Our 48th event brought us back to where it all started, in the heart of Los Angeles. Our press conference featured many great speakers including Jaime Ortiz, the founder of the Ciclovia movement in Bogotá, Colombia. Jaime stated that he was impressed with, “ … what Angelenos have done throughout the years. It’s an honor to be here today. The spirit of CicLAvia is that anyone who comes is the main actor on this day … nobody is a secondary actor … it is done by the people, for the people.”
In addition to Jaime’s words of praise for CicLAvia in Los Angeles, we also heard from Romel Pascual (CicLAvia Executive Director), Laura Rubio-Cornejo (LADOT GM), Seleta Reynolds (LA Metro Chief Innovation Officer), and Israel Rojas, (CicLAvia Vice-Chair Board of Directors). The speakers thanked and shined light on the many diverse members of the communities this CicLAvia route ventured through.
After the press conference, members of the East LA Taiko Community sent us off to enjoy the open streets with an amazing drum performance in front of the newest addition to the Metro system, the Little Tokyo / Arts District Station. We saw so many of you going in and out of the station throughout the day!
The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory booth offered selfie opportunities, a chance to send your name to Jupiter's moon Europa, as well as see a live telescope view of the Sun!
Did you get a chance to show off your ping pong skills? Little Tokyo Table Tennis had an open table for play and also gave out information about Little Tokyo's community ping pong club at Terasaki Budokan.
The streets of Chinatown were bustling with musical performances coordinated by the Chinatown Business Improvement District, food vendors, and of course, amazing photo opportunities of LA City Hall and the Chinatown Plaza.
Piece by Piece really put into perspective the amount of people attending this event with their creation of the community mosaic board for all to participate in.
A special point on the route was the crossing of the 6th St Bridge into East LA. Not only was this part of the route a great photo opportunity, it was also a very rare occasion to experience the bridge without the worry of any cars alongside you.
Upon entering Mariachi Plaza, you were greeted by the upbeat music from a rooftop DJ at Distrito Catorce, the smells of authentic food in the air, and a stunning view of the LA skyline.
What is typically an extremely busy section of the Historic Core, South Park, and Broadway area turned into a lovely stroll in front of many major landmarks such as the Los Angeles Convention Center, Crypto.com Arena, and more.
Despite the fall heatwave, many food trucks, vendors, and local businesses were available all throughout the route to keep us energized and revitalized. From pupusas by Vchos to juice by Crenshaw Juice Co. the options were nearly endless.
Our friends over at Gu Energy Labs also had plenty of free treats to sample and sponsored a community ride in partnership with the Bahati Foundation, which aims to support inner city youth in under-served communities through inspirational speaking engagements & cycling outreach events.
Special thanks to the rest of our partners: AltaMed, AVA Arts District, Brompton, Health Net, KPFK, LA Care, LA Phil, Motional, and Skanska for coming out to the event and showing support for open streets in Los Angeles!
CicLAvia isn’t only for humans, the streets were especially lively with our furry companions! A friendly reminder that if the street pavement is too hot for you to touch, their paws might get heat damage!
Many miles of open streets call for many bike repairs! Special thanks to Bici Libre, Bike Oven, Bicycle Kitchen, Hollydale Cycling Club, and Pedal Movement, for providing free basic bike repair services throughout the route to keep everyone riding smoothly.
CicLAvia events are made possible with the generous donations from our community. Many thanks to our contributors, especially our Street Stars who have set up monthly donations. Click here to make a one-time tax-deductible donation or learn more about becoming a CicLAvia Street Star and get sneak peaks and invites to special gatherings.
Thank you to all of our amazing volunteers and those from the California Conservation Corps (CCC) who helped bring the streets of Los Angeles to life and kept us safe at intersections. Interested in volunteering at a future event? Click here for more information!
There is only 1 event left in the 2023 year! Make sure you are signed up for our mailing list so you don’t miss any details about upcoming events in the future.
Curious about what else the event had? See the full list of activations and community partners here.
Did you enjoy these photos? There’s plenty more to see here on our Flickr album!
Photos: Willa Cutolo, Laura Rudich, Farah Sosa, and Kirk Tsonos.
