Heart of L.A. During the Heart of L.A. CicLAvia, we pedaled from MacArthur Park through downtown to Chinatown. We headed back down Broadway and then east over the 4th Street Bridge, crossing over the L.A. River to Boyle Heights. October 10, 2021:
We start at MacArthur Park, where we find information and community booths that line up along crowded CicLAvia dismount zones.
You are Here maps are displayed at key CicLAvia dismount zones. Here we are at the MacArthur Park hub.
We pedal past architecture ranging from old historic landmark buildings to sleek new skyscrapers, such as those surrounding 7th and Figueroa in downtown L.A.
We bike through the old Theater District on Broadway in downtown L.A., which features renovated gems such as the Los Angeles and Palace Theaters.
Grand Central Market is another cherished, popular, grand landmark on Broadway. Angelenos have been gathering and eating here for more than 100 years.
We encounter car-free dancing on the streets of historic Chinatown.
Another event route map, this noting our midway CicLAvia location in Chinatown.
Iconic City Hall rises above the horizon near this Chinatown Hub location on Broadway.
We sometimes cross under or over crowded freeways along our CicLAvia routes.
On our way from downtown to Boyle Heights on the East Side, we get views of essential rail lines running parallel to the concrete channel of the L.A. River. Note the new 6th Street Viaduct in the distance, where we will be biking in several months.
The elegant and historic 4th Street Bridge (Viaduct) has survived a lot of abuse over the years. Hollywood has used it and the concrete riverbed below in countless movie and TV productions.
We are met with another lively hub and dismount zone at the east end of our route: Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights.
The east end of our route is Boyle Heights, connected on this day to what might otherwise seem many cities away from our start at MacArthur Park and the west side of town.
The map displays how this was a particularly lengthy, stimulating, and action-packed CicLAvia event featuring plenty of urban geography.
East side meets west side cultures are stitched together along today’s route.
CicLAvia’s car-free bike routes encourage passersby to stop and admire and sometimes pose for neighborhood art.
A cast of characters show off in Boyle Heights near some historic restaurants and other landmarks.
Viewing from the 4th Street Bridge (Viaduct), bikers head back from Boyle Heights toward some of LA.’s tallest skyscrapers towering over and around Bunker Hill in the distance.
Looking up from our bikes, we admire the “tallest” in L.A., noting that it took an added giant spike to make that claim.
