Felicia

Flier for NELA family bike ride: A mini bike-party for kids & parents the first Saturday of the month. This Saturday October 4th meet at the playground at El Rio de Los Angeles Park in Cypress Park at 9am. We’ll head out at 9:15 for an easy ride on the LA River bike path then back to the park to play!

Inspired by all the fun bike events I see happening in Portland, I started a monthly mini bike-party for kids and parents. An easy ride followed by a playground hang!

A wall with a ‘bicycle parking only’ sign stamped on it.

An actual parking space in this parking lot dedicated to bike parking! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, especially not in Los Angeles.

Hosted a fun family bike ride yesterday! Shared a flier on social media on Monday; a DOZEN local families showed up Saturday to ride two miles to the park. Aside from one family, none of us knew each other beforehand…community building and placemaking! A really sweet way to spend a Saturday morning!

Families riding a variety of cargo bikes with kids, on a tree-lined street in Los Angeles.

Imagine if the streets of Los Angeles looked like this more often 🚲 ✨

Handpainted ‘Don’t Drive Nazi Cars’ sign posted on a pole.

“Don’t Drive Nazi Cars” sign spotted in Glassell Park 💫

Love regrocery! Super convenient for acquiring varying amounts of ingredients. I’m nearly walking distance to one but I try to bike over because I think they offer a % discount for people who arrive by bike. That’s been my experience anyway, not sure if it’s an ongoing thing.

A few years ago I saw a driver hit a guy on an e-scooter. For an hour the guy with a broken hip waited in ambulance, witnesses waited on sidewalk & driver in her car, only for cops to arrive and say ‘We don’t record/report this anymore since you guys defunded us. Only if it’s fatal or severe.’ 🤦🏻‍♀️

Toddler in a train conductor hat looking out at scenery on the Griffith Park Railroad.

Biked the kiddo to Griffith Park to ride the train. A sweet old-school LA activity; $4 a person and worth every penny!

Very grateful this has persevered & the sad Pony Rides have not😏

Biking this morning, we crossed paths with another urban arrow cargobike (possibly from the @activesgv.bsky.social fleet) but this one held 4 helmeted kiddos in the bucket! An image that really exuded joy; great passive marketing for bikes! ✨🚲

Thoughts on parking cargobike in a ‘car parking’ spot? Taking kiddo to an activity this weekend in a plaza/strip mall with no official or ad-hoc bike parking 🫠

A bunch of family bikes at the park for kid’s birthday party

A snapshot of happier times: the bike parking at my kiddo’s bday party last last weekend.

One of the wonderful families, (dedicated to environment & to their community) who arrived on bike lost everything in the #EatonFire. Please consider supporting if you can.

www.gofundme.com/f/support-ma...

AQI does not account for all possible toxic chemicals so…definitely not safe out here.

Our AQI is the lowest it’s been all week. With fires & devastation so close, does this even mean anything right now though? Do we assume air is not going to be safe for a while no matter these #?

Simpsons-style portrait of a family on bikes at the LA River Bike Path

My sister gifted us a Simpsons-style portrait of us biking at the LA River. 😆

On a nice day, the LA River really looks like that! It’s my favorite spot in the city.

The council decided to remove the bike lane.

This meeting was so hard to watch. One councilmember said ‘I’m a cyclist and I would never ride on that street, the pollution from vehicle emissions is so bad’. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Fire chief throws out some ideas for dealing w traffic, met w varying reactions from crowd 🙃

‘We need to get ppl out of their cars somehow…maybe mass transit?’

‘50 lane highway on every street so fire truck can easily get thru’

‘Remove parking on Brand so ppl can pull over & let the truck thru’

The angry driver comments contrast sharply w those of older woman who showed up to meeting to say she & husband are not typical bike demographic but they now ride e-bikes often, thanks to new lanes. Said friends & family even look down on them for this but it brings them so much joy to ride around 🥹

Watching Glendale City Council’s North Brand Boulevard Complete Streets Demonstration meeting. Contentious, of course.

Anonymous call-in speaker says people can bike at the beach, take uber if they can’t drive; says ‘You need to conform! You need to assimilate!’.

Drivers really are miserable.

Baby reading a book in a cargo bike.

Favorite thing lately is watching the baby casually flip through a book in the cargobike while we’re out riding. He’s obscured by the rain cover in this photo but it’s beyond adorable to see in person.

Woman riding bicycle with a baby seat in back.

Some #bikejoy: our first walk/ride around the neighborhood to get baby used to wearing a helmet, me reacquainted with my Trek, etc. Fun for all! 🚲✨

Baby riding in a cargo bike at open streets event.

Active Streets in South Pasadena was baby’s first open streets event! These are always chill, so it’s a good first one.

We even made it to a bikes & babies picnic at the local park. 🌳🚲

Baby seated in a carseat, strapped into a cargobike.

Baby’s first trip by cargo bike was a success! He even napped on the ride home. 😎

Cover of book ‘Ride Beside Me’ by Lucy Knisley, features people biking

Page from a book, featuring people on bike passing cars in traffic.

Page from a book, featuring people on bike.

Our new favorite book, Ride Beside Me by @lucyknisley.bsky.social

I love that it features different kinds of riders & bikes. I also appreciate that it’s rooted in the reality of what it’s like to bike in our car-centric society.

A great addition to any kids’ @thewaroncars.bsky.social collection!

Father and son at doctor’s office with Cars decals on the wall behind them.

No matter how hard we try to keep our baby away from cars- they’re everywhere, even the doctor’s office 😵‍💫 The auto industry is relentless.

Pregnant & feeling more like a beach ball than a person, my current fave modes of transportation in order of comfort:
1) biking (freedom! fresh air!)
2) walking (moving feels better than not rn)
3) bus (spacious)
4) MicroMetro (sometimes cramped)
5) a ride in a private car (hard to get into/out of)