CicLAvia IX, Iconic Wilshire Corridor Open Thread

"Bikes May Use Full Lane, Damn Right." Photo and Caption: Joe Linton
“Bikes May Use Full Lane, Damn Right.” Photo and Caption: Joe Linton

CicLAvia IX: Iconic Wilshire Corridor has come and gone. While my Facebook feed is full of happy adults and smiling children, I know that my social media streams aren’t the best way to gauge how well an event was received.

I also know we didn’t make it to LaBrea…so that leaves about 80% of the map untouched by my son’s mini-Linus.

So what say you Streetsbloggers? How did yesterday’s CicLAvia stack up to yesteryear’s?

As always, I’ll post my comments a little later today.

  • Jake Bloo

    This was my first CicLAvia and I thought it was amazing. I was blown away. Not only by the seemingly hands off organization and the friendliness of fellow participants, but by how much the city transforms when six miles of boulevard is free of cars. Los Angeles, a city to which I commonly feel is inhumane (for its scale and service to cars), suddenly became a human city. Imagine what could happen if there were more shared spaces like plazas, permanent bike boulevards, and freeway cap parks.

  • Collin1000

    This was my first CicLAvia and I had a blast. I did notice that quite a number of small businesses along the route closed up shop for the day, which I thought was a shame… those which remained open had parking lots full of bicycles. Perhaps CicLAvia outreach needs to educate small businesses to stay open and do something for the event? The lack of vehicle crossing points made it easy and fun to ride from one side to the other without frequently having to stop for cars. I took Metro from the valley to 7th street and rode One Wilshire -> Miracle Mile -> Wilshire/Western. Definitely a lot of fun, had a great time. The Mid-Wilshire hub intersection was a packed crowded mess, but other than that….really no issues. Loved it and can’t wait for more.

  • I think if you returned to Wilshire next Sunday, you would find many of those same businesses closed also. Wilshire is very much still an office corridor, although new residential construction and the Subway extension will change this.

  • Joe Linton

    My first CicLAvia not working for CicLAvia – and my first time mostly walking. I am still blown away by just how loud cars are – something my wife and I noticed when we walked a block off route for lunch. Car-free spaces are great – much-needed here.

  • AJ

    My only two complaints are that the route was too short and we’ll have to wait 6 months before there’s another event.

  • LAifer

    Agreed 100%. Not sure why so much time between CicLAvia events, although perhaps the organizers are overwhelmed by the effort involved. But, if that’s the case, one would hope that they could pull in more volunteer efforts to handle the less critical details and leave the paid staff to the higher-level work.

    Still, it was a lovely day and a great event. Well done to the CicLAvia organizing team!

  • Collin1000

    I was thinking that summer heat might be a factor – they seem to time them around cooler months. Maybe they’ve gathered that turnout is better when it isn’t a July afternoon?

  • This was my first CicLAvia with just me and Sammy, and with my four year old on his own bike and not attached to one of mine (or a stroller). He had a blast, and this was the first time he got it. I think he biked more yesterday than at any other point, and he got to meet some of the folks I work with: Tafarai, James Rojas, Niall Huffman, Jody Litvak to name a few. It was amazing, and in the crazy work from home, have to two small kids, environment it was just wonderful to have an event where we could do so much together, in such a short time. Loved it.
    I do have one small complaint. Just as we entered CicLAvia off Fairfax, woen of the first things we noticed was two iced cream vendors getting ticketed. It just seemed off at suck a great event that is “open to all Angelenos” to see these guys getting ticketed. I understand why, it just seemed a little offputting to me.
    But again, this was an A+ event from where I was walking (with a wagon, next to the mini-Linus) and I appreciate everything that was done to make the day so great.

  • John K

    I love the Wilshire route. It may be short, but the limited crossing made a smooth ride. Furthermore, it goes through the heart of metropolitan Los Angeles, with all the fun destinations that go along with that fact.

    After a quite spin over to Fairfax and back, this was my first “WalkLAvia,” as we just adopted a dog. We tied a ciclavia bandanna across his neck and set off from Ktown to downtown and back, meeting some many wonderful people and giving our dog quite the workout.

    At one point, we detoured down to 7th street to get some tamales and aguas fresca. Gazing across MacArthur Park Lake and the bikes glided across Wilshire from afar was like living in a utopian dream!

  • Collin1000

    That’s probably true, though with such a big crowd coming, and so much visibility from the street, I would have thought many would have taken advantage of their location. People weren’t driving by listening to their radios in the comfort of their cars – they were on foot, bikes, scooters, and more. Great visibility opportunity.

  • Mike

    I’ve been to about half of the Ciclavia events so far, and this one was one of the better ones. I think the shorter distance actually is better, because there are fewer cyclists trying to race the route and it encourages one to stop along the way.

    I like the pedestrian areas, but, it would be nice if they could be even more pedestrian, e.g. preventing cyclists pushing their bikes. But, the amount of temporary bike parking necessary to pull that off is probably difficult to acquire.

    I keep wondering if the event is a fad, and if the next one will be sparsely attended, but, it still seems magical for me and for many others.

  • I was impressed even after 5 p.m. I was still seeing cyclist (sometimes a family cluster) riding along the stretch of Wilshire I live off (adjacent to MacArthur Park).

    Some businesses do get the event is a huge financial goldmine. I bet HMS Bounty was packed just like last October!

  • elson

    My 9th CicLAvia out of 9, but my first without a bike. Saturday night, of all nights, I discovered that the front wheel of my bike was stolen. So I cleaned out the old razor scooter I bought 14 years ago and had a go.

    Fittingly, I bought that scooter when I worked at an office in the Miracle Mile district, where I used it to visit lunchtime destinations that were farther away. So it was a nice “reunion” with the scooter to navigate Wilshire.

    Since Wilshire is the shortest route, and I’d ridden it last year on bike, why not try it bikeless this time? I’m giving up riding a bike in CicLAvia for Lent, hah.

    I was also prepared to feel like the “Second Class Citizen” that non-cyclists have reported feeling in the early CicLAvias.

    Surprisingly, it really wasn’t that bad. Cyclists were considerate, not dangerously fast, and I didn’t get into any accidents with them. Inclines were more pronounced with a razor scooter. Best of all, Wilshire hardly had any potholes, which was my biggest worry. The concrete Wilshire BRT lane was a big help. My only complaint was that i felt left out of some of the fun by staying to the right of the lane – normally I’ll see friends riding in the opposite direction. But some friends did spot me along the way.

    I have to say CicLAvia is more physically demanding on a razor scooter than on a bike. My legs, hips and back ache today, whereas the only pain I felt following the previous CicLAvias is the emotional pain of not being able to ride on a car-less street the day after.

    I wasn’t able to get on the route until 12:50pm, but I still was able to ride (scoot?) from Figueroa in Downtown to the La Brea Tar Pits and back to Vermont. Still an enjoyable day nonetheless.

  • M

    This was my 7th Ciclavia and I still love them – I just wish they happened way more often. I especially enjoy the Wilshire route – partially because I feel like the Miracle Mile area is a fun place to spend a few hours wandering around and exploring the museums and as other have mentioned, there’s a relatively small number of back up points and car crossings. As someone who is car-free every day, it’s exciting to see people out that normally aren’t biking, walking & riding public transportation with me on a daily basis.

    Some of my photos from this as well as some Ciclavias in the past: http://unboredhands.blogspot.com/search/label/ciclavia

  • Marshall Robin

    My second Ciclavia, after missing a couple of years. We went with a couple of friends of ours and their daughter. We had a great time once again, riding from the start at Miracle Mile to downtown and back. I decided to ride back to Santa Monica but was a little wary because I am not a fan of riding on arteries with fast traffic, but as it turns out the Google Maps picks nice bike routes, and I saw few cars all the way home.

    Only downside was that we took the bus there, and the buses only have 2-bike racks on the front. If you’re not at the end of the line you’ll be waiting a while. Too bad there wasn’t some sort of waiver of the “no bikes allowed on buses” rule for these events…

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