Cities, Bicycles and the Future of Getting Around

Last night we went out to dinner at the lovely Cafe Pinot. When we arrived it was still sunshine-y and warm and we ate on the patio. It was lovely as day turned into night with the candle glow and tiny lights.


(top photo - Cafe Pinot, bottom photo - google. ay yi yi I thought I could center this caption WAH!)

Then ... so very cool! We went to the Aratani Japan America Theatre and attended a panel presentation and discussion about making Los Angeles more bike friendly. The panel included the wonderful David Byrne, the hubs absolute favorite musician. (I'll have to ask him which is his ultimate favorite thing in the whole wide world, Star Trek or David Byrne?!) The panel also included a city official, an urban planner and a bike advocate.

They began the evening with a video of clips from movies of people on bikes. These are the ones I remember from last night ... Wizard of Oz, I Love Lucy, Life is Beautiful, Andy Griffith Show, Butch Cassidy, Cinema Paradiso, The Bicycle Thief, Il Postino, ET, The Muppet Movie ... my memory is failing me but it was so much fun! You could hear people smile and giggle with recognition as the images came on screen.

The traffic is so horrific and unpredictable in Los Angeles. It's having an impact on the way we live and our choices. We've begun to not go to some places and do things we used to do because we can't cope with the traffic anymore. (plus we're also old and crotchety now teehee!)

Time to get a bike again!

And it was so great at the event, they had bicycle valets for the people that rode their bikes there. They asked for a show of hands and many people had ridden their bikes to the event.

There were bike clubs and bike activists there with all sorts of ideas and it was exciting and so very encouraging to listen to a grass roots movement that's coming alive.