Photos by Brian Addison. For a complete in pictures look at last year’s Grand Prix-view, click here.
I’ve called it a ciclovía before and again—and apparently the City of Long Beach officially agrees. Despite not scoring funding for the project via Metro, the City has grouped its annual Grand Prix-view event with its upcoming ciclovía, Beach Streets Uptown.
For me, I believe a ciclovía holds this strange philosophical power–you invert a street to be used for people’s feet and bikes and skateboard, not cars–that when enacted, suddenly shows off a very tangible benefit–that our urban landscape thrives most when people are exploring it at a human scale.
Now officially dubbed Beach Streets Grand Prix-view, the track of the 1.5 mile Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be opened up to bikes, skaters, walkers, runners, and all things non-motorized. For the third year in a row, the event will not permit a single motorized vehicle to enter the track (or your four-legged friends unless they are a service animal: after all, the last thing they need is someone who didn’t pick up after their critter in a space where cars will be hitting some 180MPH).
Unfortunately, the hours of the event have not expanded as compared to last year and it still runs in the middle of the week (on a Tuesday) in the middle of the day (because apparently people who work should be relegated to their office). The event will run on April 7 from 11:30AM to 1PM, a measly hour and a half.
Bitching aside, as I once wrote, there is something more engaging and powerful here: “it shows off something very simple; it shows off the power of people using their bodies. For me, I believe a ciclovía holds this strange philosophical power–you invert a street to be used for people’s feet and bikes and skateboard, not cars–that when enacted, suddenly shows off a very tangible benefit–that our urban landscape thrives most when people are exploring it at a human scale.”
The Grand Prix-view will take place at the track on Tuesday, April 7, from 11:30AM to 1PM. The two entrance points for the public to access the track are at:
- Ocean Boulevard and Hart Place
- Ocean Boulevard and Collins Way
Parking is available for a fee at the Terrace Parking Structure (irony there). For more information, call 562-570-3150.
2 Comments
[…] Bike, Walk, Skate the L.B. Gran Prix Route April 7 (LongBeachIze) […]
Does the Grand Prix, or the belief in its importance to downtown limit what can be done to make the streets in the area more urban and more pedestrian friendly? Did consideration of the race play a role in the last re-design of the streets that left us with an open urban highway, devoid of street life and shade trees, reminiscent of the dead spaces between buildings in Irvine or Riyadh.