A Bicycle Ride Through Elysian Park

Thanks for posting these photos! My partner and I live in Echo Parker and even we sometimes forget just how lucky we are to live in this area.

Undoubtedly, Elysian is a beautiful place. And, amazingly, very overlooked by far too many people. I also think the Cornfields park will be a fabulous addition. But, the pity of the situation is there is so little park space downtown. What downtown needs is more park space which is within walking distance of residents. The fact is places like Elysian Park or the Cornfields are ‘destinations’ which I’m going to have to pile into the car and park when I get there. Of course, this is the L.A. way.

I get the sense, planning authorities have given up on the idea of creating accessible local park space in downtown because the will to enforce law and order doesn’t exist. (Check out Pershing Square.) So we’ll get semi-public commercialized spaces like Grand Avenue or L.A. Live where the landlord won’t have a problem enforcing public order on their property. If that’s what is possible, I’ll take it. Still, philosophically I’d prefer more small parks nearby like Grand Hope which I can walk to with my family.

Of course, even if the city now wanted to create this kind of park space downtown, land costs have gone up dramatically. Too bad during the 90s the city hadn’t scooped up land on the cheap and in the interim leased it to parking lot operators. Thus, when places like South Park began to develop, the city could convert said land to park space to serve new residents. Obviously, that opportunity is long gone.

Is there any easy way to get to Elysian Park without a car? LA Historical Park (Cornfield) is easy to get to via the Gold Line and a short walk… I’m really excited for some of those plans they have for that park space.

last night i was looking over the three proposals for the “cornfield” site and the Field Operations, though extravagant, is by far the best and most well planned/multi-purpose of the three. the other two lack any imagination and will do little to draw anybody to the park, let alone make it some sort of iconic symbol of LA. and i love the idea of moving dodger stadium down from that concrete hole it sits in, nothing rejuvinates a city like a new ball park built in what can become city (all of la that is) center. Field Operations’ plans don’t ruin the elsyinian park either, but makes it even more “green” friendly for parks and biking.

As an architect, I make it my business to continually think of ways to find a new perspective and challenge the existing, accepted way of looking at something. Dodger Stadium is one of my favorite places on the planet, and I certainly appreciate the feelings expressed by those seeking to keep it where it is, and even perhaps keep it in a state pf “preservation”. Kudos to Thom Mayne and the Field Ops crew for exploding the box that we in LA have been living in - namely that “it’s always (sic) been there, so why change it” mentality. (Same might be said by some about Skid Row). To replace the stadium closer to Downtown, make it an integral part of Downtown through transportation, walking and cycling links and possibly reduce the parking acreage (underground parking ala UCLA perhaps) - looks like a dynamite idea… no pun intended… I do love the existing stadium, but there’s room to at least seriously look at this, and other radical, ideas. Downtown’s “renaissance” could be strongly supported by bringing the stadium, with its over 100 annual events (including 82 Dodger home games) adjacent.

Hi,

You should organize a ride through our favorite areas! It looks like you know the area like the back of your hand, so I think it would be fun. I know bicycle kitchen does rides as well, but those are mostly at night. I wouldt mind having some friends chime and help organize it as well!

Thanks for the great blog man!