Santa Monica’s Coast open streets – all photos: Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
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Yesterday, Santa Monica hosted the latest iteration of its popular Coast open streets festival. Two miles of Santa Monica streets were closed to cars and open to bicycling, walking, skating, and much more. The all-ages event attracted lots of families.
The relatively short distance attracted a higher percentage of pedestrians compared to other L.A. County open streets events. Anecdotally, this writer observed that about half the participants were on foot. A few bicyclists seemed impatient with the foot traffic, but for the most part, active transportation modes shared the space peacefully.
Coast featured lots of booths, displays, music, puppets, and much more.
Sunday Farmers Market stalls, normally in an off-street parking lot, were placed along the Coast route on Santa Monica's Main StreetFarmers Market stalls placed along the Coast route on Santa Monica's Main Street
Santa Monica City vehicles on display, many available for kids to sit inSanta Monica City vehicles on display, many were available for kids to try sitting in
Demonstration pop-up protected bike lanes along Ocean Avenue. Santa Monica has an excellent protected bikeway along Colorado Avenue. This one felt like a bit of a tight gauntlet with its tall metal barricades.Demonstration
Whale puppet/float making its way along the Coast routeWhale puppet/float making its way along the Coast route
Quirky karaoke newscaster desk at CoastQuirky karaoke newscaster desk at Coast
Readers - how was your experience at yesterday's Coast open streets festival?
Chief Scott and Metro leadership emphasized that keeping Metro transit safe would require a multi-faceted approach that included the deployment of officers as well as collaboration with the community, ambassadors, and service providers. "Sometimes enforcement is the answer," Scott said. "Sometimes it's not."
