Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Park(ing) Day

Grab That Placard and Go Park! It’s Park(ing) Day, L.A.!

Parking Day happening now at Contreras High School! Photo via Twitter
Parking Day happening now at Contreras High School! Photo via @Mr__Zuniga Twitter
Parking Day happening now at Contreras High School! Photo via Twitter

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 right now at Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea. Photo via Twitter
Park(ing) Day right now at Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea. Photo via @NwUrbanFilmFest Twitter
Park(ing) Day right now at Sycamore Kitchen on La Brea. Photo via Twitter

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:

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

New Metro Subway Railcars Started Service Today

Streetsblog got a special preview ride today. Have you ridden Metro's new "HR4000" heavy rail cars yet?

December 21, 2024

Metro Closes Out Last Round of Outreach on Underwhelming Vermont BRT Proposal

To truly improve conditions on Vermont, much more must be done

December 20, 2024

Cemeteries Push to Bury Forest Lawn Drive Safety Improvements

Forest Lawn and Mount Sinai reps call scaled-back city street improvements a "bad plan" and "permanent traffic disaster"

December 20, 2024
See all posts