Global Courant
For the first time in 20 years, a portion of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the West Coast’s oldest highway, will be closed to people for walking, biking, rollerblading and running.
On October 29, ArroyoFest will enable car-free exploration of six miles of the 110 Freeway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena.
Two decades ago, the first ArroyoFest was ahead of its time for Southern California, said Wesley Reutimann, co-founder and director of special programs at ActiveSGV, one of the event organizers.
In June 2003, seven years before the first CicLAvia “open streets” event, ArroyoFest closed the Arroyo Seco Parkway for three hours, giving thousands of people the opportunity to tour the highway like never before.
“I really tended to take the exit to 5,” cyclist Steve Edberg told The Times in an article about that meeting in 2003. “If I had 200 or 300 riders with me, I think we would have can take over.”
The original ArroyoFest had been in the planning stages for 10 years before the event organizers convinced Caltrans and made it happen.
Twenty years later, Reutimann said, planning a return visit to the event has proved just as complicated.
“There is a lot that goes into organizing an event like this,” he said. “It speaks volumes that they were able to successfully perform the first one in 2003.”
It’s a major undertaking that involves several permitting processes and agencies, including approval from the Pasadena City Council and a special event permit from Caltrans, he said. Pasadena now.
After years of planning, ArroyoFest’s return will provide many with a new perspective on the highway – and perhaps a glimpse into the original vision for the Arroyo Seco before it became one of Los Angeles’ most infamous driving experiences.
A cyclist in old-fashioned clothing arrives at a gas station on his equally old-fashioned bicycle to take a break after a ride on the 110 Freeway during ArroyoFest in June 2003.
(Hector Mata/AFP/Getty Images)
Opened in 1940, the Arroyo Seco Parkway was built with the idea that it would be a meandering, green parkway that could accommodate approximately 27,000 vehicles per day, with a top speed of 45 mph.
Today, the Parkway sees well north of 100,000 rides a day with people driving twice the speed it was originally designed for. The narrow lanes, small shoulders and short on and off ramps can be a terrifying ride for anyone not used to it.
Similar to open street events like CicLAvia and 626 Golden Streets, ArroyoFest will provide respite from all those fast-moving cars, if only for a few hours.
In fact, it represents a full return for cyclists on the busy LA-to-Pasadena traffic corridor.
The California Cycleway preceded the Arroyo Seco Parkway. The first section of the bike path opened in 1900 after a bicycle craze in the 1890s.
Part of the bike path was dismantled when the city of Pasadena needed the land for Central Park, and later the rest of the bike path came down as well, according to the Pasadena Museum of History. According to the Arroyo Seco Foundation, the bike path’s right-of-way eventually became part of the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
Several factors played a role in the decision to bring back ArroyoFest, Reutimann said. ActiveSGV met with the original organizers — including Occidental College faculty, Los Angeles residents, and Caltrans representatives — and they supported revisiting the event.
ArroyoFest was originally set to return in 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The organizers started rescheduling the event two years ago.
These years 626 Golden Streets: ArroyoFest will be held from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on October 29. People can only enter the Arroyo Seco Parkway for the first four hours from just north of the 5 Freeway to the Arroyo Seco terminus in Pasadena. A portion of South Pasadena’s Mission Street, from the subway station to Garfield Park, will be open to ArroyoFest attendees during the event.
The plan is to begin closing the Parkway several hours before the event and reopen it by noon, Reutimann said.
The event is free for participants.
It includes three hubs near subway stations along the route – Lincoln/Cypress, Southwest Museum and South Pasadena station – where visitors can enjoy music performances, art activities and pop-ups. The hubs will also have bike repair stations and water filling stations.
On Monday, an exploratory event will allow cyclists to preview the upcoming ArroyoFest and explore the Arroyo Seco bike trail, though riders will not be able to enter the highway. The route is seven miles and only one way, so people can take the subway back or bike if they prefer.
