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Stay out! 10 images of caution tape in places you wouldn’t expect to see it

Skatepark at Venice Beach
A skateboarder ignores the yellow caution tape placed around the skate park at Venice Beach to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Caution tape. It’s our visual prompt to stay away.

We are conditioned to see it at crimes scenes, construction zones and natural disasters.

Where we are not used to seeing it is at playgrounds, skate parks and wrapped around a bear statue at the La Brea Tar Pits.

Welcome to the Southland in the age of the coronavirus outbreak, when stay-at-home orders have given new life and purpose to caution tape.

Torrance

De Portola Park in Torrance
Robert Hennie, 51, an independent filmmaker, gets in a workout on the children’s playground at De Portola Park in Torrance.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Monica

Santa Monica Farmers Market
Caution tape helps kept people in an orderly line at the Santa Monica Farmers Market.
(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
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San Diego

Caution tape is strung across the edge of the Sunset Cliffs in the Point Loma community of San Diego.
(K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Mid-Wilshire

La Brea Tar Pits
A statue of a prehistoric short-faced bear is surrounded by caution tape at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Thousand Oaks

Arby's restaurant in Thousand Oaks
A customer leaving with his takeout order walks past outdoor tables wrapped in caution tape at an Arby’s restaurant in Thousand Oaks.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Venice

Basketball courts at Venice Beach
Raymond Bartlett of Venice exercises next to yellow caution tape near the entrance to the basketball courts at Venice Beach.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Sherman Oaks

Sherman Oaks Recreation Center in Sherman Oaks
People ignore the caution tape and work out at Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Recreation Center in Sherman Oaks.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Encino

Lake Balboa Park in Encino
A man walks on a path at Lake Balboa Park in Encino near caution tape placed around a children’s play area.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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South L.A.

Central Park Recreation Center in South Los Angeles
A closed playground is wrapped in caution tape at Central Park Recreation Center in South Los Angeles.
(Gabriella Angotti-Jones/Los Angeles Times)

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