Pedestrian-friendliness in Los Angeles
How many of this group's members want to see more walking, biking and public-transport taking in Los Angeles County? I would like to propose a discussion of good places to stroll and people-watch in the county, and of the strategies we have available to us to make more of our hundreds (thousands?) of miles of roads into places that get people out of their cars.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by faboomama on -
People watching in LA is easy, especially around the tourist centers. Walking about, not so much. We do a lot of walking, but in our neighborhood, there aren't any destinations so we find we don't walk as much here as we did when we lived in Hollywood. So most of our walking now is confined to parks or when drive to a destination and walk around there.
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Permalink Reply by sean bonner on
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LA is actually a very bikeable city but has the perception of not being which scares a lot of new folks away. I know a bunch of people who recently started riding bikes around and who are shocked at how easy it is, and have mentioned if they knew that before they would have been riding bikes in LA for years.
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Davidson on -
How do bikers avoid the big boulevards and traffic if they are going long distances?
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Permalink Reply by Christopher Davidson on
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To Fabomama: what "destinations" besides Hollywood do you consider walking-friendly?
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Permalink Reply by frazgo on -
As far as walking goes I don't think people are aware of how many great places we already have. Certainly sharing our favorite places to just be out could be better publicised.
My favorite places to just walk and enjoy the day is Venice all the way to Santa Monica Pier.
Second is along the Lario Trail along the San Gabriel river out in my corner of LA. Added bonus is that if you are bike enabled you can ride that Trail from its start at Azusa Canyon all the way to Long Beach.
As far as strategies for getting people out of cars lots of luck. Transit is very poor here and even on a bad day in traffic a car is still faster than what public transit we have. Especially true when you get out to my side of the metro area. The car will be here for many years to come, Honda and Toyota currently are on the forefront of making sure of that with alternative fuel sources.
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Permalink Reply by DeKoven on -
Walking in LA is tricky. You have to pick your poison. Because if you walk too far, you may find yourself with no place to go. I live in Venice and work in Culver City and I consider both to be very walkable and bike friendly.
I still consider myself relatively new to LA as I moved out here just 1 1/2 years ago. And I am discouraged by the difficulty I find in getting in and out of the Hollywood area to enjoy a day or evening... especially by foot or bike.
A recent trip to the Grove (walkable area but too inauthentic for me) had me stumble across the old Cherokee Studios on Fairfax (just North of Melrose). If not familiar, Cherokee Studios was the Hollywood recording home of musicians like Bowie, Sinatra and Dave Matthews. They have been re-made into a mixed-use building with 12 condos and music recording spaces. I looked into it as I am a big Bowie fan.
After a visit to Walkscore (www.walkscore.com) and additional digging, I found that there are over 439 bus rides that can be generated away from Cherokee Studios within a 1/4 mile radius of it's front door. Furthermore, Hollywood ranked 3rd behind Mid-City and Downtown as LA's most walkable neighborhoods. Venice was 23rd. Maybe I should spend some more time looking into new builds in Hollywood like Cherokee Lofts to take advantage of walkable, Hollywood living?
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Permalink Reply by brianprince on
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