If getting out of your car and seeing your neighborhood on foot or by bike was on your New Year’s resolutions list, you will definitely want to mark your calendar for Sunday, February 25.
CicLAvia, one of the coolest community events ever, will be coming to Melrose Avenue between Fairfax and Vermont Avenues. This four-mile stretch of Melrose will be closed to cars from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and will be filled with people walking, biking, scootering, skating, and even dancing in the street.
If you’ve never been, CicLAvia inspired by Bogotá’s weekly ciclovía, temporarily closes streets to car traffic and opens them to Angelenos to use as a public park. Free for all, CicLAvia connects communities across an expansive city, creating a safe place to bike, walk, skate, roll, and dance through Los Angeles County. Since its inception in 2010, CicLAvia has traversed over 294 miles across Arleta, Boyle Heights, Chinatown, Culver City, East LA, Echo Park, Hollywood, Koreatown, Historic Downtown LA, Little Tokyo, MacArthur Park, Mar Vista, Pacoima, Panorama City, Pasadena, the San Fernando Valley, Southeast cities, South LA, Thai Town, Venice, West Hollywood, Wilshire Boulevard, and more.
The crowds pedaled hard and the sun shone bright as tens of thousands of Angelenos took to Wilshire Boulevard on Sunday to bicycle on a traffic-free route between Fairfax Ave and Grand Ave downtown, reported the Buzz in 2014.
That CicLAvia was part of “Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A.”, and published a pocket-sized guide “The Modernist’s Guide to Iconic Wilshire Boulevard” that shared photos and descriptions of the many noteworthy buildings along Wilshire Blvd. and was handed out to participants. Researched and written by Catherine Gudis and designed by Colleen Corcoran, the downloadable guide allows readers to appreciate and understand the context for modernism and the role that Wilshire’s built environment has played as the city’s cultural and demographic makeup has changed.
Our 2014 story featured some fun photos like this one above of a man on a tall unicycle. and we reported this would be the last CicLAvia event that would take place on Wilshire Blvd for many years because of the construction of Metro’s Purple Line Extension. But, now that Metro construction is nearly completed, perhaps we see CicLAvia on Wilshire again soon. Until then, we can enjoy cycling on Melrose on February 25.
CicLAvia will be hosting a virtual community meeting on January 30th at 5:30 pm to educate stakeholders and also to answer questions or concerns.
Businesses along the route are invited to learn more about how they can showcase their businesses during the daylong event. Click here for more information for businesses.
