Luck will be open for herbivores.  Yum.

After getting our fill we'll head North until we hit Sunset Boulevard and take it Downtown.  Along the way we'll stop at the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council's other Park(ing) Day stop at 4590 Santa Monica Blvd.  and Jared Food's BBQ at 1036 Hyperion Ave.  Going down Sunset Blvd. we'll stop at the Urth Kula Park at 2809 W Sunset Blvd and the Echo Park Time Bank at 1525 W Sunset Blvd.  From the Time Bank, we'll head into the Downtown via this route before hitting the putting green at HMC Architects Park. From HMC, it's a shot hop to the Melendrez/Torti Galas park at 617 S Olive St.

From there we'll hit the Downtown Neighborhood Council's block party at Harlem Place, between 4th and 5th Streets and Spring and Main Streets. 

I estimate we'll be at their park between 2:00 and 2:30.

From there, we'll head through the Downtown to the Abode Community Park at Alameda and Traction before back tracking to the Park at Pembroke Lane, 1010 S Flower St.

Our last stop will require us to head south west to the Empowerment Congress North Area Development Council's park at Vermont Ave. and 29th St.  This marks the last official stop of the ride, although I'll be heading back to East Hollywood which is a great place to hang out for a couple hours and the spot of my traditional "end of Park(ing) Day hop in the pool."  From there I'll head home for a date with my wife who's on bedrest and you'll have a place to party before heading to Echo Park for the ride-in film.