Los Angeles is reclaiming some car space to allocate it to walking and hanging out. Work is underway on three new plazas, located in Pacoima, North Hollywood, and South Los Angeles' Leimert Park.
The plazas are the work of the city Transportation Department's (LADOT) People St program. Under People St, community organizations apply to host city-built plaza, parklet, and bike corral projects. Based on city resources and project readiness, the city selects a limited number of projects to proceed each year.
2015 People St plaza and parklet awardees were approved and announced last July and are as follows:
- North Hollywood - One block alley west of Lankershim Boulevard just north of Magnolia Boulevard - sponsored by the NoHo Business Improvement District
- Pacoima - Bradley Avenue north of Van Nuys Boulevard to alley - sponsored by Pacoima Beautiful (see previous coverage here)
- Leimert Park Village - 43rd Place from Degnan Boulevard to Leimert Boulevard - sponsored by Institute for Maximum Human Potential (see recent coverage here)
In order to save costs while getting lots of work done, LADOT is installing all three plazas at once this week. According to LADOT's Valerie Watson, the street closure work and base paint color has been completed at all three sites, with polka dot patterns scheduled to be painted today. Planters, which serve as decorative barriers that keep cars out, will be installed later this week. The same crews will also be restoring the polka dots on the Sunset Triangle Plaza this week.
The Leimert Park plaza is expected to be fully completed and ready for next Monday's Martin Luther King, Jr., Day celebrations. All three plazas are expected to have formal opening celebrations in February.
There is also a brand new feature being installed in Leimert Park this week and other plazas in the next week or two: directional signage. Though L.A. streets have plenty of signage targeted at drivers, all four plazas are receiving people-scale signage. The signs include information about the plaza, and feature local wayfinding focused on nearby destinations that are easy to walk and bike to.
People St is also proceeding with new and refurbished parklets, which SBLA will highlight in an upcoming article.
Let us know what you think of the city's new and newly refurbished plazas in the comments below. And, if there's a city of Los Angeles location near you where you think a plaza would work well, start talking with your friends and neighbors and make plans to apply for the next round of People St plaza projects.
