Grab granny's disabled placard, Los Angeles, it's Park(ing) Day!
But, in Los Angeles, Every Lane is a Bike Lane, and, well, Every Day is a Parking Day.
No, it's not just everyday Parking Day -- that was yesterday, last week, tomorrow, and next week -- but "Park(ing)" Day.
Punctuation is everything. Well, maybe spelling and proofreading, and capitalization, too, but I digress.
About 10 years ago, Park(ing) Day grew out of an idea by REBAR in San Francisco. It's a kinda long story... well, you see...
A Streetfilm is easily worth more than 1,000,000,000 words:
PARK(ing) Day San Francisco 2006 from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.
REBAR fed the parking meter, and created temporary parks in parking spaces. It's a playful way to demonstrate the ways cities have prioritized cars over green space. The Park(ing) Day phenomenon spread from S.F. to various cities around the world, then to the moon, Mars, and the rest of the known universe.
And the concept stuck, too. One-day parks led to parklets. Parklets migrated to Southern California: Long Beach, Los Angeles, Huntington Park. The city of Los Angeles Transportation Department (LADOT) now has a website where businesses and others can formally request a parklet. Wooot! Wooooooot!
Park(ing) Day's presence seems to have waned a bit, since the all-powerful bike lobby won complete veto power over everything at every city hall up and down coastal America. Park(ing) Day still happens here in Los Angeles. They seem to be mostly using the handy #parkingdayla hashtag, too. Here are a few places we're aware of (in no particular order, laced with plenty of gratuitous exclamation points):
- Miguel Contreras High School - 322 S Lucas Ave, L.A. 90017 (off 3rd Street, just west of downtown L.A.) - now until 2 p.m.!
- Sycamore Kitchen - 143 S La Brea, L.A. 90036 (at 1st Street - near LACMA) - until 4 p.m.!
- 81st and Vermont, South L.A. - see @LANLT - now until 1 p.m.!
- Union Station - at the Alameda-facing parking lot, Metro hosts loteria and more! 12 noon to 5 p.m.!
- Urth Caffe and Vroman's Bookstore - 594 E Colorado Blvd, Pasadena 91101 - 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.!
- Twigzz Design Studio - 600 E. Colorado Blvd (Madison/Colorado) in Pasadena, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.!
- Pacoima - Pacoima Library 13605 Van Nuys Blvd - 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.!
- Santa Monica - in front of Swingers Diner, 802 Broadway, Santa Monica 90401 - 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
- Santa Monica - 26th Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd - 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Broadway Dress Rehearsal - downtown Los Angeles - every day!!!
Additional locations we missed?!? You bet. Include in your comments below:
