CicLAvia announces new date for the fall, new route

Cyclists, runners, dog walkers and all those who revel in the transgressive (and quite healthy) appeal of roaming Los Angeles streets free of cars take note: The latest iteration of CicLAvia has been announced.

Six months removed from a spring event that reportedly drew more than 100,000 people over 10 miles of roadway around downtown, the next CicLAvia will take place Sunday, Oct. 7, and marks a significant shift in location from previous gatherings, which have stretched all the way to the bike-centric Heliotrope-Melrose neighborhood.

Instead, this fall’s CicLAvia will mark the event’s farthest reach west as street closures extend down Figueroa running parallel to the Metro’s new Expo Line and terminating at Exposition Park. The next event will also stretch deeper into East L.A. along the Gold Line’s route with new route hubs at Mariachi Plaza and Soto Station.

A semi-annual celebration of alternative modes of transportation inspired by the car-free “Ciclovía” of Bogotá, Colombia almost 40 years ago, the nonprofit CicLAvia events are a unique opportunity to experience L.A.’s architecture and communities away from the compressed view of an automobile’s windshield.

Previous CicLAvias have included art, music performances and an array of food trucks along the route, with a family-friendly, explore-at-your-leisure pace encouraged.

Those forced to remain in their cars on Oct. 7 are, obviously, advised to seek alternative routes or public transportation in and around downtown to navigate street closures (view a complete map here).

“Angelenos are aching for a day without a car,” L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said before joining the ride in April. “CicLAvia provides us one of those days.”

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