The Pathfinders: Faces in CicLAvia

Everything in bicycling is done with the legs, including the lifting. A look at the people who pull the cause for a more bike-able city

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Jessica Kendall-Bar with bikers in South L.A.

Santa Monica, even on the clearest of days, seems a distant cry from South L.A. To bridge the gap, residents have to contend with the dreadful 10 Freeway, the longest parking lot in California.

But there are those who don't see a stream of motionless motorists as a roadblock. Every few months, an expedition ride into South L.A. and Watts invites locals and outsiders to connect the narratives of their neighborhood; to bring their bike-driven knowledge into foreign lands to explore and dig.

And when that time comes, Jessica Kendall-Bar fits her blue helmet over her head, and bikes eastward from her home in Santa Monica to the wide and flattened streets of South L.A, her dad in tow.

"My father, François Bar, has been working with communities in South LA and surrounding areas to try to create an interactive map of their neighborhoods," she said.

"Every time he does these events, I come along. We bike from our house in Santa Monica to Exposition Park to meet other riders and end up at the Watts Towers."

Francois Bar, an Associate Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, has been developing a mapping project with Partour, a USC-funded program that links to various South L.A.-based non-profits, all in hopes of drawing out the cultural landmarks of the neighborhood.

And while the heads of the group provide the face for the cycling-based movement, Jessica Kendall-Bar is there alongside other riders, answering questions and stirring conversation with casual cyclists drawn to the spectacle.

And neither her or Partour are alone. The EastSide Riders, a local charter for bike enthusiasts are there to meet them. Atop their gleaming, curving frames, the EastSide Riders ferry the group across the necessary crossroads in South L.A.

"While riding with them, receiving friendly greetings from people in their front yards who were looking at the parade of bike riders in red shirts, I fully believe in their abilities...to create a neighborhood in which people can fee safe while on the streets," she said.

There's a good number of people like Kendall-Bar who see the benefits of experiencing the whole of their cycling-ensnared world and who want nothing more than to open up every city to an accessible and welcoming nexus of cycling thoroughfares.

And when she's done with her father, taking photos and logging feedback from their ride, they look to the ocean and ride back home, waiting to do it again.

Biking Map of South L.A. Underway

Iconic Topography of Los Angeles' Southern Neighborhood to be included in open "Bike-Map"

Illustration by Rodrigo Mejia

 Maps are usually crusted, wrinkled rolls of desperate aid for the lost travelers. Developing one, charting points through mountain passes or around swollen earth, used to be in the able hands of the intrepid explorer--with bits of gravel staining his or her fingertips.

But that was then. In the digital age, researches fromUSC and bike-advocate groups aim to use iPADs and smart phones to map the unique topography of South Los Angeles--namely the best avenues for outsiders and residents to travel via bicycle. And they're nearly done.

“The idea is to create a map that tells a story about the neighborhood,” said Francois Bar, Associate Professor of Communications at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Bar is a member of ParTour, the umbrella group responsible for the entire mapping project that includes T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. and The Mobile Urban Mapping Project.The goal, said Bar, is to seize the energy driven by Los Angeles' city-wide biking event, CicLavia and expose the long corridors of South Angeles to the rest of the city.

He said that biking makes sense for the project. When driving down Central Ave, missed are the sounds, smells and textures that give better definition to the culture of the area. It's pivotal then, in his eyes, to design a map that covers facets of South L.A.

“Because people don’t really know that part of the city, the idea that you can ride through it with a group of people who know it is kind of appealing because it’s unique way to discover it.”

“And there’s something about the joint experience of riding with bikes. It’s refreshing.”

Their main method of excavation has been a series of rides into South L.A. Led by local riders, members of CicLAvia and T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. After each ride, the group assembles feedback from those who tagged along--including photos--and funnel that information into developing a "crowd-sourced" map of the community.

Charged with designing the map is ColleenCorcoran, who has worked to develop signage for events like CicLAvia and the Eagle Rock Music Festival. For the transplant from Austin, Texas, it’s keen to include a language that expresses the cultural heritage explored in the map.

“Being there, you definitely feel welcome and really there’s a sense of the diversity of the culture there,” said Corcoran. “I’m trying to reference those things, things that are iconic of South L.A. like the Watts Towers or even things like hand-painted signage.”

She’s been meeting with the members of ParTour to assemble all the pieces contributed by residents and riders alike to address the two tenants of the project. Secondary to the map, the group is also hoping to pierce through the negative image that, she feels, is wrongfully owned by South Los Angeles.

“We had a discussion over what are the kind of the stigmas and stereotypes about South L.A. and what might be and reasons for those. People who are not familiar with it associate it with traumatic things from the past, like the riots,” she said.

“One of our goals is to get rid of some of those stereotypes and show that there are really some positive things happening there.”

She stated that the map is in the final stages of development.

“It’s non-threatening, it creates conversation, and I think it’s got great potential. We’re just playing with it as a way to engage the neighborhood,” said Francois Bar.

The next CicLAvia event, slated for April 15, will include the latest addition to the route--the South L.A. annex at the African-American Firefighter Museum--but will not include the findings of the mapping project.

Tafarai Bayne of T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. has been taking the case to the city and the M.T.A. to green-light an extended route along Central Ave, but has had problems wrestling with the Blue Line tracks across Washington Blvd.