Category Archives: community

REI – Miles of Portraits: How the Bicycle Brings People Together

Friday, March 15, 2019
6:30 PM  –  8:30 PM

Santa Monica REI

  • Member price: Free • Non-member price: Free

Join us in welcoming Annalisa van den Bergh & Erik Douds to the Santa Monica REI for this special Free event.

When Annalisa and Erik ride their nearly 100-pound loaded bicycles, people ask them questions. A lot of questions. Across America and around Alaska, their bicycles have become the ultimate conversation starter and have introduced them to hundreds of people. Miles of Portraits is a magazine and film that captures their stories and celebrates kindness in a time when all we seem to hear about is bad news. Starting in mid-March, they’ll cycle from LA to Santa Fe, NM, stopping at REIs along the way to tell their story. Come watch the film and hear Annalisa and Erik, both type 1 diabetics, talk about these kind souls they’ve met across on their bike travels as well as their deeper reasons for riding their bicycles really, really far.

City of Santa Monica Open Streets Event COAST: October 7th, 10am-4pm

Celebrates Art, Sustainability, + Mobility
Sunday, October 7, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

This Sunday is the City of Santa Monica’s third annual open streets event COAST presented by Metro. At this free event, the public will experience two miles of streets closed to car traffic and filled with interactive art exhibits, live performances, local food and business purveyors, and connections with families, friends, and neighbors.
More info on COAST HERE


Visit Santa Monica Spoke and the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance on route in front of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

  • Free Bike and Small Wheels Skills, Safety & Obstacle course for the kids (11am-3pm)– bikes/helmets provided by Santa Monica Safe Routes to School
  • FREE bike safety checks by Performance Bicycle Santa Monica
  • BEST Class” Bicycling 101 (1pm – 2pm) register HERE for Free
    – no bike needed for this workshop
    – gifts for all attendees – (please register)
  • Lots of great information all day at COAST
    – free and low cost helmets while they last.

In its second year in 2017, COAST welcomed more than 50,000 visitors of all ages to Downtown Santa Monica for the event. This year the route will feature a variety of interactive and eclectic performances including a performance stage on Ocean Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard, strolling musicians, dancers and large-scale immersive art installations at site-specific locations to be discovered along the route.


Aerial Artist John Q will gather up to 1,000 people in real time at the event creating a live human installation to artistically illustrate art, mobility and sustainability. Artists Jana Cruder and Matthew LaPenta demonstrate the impact of disposable plastic on the natural environment with their larger-than-life art installation titled, Natural Plasticity, constructed of a massive plastic straw and giant plastic bottle towering nearly 30 feet high. Event goers will have an opportunity to contribute their personal mark to artist Peter Tigler’s interactive thumbprint mural that will take shape with public participation to illustrate a message of mobility and sustainability.

Time:
Volunteers: 8:00am – 12:30pm
Participants: 11:30am – 12:30pm
(photograph at 12pm sharp!)

Where:
Volunteers will meet in downtown Santa Monica, on Ocean Ave just north of Santa Monica Blvd. There will be an A frame with a bright umbrella just north of the stage where folks can assemble. A volunteer coordinator will be there to greet everyone. Participants arriving at 11:30am will see us set up just north of the stage, the image will be more obvious / laid out by then.


The Santa Monica Community Garden offers a variety of ways to explore the natural world through garden tours, arts and crafts, planting tips, and a how-to on preparing home-grown vegetables. Active Santa Monica will lead a series of engaging sessions ranging from dance to sports.


Click map to download PDF

COAST will be held on two miles of streets closed to street traffic, including Ocean Avenue from Wilshire Boulevard to Tongva Park, as well as Main Street to Marine Street. To attend COAST, visitors can ride the Expo Line, Big Blue Bus, or take advantage of Santa Monica’s 110 miles of bikeways.

Attendees are encouraged to use all human power mobility, ride bikes or walk along the route. Bike rental will be available at multiple locations along the route as well as 85 Breeze stations located throughout Santa Monica. Free bike valets will be available to make it easy to check-in your bike to grab lunch and enjoy the entertainment.

For more information about COAST, visit www.smgov.net/coast and join the conversation on social media using #COASTSaMo. For more information about Metro’s Open Streets Program, visit https://www.metro.net/projects/active-transportation/metro-open-streets-grant-program/.

The event is funded by Metro’s Open Streets Grant Program, which seeks to bring visitors to new parts of the region to explore and enjoy car-free streets within Los Angeles County. Metro supports numerous active transportation programs that create better conditions for walking and bicycling, particularly to connect with Metro’s growing public transit system. The agency’s Open Streets Program, the largest of its kind in the United States, invests approximately $2 million each year for car-free events, many in new communities. In total, 23 Open Streets events have been hosted to date. 

Park(ing) Day 2018: Downtown Santa Monica!

Park(ing) Day is this Friday, September 21st
10:00 am – 3:00 pm

Come visit us Downtown Santa Monica on Arizona, between Second and Fourth Streets for one of the largest Park(ing) Day activations in the region!  #Park(ing)Day!

Park(ing) Day is a worldwide annual event in which people are encouraged to reclaim and transform valuable urban real estate generally dedicated solely for the automobile into a multi-purpose gathering space for people to interact, relax and experiment. It’s a day to think about the future of our downtown and how we would like to see our urban environment evolve. What is the range of possibilities for creativity in a public space usually dedicated to the storage of a private vehicles?

To celebrate Park(ing) Day, Downtown Santa Monica Inc. has partnered with mobility companies Waze Carpool, Bird and Lyft, as well as the City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division and Santa Monica Spoke for one of the largest Park(ing) Day activations in the region. We are so excited to participate as we all set up mini-parks along Arizona Avenue between Second and Forth Streets and feature different amenities and activities.

The parklets were created according to the theme “Street of the Future.”

Please take a seat, enjoy the mini-parks and share your thoughts on the street of the future.View the event on Facebook here

This Weekend: Walk with the Mayor Protem to the Buy Local Health & Fitness Festival!

Come visit us at Santa Monica Spoke, Santa Monica Safe Routes to School, GoSaMo Team, and the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance AND SO MUCH MORE. We will host another fun bike & small wheels obstacle safety course and bike safety checks by Performance Bicycle for the kids. Free and low cost helmets and lots of materials and information to share! A day of healthy outdoor activities for all ages!

Start the day on a Walk with Mayor Protem Gleam Davis to the Buy Local Festival for a day of fun and health activities for the entire family!

This free community event, co-produced with the city of Santa Monica, will feature  music,  pop up shops,  and  interactive classes, and lots of opportunities to get to know your City.   Local businesses will provide  expertise,  advice,  health screenings,  and  free product samples    to promote a healthy and happy lifestyle for the entire Santa Monica Community. Businesses from every neighborhood will be there.  Don’t miss the chance to be part of this amazing feel-good festival and help support your local businesses, schools, and public services!

We are giving away more Huffy Cruisers!!

Upcoming Events – this weekend and beyond!

Click titles or images for more info..

Saturday, August 25th
Parks & Recreation Master Plan Update: Community Workshop #1

Thursday, August 30th
Ride with the Mayor to HandleBar Happy Hour at The Brixton!

Saturday, September 8th
Walk with the Mayor & Buy Local Health and Fitness Festival

 

Saturday, September 15th
Kidical Mass(ive): Global Family Bike Ride

Sunday, October 7th
COAST: City of Santa Monica Open Street Event