September 16th Park[ing] Day LA celebration!

"Streets are for People!"

Curbside metered parking,
the best real estate deal in town!

The debate over open space, public space, and green space takes to the streets
as Park[ing] Day LA proclaims “Streets are for People!”

On Friday, September 16, the 5th annual celebration of Park[ing] Day LA hits the streets as Park-itects throughout the city step up to the curb, put a quarter in the meter, and proceed to transform metered curbside parking into urban parks, just for the day.

Park[ing] Day LA challenges the status quo and is designed to stir a conversation or dialogue on open space, public space, green space, and to inspire a vision of a city where "Streets are for People!"

Last year’s participants included a professor who taught his class out on the street, a chef who set up a kitchen and cooked for friends, planning students who demonstrated urban farming, merchants who held a wild, wild westside roundup, architects who created a Town Square in Westwood, artists who built a koi pond on a downtown street, designers who built a Zen garden and visionaries who used the opportunity to present plans for permanent parks.

There was a barber who set up shop, musicians who entertained, horticulturists who returned the street to our chaparral legacy, and groups of cyclists who led bike tours throughout the city.

At the end of the day, the Echo Park Film Center parked their Filmmobile at Echo Lake and hosted a bike-in screening of Breaking Away for park-itects from all over the city.

Park[ing] Day originated in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco based art and design collective, transformed a metered parking spot into a park-for-a-day in an effort to make a public comment on the lack of quality open space in American cities.

Their goal was to reprogram the urban surface by reclaiming streets for people to rest, relax and play and their mission is to promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, unscripted social interactions, generosity and play.

Since then, Park[ing] Day has gone global and the messages are as varied as the participants.

The recent battles between LA’s City Hall and LA’s urban gardeners has prompted several of this year’s Park-itects to present an “Edible Streets” standard by building urban farms in parking spaces.

Another theme being implemented this year is “Parallel Parking” at the ArtCycle happening on Saturday the 17th where Park-itects from around the city will move their temporary parks to Santa Monica Boulevard, transforming East Hollywood’s section of Route 66 into an edible street.

For more information contact:
Stephen Box
213-422-7694
Stephen@thirdeyecreative.net

Here is LA's map of 2011 Park[ing] Day LA Parks.

Add your own park by visiting www.communitywalk.com/parkingdayla2011
Click on "Add marker" on the top left tab above the map
(right of Community Walk title)
and follow directions.

view parks from 2010

view parks from 2009

See you in a Park[ing]!

 

 

CommunityWalk Map - PARK(ing) Day 2009 Map