Anniversary Accolades

Anniversary Accolades

We received an outpouring of kind words and testimonials as we celebrated our 10 years (and counting) in Los Angeles.

Articles

Testimonials

"Ten years ago CicLAvia forever changed Los Angeles. I’ll never forget seeing Gary Leonard's photo and realizing we were witnessing the dawn of a more hopeful era for the city. What CicLAvia has achieved goes beyond open streets. It has aligned one of the most diverse, inclusive, regional coalitions in LA history. Consider the community outreach alone—going door-to-door along every single route for 35 different events in dozens of neighborhoods! CicLAvia is an example of what's possible when LA works."

Alissa Walker, Curbed

 

"CicLAvia turns 10! Although we haven't been able to gather this year, we're looking forward to future events with more open streets, cleaner air and connected communities."

Los Angeles Metro

 

"For a decade, CicLAvia has shared with our city the beauty of open streets, bringing Angelenos together to enjoy our neighborhoods. We join them in celebrating their 10 year anniversary and we can’t wait until we can all be riding together again."

Mayor Eric Garcetti

 

"We couldn't let this day go by without wishing a very happy 10th birthday to our friends at CicLAvia. Salud!"

AARP California

 

"Happy 10th birthday to our longtime friends CicLAvia! We're wishing you a wheelie special day, and we can't wait to hit the road with you again soon!"

LACMA

 

"Our first CicLAvia was on October 5, 2015. In addition to the Book Bike having just arrived on the scene, Mary Abler was in the midst of her project called 'Unexpected Outreach.' The Book Bike was so new and we hadn’t figured out that we could rely on our library department drivers to transport the Book Bike for special events. So, Ednita rented a Uhaul, hoped she packed enough books to last the day.

“That CicLAvia was incredible! It was like a party of rowdy librarians dancing in the street and signing people up for library cards. Mary has a loud voice and when we finally got to our final spot to give away books she started yelling, 'FREE BOOKS! NO CATCH!' You see, the concept of just giving away a free book and wanting nothing in return was still a new concept. People were skeptical.⁠

“That first CicLAvia was a huge success so of course we wanted more. Our next CicLAvia was in the Valley on March 22. 2015. By then we had a system. The Book Bike would get delivered to a library branch along the hub and we’d ride out from there. We still didn’t have an official station but this time we were granted permission by CicLAvia to find a spot in a hub, open up and give away books. We didn’t take up much space so this was perfect for us and it allowed us to visit two different hubs since we could stay on the move.⁠

“After our first two events we learned how WE liked to do CicLAvia. It was here that our partnership with and commitment to the organization blossomed and we began to make 'CicLAvia Friends.'"

LA Public Library