Eyes on the Street: La Puente Builds Bulb-Outs

A series of bulb-outs have been constructed recently in historic Old Town La Puente. For those unfamiliar, let's start with a little scene setting before we get to the bulb-outs. 

Old Town is home to an interesting, albeit understated mix of buildings. Of course, there’s La Puente’s City Hall, and branches of several Los Angeles County agencies (Library, Health, and Public Works). It’s also where the popular Friday night farmer’s market La Puente Live is held, as well as the Christmas Parade and Dia de los Muertos car show.

There are a few tasty hole-in-the-wall restaurants, and an inordinate number of storefronts which are rarely open. 

The center of Old Town is Main Street. It's used regularly as a film shoot location for its iconic mid-century exteriors. There’s plenty of unreinforced masonry and some gorgeous lampposts. The architecture at City Hall is definitely the star here, especially since the Star Theatre was torn down to build condos. 

A bulb-out, also called a curb extension, is a street design feature that makes pedestrians safer by visually and physically narrowing a street. The narrower street means a shorter distance for pedestrians to cross, so less time pedestrians are exposed to dangerous car traffic.

On the immediate periphery of Old Town are several schools: Workman Elementary, Sparks Elementary, Sparks Middle School, and La Puente High School. All of them should benefit from these new curb extensions (as well as one slightly older one). The bulb-outs are each photographed below.

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