Silver Lakers' Triangle Defense

As you may or may not know, CicLAvia is a totally awesome event that occurs on a handful of Sundays each year, closing streets to automobiles and opening them to bikes, pedestrians and any other human-powered transport.

After experiencing the awesomeness of CicLAvia for all three of its iterations so far, The Militant is inclined to say, "Shouldn't we have CicLAvia every Sunday?"

Do cyclists really lock their bikes up to a rack
that looks like a bike?

Well for a small section of Silver Lake (always remember -- Silver Lake is two words, not one) starting this past Sunday, you needn't wait six more weeks for the next dose of Los Angeles Street Awesomeness. In fact, you can has CicLAvia every day.

The Silver Lake Triangle (a.k.a. Sunset Triangle) is the junction of Sunset Boulevard, Griffith Park Boulevard and Edgecliffe Drive. Home to a tiny park with a fountain and the twice-weekly Silver Lake Farmers Market, this little area of public space is a popular one in the community.

Now the space got a little bigger with the Sunset Triangle Plaza, boasted as "Los Angeles' First Pedestrian Plaza" (Um, The Militiant disagrees with that little superlative...sounds like transplantspeak...didn't they ever hear of oh...Olvera Street or the Venice Boardwalk?) Anyway, Sunset Triangle Plaza takes about 300 feet of Griffith Park Boulevard and turns it into a big-ass lime green Twister board.

The space got its formal opening on this day,  and even afterward, adults, children, pets and even hipsters got to hang out on the space, sitting in umbrella cafe tables (pictured left) on this 85-degree Winter day. Large planters with non-native, but drought-tolerant flora serve as physical barricades to keep cars, trucks, buses and elderly drivers safely away.

The organization Streets For People (People on Streets! De-Da-De-Da-Day!) in cooperation with the Silver Lake Improvement Association were responsible for making it happen, a concept that had been in the planning for some six years.

This is apparently a pilot project, which means if successful, "Los Angeles' Second Pedestrian Plaza" may or may not be coming to a street near you.

In the meantime, come by to Silver Lake and enjoy this thing. The Sunset Boulevard bike lanes take you there, and Metro Local lines 2 and 4 stop nearby at Maltman. For the kids, it's a prime surface to go planking on, and the lime green paint scheme make it a perfect candidate for a St. Patrick's Day Flash Mob Street Party next weekend. Tell 'em The Militant sent ya!