LA’s Bicycle District is Catching On!
The Los Angeles Bicycle District. The idea started on June 7, 2007 during a discussion on LA Fixed where the Los Angeles fixed gear community pooled together ideas and came to a consensus on the official name and physical location of the District.
It’s hard to ignore the number of cyclists that you see rolling through Heliotrope at Melrose (what I now refer to as “the heart of the Bicycle District”) due to the presence of Orange20 Bikes and the Bicycle Kitchen on that block. I noticed that when a customer called Orange20 asked Jim C where his shop was located, he said something like, “it’s near Koreatown, just south of Little Armenia.” It struck me that this block, which is so important to the LA cycling community, did not yet belong to any particular neighborhood or district of LA — thus, the opportunity to claim this district as our own!
Then, about a month later on July 1, 2007, during the Bicycle Film Festival’s block party in LA, we made it official and posted the first (hopefully of many) signs declaring the existence of LA’s new Bicycle District.
Los Angeles Bicycle District - Established July 1, 2007
So, the concept of the Bicycle District was initially discussed in the community on June 7, but the District was officially born on July 1, 2007.
Now, less than 2 months after the official birth of the Bicycle District, it seems to be catching on. I’ve noticed more and more folks referring to that area of town as “The Bicycle District” conversationally, and I also noticed a recent increase in searches for terms like “LA Bike District” in the stats for Fixpert. This sparked my curiosity and so I performed similar searches online, yielding a number of references to the Bicycle District.
Bicycle District spoke cards - designed by Jon Jandoc aka Moto Velo. Visit Jon’s site The Joke is Up.
Searches for LA Bicycle District
Here’s a sampling of what I found online:
LAist’s upcoming events list - “SOLA means South LA and tonight the women of GOGA, a girls only bicycle club, will do about a 20-mile bike ride to there from the The Bicycle District (Melrose/Heliotrope).”
Full write-up about the Bicycle District on Urban Samurai - “The other day the Urban Samurai crew rolled over to Orange 20 to check out some bikes and goodies. The shop is probably the best bike shop in LA, also the whole [ bicycle district ] area around it has a nice friendly vibe to it.”
Ashira’s great write-up of the BFF in LA 2007 on Dazed Digital - “The weekend of festivities ended with a street party in the newly dubbed (but not yet official) “Bicycle District“, home of the Bicycle Kitchen, a non-profit bicycle repair shop.”
Some awesomely intelligent comment left on the Orange20 Bikes web site (oh wait, that was me, hehe) - “Hell yeah! I’ll be there with bells on!! Long live the Bicycle District of Los Angeles!” then I left a similar comment on Metrobloggin - ok, ok, I’ll stop referencing myself! Just foolin’ around!
Another sensational comment by someone named Fireweed who I promise is not me - “yes, that was a Magickal Day. i got there at the tail end of the beating sun just in time to help jim c shimmy up an electric pole and hammer a nail through a handmade blue sign that said, “bicycle district.” it’s really fucking sensational. i was sooooo happy!”
Related Resources
Fixpert’s flickr photoset of BFF Block Party
August 31st, 2007 at 6:04 pm
This is so frickin’ rad it hurts. By the way, if anyone out there wants a spoke card, I still have a few left and can always make more. I’m proud to have been a part of spreading the word!
And have you seen this photo?
Check the spoke card. Represent!
August 31st, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Oh, I guess I can’t post a photo. Well here it is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/garyseven/718080229/in/set-72157600646910955/
August 31st, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Haha! Awesome! That’s Safety right? Bet dude wished he was a turtle that day.
September 1st, 2007 at 10:17 am
Long Love (I mean Live) the Bicycle District!!
Sally - you rock so hard!!!!
September 12th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
[...] My favorite L.A. activity in all the world is going down in t-48 hours which is Midnight Ridazz. This month’s theme is a a revival of last year’s, Swarm the Pier II. We’ll be riding from the Bicycle District”> in east Hollywood to the Santa Monica pier. Some people will be dressed up as bugs, myself most likely not included since I don’t have anything that would fit the bill. It’ll be sixteen miles out to Santa Monica and probably twelve miles or so back. If anybody would like to join me, let me know. Ride on! Filed under Los Angeles, Bicycles & Scooters | [...]
September 16th, 2007 at 12:39 am
I noticed you failed to mention that I was elected, through lafixed.com, as Mayor of the Bicycle District. Although I respectfully resigned from this position as I didn’t think I could perform the duties from my home 45min. away I was the mayor for a day. The very first and only day of my term I pulled into a parking spot(in a car, another reason I couldn’t be mayor) in front of Scoops ice cream shop and when I got out three people, whom I had never met before, said to me “You’re the new Mayor of the Bicycle District.” Yep. Word traveled fast.
September 16th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Haha, oh Baller! You’ll notice I was straying away from calling out any one particular person and tried to emphasize the “community” aspect of this decision. I suppose if I was going to credit anyone for their role in establishing the Bicycle District, it would be ME since I thought the whole thing up and made the official sign, but that would be tooting my own horn, and of course I wouldn’t do THAT! hehe.
Good job being the lamest 1-day mayor ever! lub, Fixpert.
:)
October 3rd, 2007 at 3:52 pm
[...] Fast forward to a few months later and it seems the Bicycle District is finally spreading beyond the small internet circle of L.A. Fixed members. Fixpert lists several other references to the name that have appeared in the past, but these latest appearances on Metroblogging and LAist are encouraging since they’re read by a pretty wide audience. Sean Bonner, who wrote the Metroblogging post, even suggests that City Council folks consider making the neighborhood official. I don’t think I’d go that far. While it would have the positive impact of demonstrating Los Angeles’ commitment to promoting alternate modes of transportation, I prefer the idea of the Bicycle District as being underground. For my part, official or not, I’m just happy that there’s a place a cyclist can call home. (Although I do live about four blocks away from HelMel in Virgil Village so the neighborhood is essentially home for me anyways.) Filed under Bicycles & Scooters, Los Angeles | [...]
October 12th, 2007 at 1:35 am
[...] fixpert.com [...]
January 17th, 2008 at 6:47 am
what a great idea! i hail from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where a small but vibrant fixed community has grown up in the past few years. most of this activity is located around Agricola Street, seen here: http://www.fop.ns.ca/bike/2006.08.25_criticalmass/dscf0457_Lg.jpg
the Agricola Street area would be perfect for a bicycle district, both because of the numbers of bicycles and the anti-authoritan, DIY attitude that exists around here.
I’m going to get some people together and make sure that this happens, and we’ll be sure to give LA Fixed credit for inspiring us.
January 17th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
@halifaxrambler - Yeah, thanks so much! Send me some pics if you put some signs up!