Another small victory, though one that involved considerable negotiation and even a bit of infighting in LA's fractured cycling advocacy world. Yes, some of our own were bitterly against the facility pictured in the snap I took yesterday:



This is a rare example of interjurisdictional coordination, even if it basically involved shouting between civic silos. Main Street spans both Santa Monica and Venice, the latter being not a city of its own but a distinct, and distinctive, neighborhood of Los Angeles. Santa Monica has had bike lanes on its portion of Main Street for several years now. That city's portion of the street swarms with cyclists of all sorts, and particularly everyday-cyclist types, who ride for pleasure and transportation, not fitness and competition. The numerous bike racks are always crowded, as are the adjacent restaurants, bars, coffeehouses, and shops.

Likewise on Abbott Kinney, Venice's own little main drag, which feeds into Main Street near the border between the two towns. LA recently added sharrows there, and greatly increased the number of racks, with the result that you can barely wedge yourself into Intelligentsia (my own fave coffeehouse on the strip).

But LA's share of Main Street, though it has shops and a number of bike racks, just hasn't had the scene yet. It is far to walk to, tedious to park on, and dreary to ride through--but that has just changed, and I suspect we'll see a jump in street life as cyclists discover the new bike lanes that went in last week.

LA's new stripes run from the Santa Monica border south to Venice Circle, a much-needed addition to the network.

Now I hope the city will eventually see fit to extend them past the traffic circle to Venice Way, Mildred, and eventually Washington Boulevard, where they would take riders through the Marina to points south, including the Ballona Creek bike path and the South Bay beach cities.

Richard Risemberg on Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:19:17 -0800 [link]  

Last week I snagged a picture of bikepath buddy Dennis and his 85-year-old President bicycle, his daily ride, and wrote them up at Orange 20; read the story at Time and the Pedals Turning.

And today I filled Flying Pigeon's blog with chatter about an unexpected possibility for siting bike racks in What the Center Holds.

And while you're here, don't forget the previous post on my own blog--just scroll down a bit--about Whittier's "Mystery Bridge."

Richard Risemberg on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:15:32 -0800 [link]  

The bridge in the image below is not a railroad bridge, though it used to be one. At first glance I thought it still was, but then I noticed little figures walking and cycling across it, and wind sculptures along the right-of-way--not an enhancement typical of freight railways by any means!

But, though it was obviously part of a bikeway, and one that seemed to be going in my direction (I was pedaling to Fullerton for a meeting), there was nary a sign to indicate what it was, where it went, or how to get onto it.



This is all too typical of Los Angeles and its environs. In the same city--Whittier--I passed several signs pointing right or left from Whittier Bouelvard itself, where I was riding, and indicating "Bike Route." But no indication of where said bike route might lead--just the sign and a lonely arrow.

Well, I keep grousing about wayfinding both publicly and behind the scenes at various government agencies concerned with such things; maybe they'll figure it out one of these days. (There's supposedly a wayfinding project underway in LA County, but no one I've asked yet seems to have details.)

Meanwhile, if you're in or near Whittier, you might check out the Whittier Greenway--I had to go online to discover its name. Looks like a pretty useful local route, and that bridge does get you over a complex and poorly-signed intersection with grace and ease. Here's the trail's webpage.

Richard Risemberg on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:27:30 -0800 [link]  

This week's maunderings:

At Orange 20, I hammer once more on my favorite theme of wayfinding, in Lost in LA, while on Flying Pigeon LA's blog I eke out a bit of enthusiasm for El Monte: Crossroads of Progress?--which really ain't so bad!

Richard Risemberg on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:29:57 -0800 [link]  

I saw this handsome bike rack by the Santa Monica Pier on Friday, right by where Cirque du Soleil was setting up. I don't know whether it belongs to Cirque or to the City of Santa Monica, but I hope the latter, and I hope we see more of them.



With two mounting points it is as easy to install as a wave rack, but with the clever bend it provides as much support to parked bikes as a row of inverted-U or staple racks. And it looks a bit less utilitarian than either, while actually being more so.

Note the crappy "wheelbendeer" racks sulking in the shadows behind it!

Richard Risemberg on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:28:21 -0800 [link]  

Two more for the week, with my post for Orange 20 covering the coming slew of sidewalk bike racks on downtown LA's Broadway shopping street, while on Flying Pigeon LA's blog I return to my favorite subject of bicycle wayfinding signage, and the lack thereof in Los Angeles--along with a couple of sarcastic doctored photos.

Richard Risemberg on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 07:12:20 -0800 [link]  

Probably the most successful, if small, bicycle-friendly neighborhood in Southern California is the boomerang-shaped district that follows Abbot Kinney in Venice from Venice Boulevard to Main Street, and continues on into Santa Monica's shopping street. Both Los Angeles and Santa Monica have put pretty intensive (for here) bicycle infrastructure into place: lots and lots of bike racks in both places, sharrows on Abbot Kinney, and bike lanes on Santa Monica's portion of Main Street, to be followed soon by bike lanes on LA's portion of Main, plus some rumored improvements to the street markings on Abbot Kinney.

And it works! Both streets were swarming with cyclists when I passed through earlier today, and I locked up to the last open spot on the bike racks in front of Intelligentsia Coffee in Venice, pictured below. (There are six racks, if I recall correctly.)



The coffeehouse itself was full to bursting with customers, of course--as were the other establishments fronted by bike racks on both streets. This was in the middle of the day of a Friday; Sundays are much more crowded, with many more bikes.

In fact, Santa Monica offers permanent Sunday morning bike valet service in front of the weekly farmers' market on Main. I've seen it full even on cold and rainy days!

In other words, bicycle infrastructure isn't a "handout" to cyclists, as some bitter nags would claim--it's an investment in your local businesses and and your neighborhood culture.

And puts much less of a burden on the taxpayer than pandering to cars!

How much expensive street space would have been required had the riders of those bikes all driven there alone in cars, as drivers usually do? Of course, we could knock down some of the businesses to build a parking lot or structure...but that wouldn't help much, would it?

Richard Risemberg on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:51:44 -0800 [link]  

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