Skip to main content

Los Angeles: "But We Never Used to Cycle Here" - Yeah, right


Los Angeles. 1900. Spring St. near 8th.
The latest installment is from a city that enjoyed a modal share for bicycles of 20% at the turn of the last century and built impressive protected bicycle infrastructure like this 10 km, elevated cycle track back in 1900.

Alas, the bicycle disappeared from this area that was described like this in an 1897 newspaper article: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling."

Thanks to our reader, Rick, we found these photographs showing the bicycle as an accepted and respected part of life in Los Angeles in the Los Angeles Public Library archives.

We all know what happened when the car industry went after another competitive transport form.

Burbank. 1908.


First Street looking east from Yale Avenue in Claremont in 1915.


Los Angeles. Ca. 1890. 632 South Broadway.


Balboa. Newport Beach. 1940s. Photographer: Herman Schultheis.

Los Angeles Bicycle Police Squad. 1904. Broadway past 6th St.

Los Angeles. 1905. Rambler Bicycles at 207-209 West 5th Street near Spring.

Los Angeles. 1902. Commercial High School participate in the Fiesta Floral Parade with a bicycle float.

Los Angeles. 1915. Hill and 4th.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1904. Main and 9th. Bicycle Parade heading for Griffith Park.

Long Beach. Ca. 1895. Pine Avenue.

Los Angeles. Ca. 1930s. Variety Arts Theater.

Los Angeles. 1899. Spring Street.

From left:
- Portrait of Japanese boy with bicycle and notebook ca 1900.
- Grace Toya with bicycle at the Tule Lake internment camp 1945.
- Los Angeles Bicycle Club 1890s.


Los Angeles High School's Kodak and Bicycle Club ca 1900.


From top left:
- Los Angeles ca. 1930s.
- LA Rooftop Stunt 1930s.
- Ditto.
- Los Angeles "Old Settlers Parade" 1937. Photographer: George J. Cooper


Leela McAdam nee McCabe - winner of the best decorated bicycle for the 1900 Fourth of July parade in Lompoc stands outside her home at 137 South J Street.


Oh, and tell your local bike polo playing hipster that he/she is soooo old school. Bike Polo in Los Angeles, 1930s.

Might be fun to see photographs taken these days from the same locations. Let us know if you take them.

Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives.

Popular posts from this blog

7550 New Bike Parking Spots at Copenhagen Central Station

For all of Copenhagen's badassness as a bicycle city, there remains one thing that the City still completely sucks at. Bicycle parking at train stations. At Copenhagen Central Station there are only about 1000 bike parking spots. Danish State Railways can't even tell us how many spots they have. They're not sure. Even in Basel they have 800+. In Antwerp they have this . Don't even get me started on the Dutch. 12,500 bike parking spots are on the way in some place called Utrecht . Amsterdam has a multi-story bike parking facility, floating bicycle barges round the back and are planning 7000 more spots underwater . Even at the nation's busiest train station, Nørreport, the recent and fancy redesign failed miserably in providing parking that is adequate for the demand . Architects once again failing to respond to actual urban needs. It is time to remedy that. Here is my design for 7550 bike parking spots behind Copenhagen Central Station. Steve C. Montebello i...

The Race for Lithium for Electric Cars and Bicycles

Uyuni Salt Flats, Bolivia. Photo: Ezequiel Cabrera/Wikipedia The coming boom in batteries to electric cars and Lazy Bikes (electric-assist bicycles) means a boom in batteries with which to run them. A new race for natural resources has begun. Enter Lithium, the world's lightest metal. For 150 years it's been nickel and lead that have been used in batteries but the advent of lithium technology has allowed for a revolution. Longer battery life, lighter batteries in our laptaps and mobile phones and iPods. Lithium weighs 1/20th of what nickel and lead do. Lithium is also used in anti-depressive medicine, ceramics and nuclear power. With all this talk of electric cars and bicycles, the demand for lithium is on the verge of exploding. Lithium is the new oil. Enter Boliva. This developing country sits on at least half of the world's supply of lithium, most of it in underground salt layers beneath the world's largest salt flats in Salar de Uyuni , in south-west Boliva. Betwee...

Traffic Safety Orgs Speak for Themselves - Not the Rest of Us

Classic traffic safety organisation narrative. "Stop cycling". By Stephanie Patterson With Mikael Colville-Andersen In the diverse world of traffic planning, advocacy and various movements for liveable cities, there is an odd group of outliers who broadcast conflicting messages. While “traffic safety” organisations seem like a natural part of the gallery and of the narrative, upon closer inspection they exist in a communication vacuum populated exclusively by like-minded organisations. There is little correlation with those organisations who advocate cycling, pedestrianism or safer streets. The traffic safety crowd are in a world unto themselves, with little or no accountability for the campaigns they develop or the messaging they broadcast. They are often allied with insurance companies who clearly take comfort in working with others who embrace scaring the population at large through constructed fear . In many ways, they are a classic subculture, with strong hints...