Mysterious orange dots have appeared on Chinatown’s sidewalks, and LA cyclists should be happy: it’s a case of “bike rack measles!”

Yep, LADOT finally got around to marking spots for bike racks along North Broadway and Hill streets in Chinatown, making it a little easier to go to one of LA’s most enjoyable public destinations by bike. I’ve written about this before here on Orange 20, and I nagged LADOT regularly to get some in. Looks like they got around to it.

Tomorrow I hope to stop there and count how many racks are actually going in, and where they all will be. As I understand it, they are all sidewalk racks, with none in the Central Plaza, where there is actually a good bit of room. The city folks tell me that LA doesn’t own the Plaza and so can’t put racks there; so far, despite some inquiries, I haven’t been able to find out who does own the plaza, but I’ll keep checking.

Meanwhile, this case of “bike rack measles” promises to improve the patient’s health;more bike parking means more customers for Chinatown merchants without increasing the ‘hood’s legendary congestion or taking up valuable real estate with yet more parking lots (which already total nearly the land area of the buildings of Chinatown themselves).

There are eleven parking lots or structures in Chinatown, and three of the lots are huge–vast empty spaces used to store cars, where there could be shops or offices, or homes, or a school, a public square, galleries, restaurants, or any number of services or amenities. Yet there’s “never enough parking.” Well duh–because you force people to drive there! (Though at least there’s the Metro station now.)

So, soon we’ll have some U-lock friendly bike parking down there. A day late and a dollar short, as they say, but it’s a start.

The race that you have been waiting all year long. Improved and perfected. Better, stronger, FASTER.
Start Point: TANG’s DONUT Sunset and Fountain 90027
End Point: Santa Monica Pier
Registration: SUNDAY MORNING 3Am
Start Time: 4AM
The Los Angeles Marathon is mapped out and closed off the night before giving riders the chance to race 26.1 miles of Los Angeles with no traffic.
Men’s and Women’s Geared and Fixed divisions.

LA’s most coveted prize: Dog Tags to the winners of each division.

Play it Nice and Safe. Cheaters will be Disqualified.
Mad Prizes for
1st, 2nd Geared
1st, 2nd Fixed
1st 2nd Lady Geared
1st 2nd Lady Fixed

We had close to 500 racers last Year, I think we can double that. What do you think.

Mark your calendars and get your legs ready.
It’s time to Shred.

A few posts ago, I nagged that the Bike Plan Implementation Team meetings were neither well publicized nor too accessible. Well, it looks like things are better now: the city Planning Dept. has just announced the next meeting, which will be discussing “bike lane concepts on 7th Street between Catalina St and Main St, as well as an implementation flowchart and some Bicycle Plan programs.”

Which way the discussions will go is determined by the “team,” and as it happens, the team is whoever shows up.

That means that all you have to do to shape the future of cycling in La is, simply, show up!

So show up here:

Can’t make it downtown? You can still participate! There will be webinar access to this (and presumably future) meetings. Go to https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/128622910 to register for the webinar and view instructions. You will then be able to hear the meeting via conference call, and contribute via a live chat hookup.

This is our chance to make LA a real cycling town at last…so, let’s do it!

 

Well, it finally happened: nearly a full year after unanimous city council approval, the very first public bike corral in the City of Los Angeles was installed in front of Café de Leche in Highland Park, at York & 50th. José Huizar, the local council member, gave a speech, as did LACBC’s Alexis Lantz, LADOT’s Amir Sedadi, Joe Linton, and Matt Schodorf and his wife, owners of Café de Leche, who had pushed hard for the corral–as had local cyclists and advocacy groups and indeed the community itself.

After all, what business owner wouldn’t want to be able to park ten or twelve customers on bikes where only one car could fit before? And what could be better for a community’s peace of mind and sense of neighborliness than replacing noisy, speeding cars with human beings pedaling past on the world’s most efficient machine?

Oh, yeah, York only recently was graced with bike lanes too.

During his speech, Huizar noted that there were funds enough to install thirty more bike corrals right away. And he semi-jokingly noted that he hoped to get most of them into northeast LA.

Well, I love NELA, but I think it’s pretty obvious where LA’s second bike corral ought to go: that’s right–what better place than right here at Hel-mel! The Bicycle District! Home of the Bike Kitchen, Orange 20, Pure Luck, Scoops, and Cafecito Orgánico!

There’s a perfect spot directly in front of Pure Luck.

Okay, the way these things work is that the city responds best if local businesses ask for the corral. We’ve got five businesses here that either serve cyclists directly or whose customers arrive mostly by bike.

How about it, folks? Eric Garcetti, a strong supporter of urban cycling, is the council member for Hel-Mel. Let’s get the ball rolling and, together, ask for LA’s next bike corral to be placed in the Bicycle District. It’s only right….

…And think what a party we can throw for the opening!

 

Live from Kabul Afghanistan. Thanks for the pic buddy. Be sure to tell the locals about the super special sales we are having on Volume Thrasher frame sets this weekend.

I’ve been snapping more and more photos of the bikes that we work on around the shop. Eventually we will put them into a gallery on our web site. Thanks to L Guzin for this one! If you have a bicycle pic that is centerfold worthy please email it to orange20bikes@mac.com.