ArroyoFest: Twenty Years Later (Photos)

Twenty years after the inaugural ArroyoFest – a grassroots ciclovia led by Occidental College staff in 2003 – the 110 Arroyo Seco Parkway was once again filled with people on foot, bike, skate and other modes of micro-mobility.

By Wesley Reutimann

Originally designed by renowned landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and Harland Bartholomew, the now national historic byway was intended to be a leisurely, scenic drive between Pasadena and downtown Los Angeles.

The corridor initially featured verdant plantings and landscaping to frame the adjacent Arroyo Seco river and hillside vistas. The parkway was also supposed to be just one element of a diverse transportation system which included trolleys, trains, buses, and walkable neighborhoods.

For the 2023 event, southbound lanes of the 110 Parkway were reserved for pedestrians including walkers, runners, wheelchair users, and families with strollers and young children. Northbound lanes were reserved for people on bikes, scooters, skateboards, and other wheeled devices, including Class II/III e-bicycles, e-scooters, and similar electric-assist devices.

There was also a new, one-mile leg of the route on local City streets, connecting the on/off ramps at Orange Grove in South Pasadena to Mission Street, the South Pasadena Metro station, and Garfield Park.

Thanks to Metro’s newly extended A-line, the longest light-rail line in the United States, easy public transit access provided direct service to the event route via the Lincoln Heights / Cypress Park and South Pasadena stations, and easy access via the Filmore and Southwest Museum stations, where bikes and scooters were brought on board at no extra cost.