West Hollywood Tries To Revive Oldest Mode of Travel...On Foot

The project has a six month timeline and many of the pop-up installations already exist, including sidewalk seats placed along the Strip under colorful light poles with a variety of posters, some give directions to find food and entertainment, others provide historical anecdotes from Sunset Strip, such as "LADY GAGA and ELTON JOHN STOPPED TRAFFIC " when they performed in the parking lot of the former Tower Records store. The most extensive addition is the "parklet" located at 8818 Sunset Blvd, that is between the sidewalk and street, alongside the front of Book Soup (see photo) and four intersections have been made pedestrian friendly with planters and colorful art work by Chase, an artist, whose murals already have made a bold impact in various L.A. locations. http://www.theartofchase.com/n...

Even in the project's infancy, the response seems mixed. Employees at Book Soup are hopeful this will prompt more people to walk along the strip and descend upon the "parklet" as a favorite destination but concern was expressed about it being a traffic accident waiting to happen, if not also a new place for the homeless to settle into.

Laith Haddad, the owner of the Cuban Seed Cigar Company, is not a fan of the "improvements" made at the intersection near his store at Larrabee and Sunset Blvd, where he pointed out, one no longer can make a U-Turn on the south side of Larrabee and also where traffic is impeded by the placement of a planter and poles on the north side of the same intersection.

For more information: https://www.weho.org/city-gove...