Los Angeles Goes Car Free For A Day For CicLAvia

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — It's a car free day in parts of LA.

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Some six miles of streets in and around downtown Los Angeles were closed to motor vehicles Sunday as the city's fifth anniversary celebration of the CicLAvia festival opened the lanes to cyclists.

The route stretched through Boyle Heights, the Arts District, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Civic Center, and as far west as MacArthur Park.

Despite some drizzle and gray skies, beach cruisers, racers, Penny-farthing two wheelers, skaters, and pedestrians participated in CicLAvia, modeled on a weekly car-free event started in Bogota, Colombia. It came to LA in 2010.

But Dave from Monrovia had a Danish Pedersen bike, a re-creation of an 1893 design with a peaked frame with no seat, but a hammock for rump support, according to Pete Demetriou of KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO.

He told Demetriou the day is a throwback to a simpler time where people rode bikes to see and watch their neighborhoods and enjoy them up close and personal.

Food trucks, musical performers and neighborhood guides were set up along the route. The streets were closed to cars until 4 p.m.

Previous routes have gone through South Los Angeles and along Wilshire Boulevard.

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