Coffeeneuring the Third: Verve in Downtown L.A./CicLAvia

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 3

Date: October 18, 2015

Weather conditions: Drizzle turned to sunny & mild

Destination: Verve Coffee, Downtown Los Angeles, California

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Distance (complete trip): 17.7 miles

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus Edible(s): Mocha & Almond Croissant

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Bike-friendliness: Bike rack right in front of sidewalk adjacent tables, and visible from indoor seating areas. Not enough racks for all the bikes there that day, but many were simply parking their bikes at the sidewalk tables.

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Bloomers of the day: Red Hot Aqua Dot

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Route map:

VerveCicLAviaRoute

Notes:

This trip coincided with CicLAvia, an open streets event L.A. has 3-4 times a year, each time featuring a different part of the Los Angeles area. From 9 am to 4 pm, several miles of streets are closed to cars, and open to bicyclists, pedestrians, skateboarders, strollers, and other non-motorized conveyances. This particular one was celebrating the 5th anniversary of the very first CicLAvia (held on 10/10/10), and so featured the “Heart of L.A.” route, extending from downtown in three directions. I started at the MacArthur Park leg. But first I attended the Sunday morning service at my church, First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles, which happens to be in the MacArthur Park area. This pic shows the banner out front that proclaims, in both Spanish and English, that no human being is illegal.

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I was delighted to see my friend Alice had come to church ready for CicLAvia, wearing her Crazy Daisy Bloomers!

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In the foreground, you can see the bike rodeo set up for little kids in the street adjacent to MacArthur Park.

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The downtown skyscrapers are visible in the distance.

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The lake at MacArthur Park is the site of a public & civic art project called that features colorful spheres floating. You can see the fountain shooting up in the center of the lake.

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CicLAvia attracts thousands of Angelenos, mostly on bikes, so I had plenty of company for my ride.

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Getting to Verve required a very short detour from the CicLAvia route. I headed south a couple of blocks on Spring Street so I could explore this Santa Cruz based coffee shop that is featured on lists of best coffee shops in L.A. After waiting in line, I placed my order with the too-hip-for-newcomers barista, and checked out the laptop crowd seated inside.

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I then got back on my bike, and explored the rest of the CicLAvia route. After passing by City Hall, I headed into Little Tokyo, where I noticed an impressive group of cruisers had parked.

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When I stopped to snap that photo, along came Santa Claus.

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The route then continued over the 4th street bridge, a popular photo op, and into Boyle Heights.

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There are so many beautiful murals in the Arts District, I had to nab a selfie at one of my favs.

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I then passed by City Hall and Grand Park.

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I always run into someone I know at CicLAvia, and this time I ran into Kristin, who lives in San Francisco and was in town for a wedding. Kristin makes bike-themed films that she films by bike: The Spinster and Velo Visionaries – Chris Carlsson are two that I have seen. (She’s quite good!)

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The third and final leg of the route went into Chinatown.

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I ended my experience of the CicLAvia route back at the MacArthur Park hub.

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By this time, the graffiti truck (which makes an appearance at each event) had been rather thoroughly covered.

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Coffeeneuring the Second: Intelligentsia in Silver Lake

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 2

Date: October 11, 2015

Weather conditions: Sunny & mild

Destination: Intelligentsia Coffee, Silver Lake, California

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Distance (complete trip): 13.9 miles

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus Edible(s): Riakiberu (or was it kairebu?) brew & Croissant

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Bike-friendliness: Large bike rack right in front and visible from large courtyard dining/sipping space. Gives discount to guests arriving by bike!

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Bloomers of the day: Blue Denim Bloomers (under a Nuu-Muu dress)

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Route map:

Screenshot 2015-10-30 06.53.11

Notes:

To earn my coffee and treat, and to enjoy the morning, I had to first ride a loop around the Silver Lake Reservoir. The first part of that loop meant navigating a little construction, but not too much of a bother.

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Usually, when circling Silver Lake, I ride in the bike lane on the street, but this time I was curious to try the gravel path that runs along the meadow. It is a well-maintained and firm path, so no problem on my road bike, and well worth checking out.

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Riding the path gives a better view of the reservoir, although I still had to put my phone right up to an open space in the chain link fence in order to get this shot:

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At one point the path runs close enough to the street that you can see how it compares to the bike lane. Although a road bike can handle the path’s surface, you do have to navigate a lot of dog walkers and joggers.

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I enjoyed bike lane, albeit not in the best shape, pretty much the whole way from the reservoir to the business district, passing some nice public spaces:

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Best of all, after leaving the coffee shop, I turned onto one of my favorite streets to ride on, Hyperion. This is why I brought the road bike on this day, as these hills would be a bit much for my dutch bike.

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All in all, a delightful way to start my Sunday.

Coffeeneuring the First: Cognoscenti Coffee in Culver City

Posted on by Karen Canady

Official Coffeeneur Log

Entry No. 1

Date: Sunday, October 4, 2015

Weather conditions: Drizzly

Destination: Cognoscenti Coffee, Culver City, California

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Distance (complete trip): 12.85 miles

Qualifying Beverage & Bonus Edible(s): Cortado, Almond croissant

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Bike-friendliness: One U-rack on sidewalk directly in front and visible from both indoor and outdoor seating areas. Easy to access via bike-friendly streets.

Bloomers of the day: Crazy Daisy

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Route map:

Route of Coffeeneuring No 1

Notes:

First portion of route was familiar bike-able route to and on Venice Blvd. Opted to head south on Redondo, a fairly wide arterial with sharrows – very quiet and few cars on a Sunday morning.

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Took Expo Line Bike Path into Culver City, and appreciated that there is a bike repair stand along the path.

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Turned off the bike path onto Fay, one of Culver City’s beautiful tree-lined streets covered with a canopy of Chinese Elms.

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Coffeeneuring!

Posted on by Karen Canady

I was intrigued when I heard about the coffeeneuring challenge — a weekend cycling endeavor for those who like bicycling and coffee that is organized by Chasing Mailboxes, who set forth the rules here. It basically involves riding your bike to 7 coffee shops over the course of 7 weekends, October 3 – November 15, 2015. This is its fifth year, but for me, it is the first.

I knew I had to do it, and besides, how hard could it be? Plus, with the suggestion to throw in a theme within the theme, well, I just adore themes! I turned to the Google to start researching coffee shops worth trying in the Los Angeles area. A few lists came up, and I loved that I could explore a new artisanal coffee shop each weekend in a different part of the Los Angeles area.

Since one of the requirements is to report on each ride, and linking to a blog is an acceptable means of reporting, I also decided this would also help me finally get rolling with blogging. I sort of tried to start blogging a couple of times before, but never got past the first post. Perhaps with these “homework” assignments and a deadline, I could make myself take it beyond a single post. Of course, I’m starting the blog during the fourth week, so there will be some retroactive posting. Lame or not, here I go!