Melrose Park(ing) Day Sets Stage For More Permanent Pedestrian Plaza

5:07 PM PDT on September 19, 2017

For Park(ing) Day this short stretch of Stanley Avenue became a pleasant car-free plaza. Photos by Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

As part of last Friday's worldwide annual Park(ing) Day festivities, the Melrose Business Improvement District (BID) worked with the Mid-City West Community Council and Normandie Bakery to try out a temporary park where a more permanent plaza might follow in the near future.

For Park(ing) Day, the BID got permission from the city of L.A. to close about 150 feet of Stanley Avenue immediately north of Melrose Avenue, extending as far as the alley that separates the retail area from adjacent housing. Typical Park(ing) Day sites occupy a space or two; this one included about eight metered spaces and the roadway between them. Leaders of the BID expressed interest in working with the city, either through the LADOT People St program or otherwise, to permanently close this portion of the street to help foster a more attractive, walkable retail area.

With cars removed from the space, families dined at picnic tables under the shade of tall street trees, some snacking on treats from the newly opened Normandie Bakery. The Beautiful Things L.A. bus hosted a pop-up store. Enjoy the photo gallery below.

xxx — At the Melrose BID's Park(ing) Day Cafe, sun umbrellas, benches, and plenty of people occupied space previously reserved for cars

xxx — The south end of the Melrose BID Park(ing) Day Cafe fronted Melrose Avenue

xxx — The Beautiful Things L.A. bus held down the north end of the site, at the alley along Melrose Avenue

PDLAMelrose3 — The sweet interior of the Beautiful Things L.A. bus - a vintage school bus converted into a roaming pop-up store

The Mid-City West Community Council also partnered with local businesses - Matcha Box and The Open Space - to create two other parking space parklets.