Stories

We're back for our fifth open street event of 2023, CicLAvia—Koreatown meets Hollywood! Join us on Sunday, August 20th, from 9am - 4pm as we transform the streets of Koreatown and Hollywood into a public park for the day. 

Koreatown and Hollywood are ranked 1st and 7th, respectively, in population density in LA County. The area also boasts many places to eat, architecture to admire, and landmarks to see along this route. Check out this list of local gems to help plan out your day.

On Sunday, July 23rd the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) teamed up with CicLAvia for their “✌️enice Blvd!” event!

This event, powered by CicLAvia, focused on the new bicycle infrastructure located on Venice Blvd between National Blvd and Sepulveda Blvd.

With Father’s Day, Juneteenth, and CicLAvia Sunday coinciding, the South LA community and beyond showed up in great spirits for this fun-filled day!

Our 47th event, CicLAvia—South LA (Vermont Ave), kicked off with our amazing panel of speakers: LA County SD2 Supervisor - Holly J. Mitchell, Mayor of LA - Karen Bass, CD8 Councilmember - Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Mayor of Inglewood - James T. Butts, CEO LA Metro - Stephanie Wiggins, LADOT Interim GM - Connie Llanos, CicLAvia Executive Director - Romel Pascual, and CicLAvia Vice-Chair Board of Directors - Israel Rojas. Many spoke on the importance of community, safe streets, and how CicLAvia creates special connections in each host community.

We're back for our fourth event of the year, CicLAvia—South LA (Vermont Ave)! Join us on Sunday, June 18th, from 9am - 4pm as we transform the streets of South LA into a public park for the day. 

Fun Fact: the majority of this route will be on Vermont Ave, one of the longest streets in the city and county of Los Angeles with a length of 23+ miles! 

For this local gems blog, we are excited to highlight some of the Cultural Treasures of South LA. Cultural Treasures of South LA is an asset mapping and activation initiative of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA), co-created and implemented in partnership with LA Commons, the South Los Angeles Transit Empowerment Zone (SLATE-Z), Community Coalition, and the University of Southern California (USC)’s Neighborhood Data for Social Change (NDSC) Initiative.

Our first CicLAmini is in the books thanks to an amazing turnout from the Watts community! To start off our 45th event, LA Councilmember Tim McOsker (Council District 15), John Jones III (East Side Riders Bike Club President/Co-Founder), Connie Llanos (Interim GM, LA Department of Transportation), Frank Ching (Deputy Executive Officer, LA Metro), and Romel Pascual (CicLAvia Executive Director) spoke at our press conference. They shared updates on the infrastructure improvements the neighborhood of Watts and the LA Department of Transportation (LADOT) has implemented to ensure safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians.

We're back with our third event of the year with CicLAmini—Watts! Join us on Sunday, May 21st, from 9am - 3pm as we transform the streets of Watts into a public park for the day. A CicLAmini is a more pedestrian-oriented experience featuring activities sprinkled along this entire 1 mile open street event. While on the route, expect things like scavenger hunts, street games, local business engagements, and art and cultural activities for all-ages.

Although Watts is one of the smaller neighborhoods in LA, there is a thriving community and abounding history all throughout its 2.12 square mile area. Watts offers great local businesses to visit, landmarks to see, and art to admire! Check out this list of local gems beyond the route to help plan your day.

We were honored to partner with Accelerate Resilience L.A. (ARLA) for our 44th event, CicLAvia—Mid City meets Pico Union! Along with other amazing local organizations, we shared the vision of climate resilience in Los Angeles. 

Andy Lipkis, Executive Director of ARLA, kicked off our press conference by saying, “This is the time to come together and plan for a more climate resilient L.A. Coming to CicLAvia is an act of resilience- for our health, recreation, and climate future.” With this theme in mind, here are Climate Resilience Tips from each partner to inspire you to take action in your day-to-day life!

Lynne Thompson, the 2021-2022 Los Angeles Poet Laureate, ended our press conference with her poem, Raffia, from her book, Beg No Pardon. She read, “Everything is family, everything is connected.” This tied in seamlessly with the theme of CicLAvia she described as being about, “ … people coming together for something really important for our city.”

What started off as a cloudy day at CicLAvia—Mid City meets Pico Union, quickly turned into the bright, sunny weather many Angelenos are accustomed to. Thank you to our partners Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles (ARLA) for partnering with us on this event. You can read more about our collaboration here. 

The press conference kicked off our 44th event centered on the theme of climate resilience and ways to take immediate action in the community and at home. We were fortunate to hear from Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez (CD1), Councilmember Heather Hutt (CD10), Connie Llanos (Interim GM, LADOT), Frank Ching (Deputy Executive Officer, LA Metro), Andy Lipkis (Executive Director, Accelerate Resilience L.A. [ARLA]), and Lynne Thompson (Los Angeles Poet Laureate 2021-2022).

We're back with our second event of the year with CicLAvia—Mid City meets Pico Union! Join us on Sunday, April 16th, from 9am - 4pm to celebrate 4 miles of open streets connecting Mid City and Pico Union and turning the streets into a car-free public park for the day.

The Mid City / Pico Union area consists of historic LA neighborhoods known for their diverse communities and rich cultural heritage. The area is home to a variety of local restaurants, art galleries, and landmarks that offer visitors a glimpse into the vibrant and dynamic culture of the neighborhood. Not sure what sights to see or bites to eat? Not to worry, let this list of local gems in the area start you off!

In a week full of showers, the rain decided to take a break for CicLAvia—The Valley! Despite the cold and cloudy weather, the CicLAvia community showed up and brought the sunshine to Canoga Park, Winnetka, and Reseda.