ArroyoFest takes over Pasadena freeway

KCAL News, 10/29/23; PasadenaNow.com, 10/24/23; Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation Meetup), Jen Bradshaw, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly UPDATED

I plan to downward dog it all the way to Down Town Los Angeles then rollerskate back home.

'Arroyo Fest' draws thousands to South Pasadena

(KCAL News) Oct. 29, 2023: Thousands of people are strolling, scootering, or cycling on the freeway [that becomes Arroyo Parkway into Pasadena] as part of "Arroyo Fest" in South Pasadena. Tina Patel reports.

The inaugural Arroyo Fest on Arroyo Seco Parkway held in 2003 (Joan Dooley/Charles Lee)

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Next time, inspired by South Park, the buttbike

REVIEW: It was amazing, running onto a freeway I had driven all my life and had almost died on once in an almost-crash (when I was about to let go of the wheel, give up, and cover my face for the impact) but then things inexplicably went back to normal. Thanks, Kwan Yin, Mary, Mother Goddess! So imagine running onto it -- as thousands are walking, riding, and strolling across lanes.

It's much smaller than it looks at 55 MPH and faster. The concrete and asphalt thoroughfare is the oldest in the West, perhaps the oldest in the country, maybe even the world. It's the first "freeway." Well, there are those Maya roadways under jungle cover in Belize, recently discovered using LiDAR, as we reported. There were families, pro joggers, EVs, bicyclists in too tight shorts and cleats, guys aboard loud contraptions like the makeshift Bike Band Flotilla (who are sure to be playing the 2023 Doo Dah Parade), lots of dogs, and plenty of roller skates. Where was the host of Off-Ramp or Ira Glass? This American Life would have had a field day with interviews.

We yoga stretched along the median separating speeding bicyclists from those out to savor the day, trying not to photobomb all the cellphone cameras, over the river (the Aroyo Seco or "Dry Gulch" into and out of Pasadena) toward the distant DTLA. It feels like LA is mostly flat, but we're in the hills and canyons, ravines and the second valley of this megalopolis. Then the fuzz put the kibosh on our fun and cleared the roadway, along with very nice civilian ambassadors, so that by noon, it was all a dream on a strange day in LA when the beaches are warmer than the inland cities. It's always the other way around, with traffic choked into Santa Monica for the ocean breeze. It was so clear that from the right vantage point, the Pacific was visible, as it is on clear days.

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Event details

The nearby Suicide Bridge, Pasadena

Pasadena is gearing up for a historic and festive event on Sunday, Oct. 29th, when the Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the 110 Freeway, will close to vehicle traffic and open to people walking, biking, or any form of active transportation, for six hours.

The fun event, called ArroyoFest 2023, marks the 20th anniversary of the first time that the parkway was transformed into a car-free zone for biking, walking, and exploring.

If one is into running, sign up and arrive early for the “Run the 110” event, a chip-timed 10K point-to-point run. It starts promptly at 7:00 am at the north end of the route in South Pasadena. Runners need to arrive at the starting line by 6:30 or 6:45 am.

• ArroyoFest Returns to Pasadena This Weekend After 20 Years’ Absence – Pasadena Now

ArroyoFest is not just a street festival, but a community movement that aims to reconnect people with the natural and urban landscapes of the Arroyo Seco corridor.

The event was first held in 2003, seven years before the popular cicLAvia series began in Los Angeles. 

Prof. Robert Gottlieb, founder of the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute at (Obama's local alma mater) Occidental College and the Henry R. Luce Professor of Urban and Environmental Studies, relates how ArroyoFest was inspired by multiple factors.

One was the interest in re-envisioning the LA River and the Arroyo Seco Stream as natural and cultural assets, the LA County Bike Coalition’s bike ride along the LA River program, Dennis Crowley’s idea to bike on the Pasadena freeway, and the desire to promote biking and walking as part of a transportation and livability agenda.

“So that led to some discussions with a number of groups about maybe really expanding this agenda of biking and building out ways to put biking and walking in front of the transportation agenda and livability agenda,” Prof. Gottlieb said.

“That led to this idea of doing the bike ride on the freeway and a walk on the freeway. We approached Occidental, and when Caltrans and the Highway Patrol and some of the other agencies that would need to sign off on such an event were approached, they initially really dismissed it as implausible.

“They thought it was almost a joke.”

The transportation agencies were worried about how car owners would oppose closing down the freeway for something like a bike ride, Prof. Gottlieb said. But eventually, with Occidental College stepping in, the skepticism was at least modestly reduced.

Prof. Gottlieb said the planning for the first Arroyo Fest took a challenging two years. He said that they used an inside and outside strategy, involving community groups, elected officials, and leading figures from Los Angeles, South Pasadena, and Pasadena, to persuade them to approve the event.

Prof. Gottlieb’s group also developed a traffic plan, got insurance, and expanded the agenda to include the history and vision of the Arroyo Seco corridor. Finally, the agencies gave the event the go-signal. More