A series featuring car-free women in LA.

Katie Bell of Siempre Domingo

Basics: 26-year-old food writer slash restaurant server. Lives in Ocean Park, right between Santa Monica and Venice, with a chef boyfriend with whom she shares 5 bicycles. Child free.

Car free since: May 1, 2009.

Blogging since: Aug. 2009.

Notable post: On the Culver City Farmers’ Market: “i found beets, a gorgeous little bouquet of radishes, and these funny little lemon cucumbers that smelled like lemonade. i also somehow accidentally found myself in possession of a spinach/artichoke/mozzarella empanada, which i made quick work on.”
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On going car-free….

I was first car-free out of necessity — the white dino, my world traveling, adventure seeking, beast of a ‘98 Subaru Outback died. Her timing belt broke and it was going to cost almost twice her value to fix it. My boyfriend and I already biked a fair bit as we both worked on the Westside but I wasn’t really financially prepared to buy a new car, so we decided to beat street for a little while.

It started out as almost a default decision, definitely not an environmental one. Which is funny because I’m pretty green – I’m a long-time vegetarian (22 years) and very concerned with environmental issues (especially regarding food) and when I did have a car I would worry about driving to the grocery store versus walking… but I came to being car-less by accident, I never meant to “take a stand” or anything.

As it went on I started really embracing being a bike commuter and I’m more and more proud of the fact and I really hope to never be the same kind of car owner as I was in the future. I do think I will buy a car again sometime but I want to maintain the outlook that being car-less has given me and not fall back into the LA routine of driving to the bodega down the block because I’m too lazy to unlock my bike. I’ve come to love my bike-centric routine and the independence and clear(er) conscience it affords me.

I got a fixed gear (or track bike), which changed my thoughts on biking a lot from cruising around to being a valid form of transportation. I did some rides with Midnight Ridazz and LA Brakeless and that really broadened my horizons. The first ride I did was from Venice to Chinatown, up to Boyle Heights, and then back to Venice (with a stop for ramen and tacos in the middle). I got back and had a very different perception of both LA and of bike riding. Biking is an amazing way to see a city like LA where it’s so easy to jump on the 10, turn up the radio, and arrive at your destination.

How she gets around

I bike fairly exclusively. When I first went car-free I was working just off Abbot Kinney; it was actually faster for me to get to work on bike than in a car. I now work in Culver City and bike about 14 miles roundtrip each day.

I have two vintage cruiser bikes – a Raleigh and a Schwinn – and a fixed gear mutt, which we lovingly call “the dane” after a similarly black and lanky great dane who passed away. The cruisers have baskets, which is great for the farmer’s market and errands. The Dane is light and fast and makes getting around easy and enjoyable. I got the fixed gear for $260 off Craigslist and have slowly added improvements as I see fit (or as punk kids from Culver City steal parts).

I’ve taken the bus to the airport a few times but rarely use it otherwise. I rent cars when necessary, recently for a job interview in West Hollywood where I didn’t want to show up sweaty and for a week last month when my brother visited so we could get around town and then drive to Napa. There’s an Enterprise satellite office just down the hill from my house. I use carrentals.com and have found it to be really cheap. For example, the week rental with my brother was $129 total. I rent cars rarely enough that I have no problem justifying the cost when I do.

On the upsides and downsides

I am skinny and rich. Well, I’ve lost weight and gotten out of debt. It sounds crazy, but because I fell into being carless it never occurred to me HOW much exercise I would get everyday and HOW much money I would save.

I suddenly woke up one day a few months in and realized that I was in pretty badass shape and that I had saved a really good chunk of money. I figure I’m currently saving $500+ per month (insurance and gas) and that’s not including the car payments I would/will take on for a new car. I don’t pay for oil changes, I don’t pay for car washes, I don’t pay for car maintenance, I don’t pay for parking, I don’t pay for meters, and I don’t get parking tickets anymore. It’s amazing and surprising to me the amount of money I am saving and it makes it possible to do things like rent cars every once in awhile or spring for a taxi when need be.

The Westside is really bike friendly and it’s easy to get around everywhere I need to on bike or foot — within walking distance is the grocery store, bank, Main Street, Abbot Kinney, and the Third Street Promenade. I think LA has lots of bike friendly communities — it’s getting between those communities that is harder.

I don’t feel like I exercise 1-2 hours every day, but I did start to notice when riding got easier, hills got easier, and when the legs of my jeans started getting tight around my calves (pretty sure that last part is not a benefit). I’ve gotten comfortable biking farther and farther distances (my boyfriend recently got a new job in Beverly Hills and now rides 17.4 miles round trip each day) and I actually enjoy it. Biking is great thinking time and I now listen to NPR streaming on my iPhone (I’m a nerd but NPR was one of the things I really missed about driving).

I think there are pros and cons to being car-less in such a car-dependent city. It can be limiting at times and simply tiring at times but overall I think it’s really empowering to be a full-time biker. I’m proud of the amount of biking I do (100 miles a week or more) and of the (lack of) environmental impact that my transportation has. I am one less car on the road at a time when everyone’s talking about global warming and few people are acting on it.

LA is not a bike friendly city. There are days when my 6-mile commute down Venice Blvd genuinely feels like assault. I yell at drivers, something I never would have seen myself doing, but at 9 am on a Tuesday the drivers commuting down Venice Blvd. are half asleep on auto-pilot, they are not looking for bikers, let alone aware that there is a bike lane.

I was doored about three months ago – A woman pulled in front of me, parked in the bike lane, and then opened her door into my face. I was really lucky, just a few scrapes and bruises, a minor concussion, and three torn tendons in my neck from whiplash. I bring this up because lots of people think biking on a major street is dangerous and it is. I wear a helmet and I am a smart, aware, and considerate rider and I think these things coupled with agility that a fast, light bike gives me a lot of control over my safety.

Besides the dangers to biking, the main downside has been that it can sometimes be hard to be spontaneous. If my boyfriend and I have a night off we can’t just decide to visit friends in Los Feliz or go to a new restaurant downtown. Having amazing friends (with cars) makes these issues pretty rare and far between and I love to cook so I swap Target/Home Depot/Ikea runs for batches of cookies or home cooked dinners for Airport runs. It seems to keep all parties happy.

I’ve found places I would never have dreamed of biking to aren’t actually that far. I was shocked the first time I biked East of the 405, and now I do it almost everyday. I think going car-free was unexpectedly easy for me in a lot of ways. The one thing people always say about LA is that you need a car and while I think to really take advantage of LA a car is necessary, it’s simply too big a city to navigate otherwise and lacks a strong public transportation system, it is possible to live and navigate my life well with just two wheels.

Something I have found unexpectedly hard is hiking without a car. I used to hike in Malibu once a week-ish and it was so awesomely accessible – jump in the car, 15 minutes down the PCH, and you’re in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s not very accessible by bike and I don’t believe there’s public transportation to the parks (I could be wrong?).

Another unexpected thing about having biking be my main mode of transportation is that my attire is limited. If I’m biking to meet friends for a drink I can’t wear heels, or even a short skirt. Is this limiting? Not really. I have awesome friends, and they give me rides often enough so I make sure my dresses, skirts, and heels don’t die a slow death in my closet behind a pile of chuck taylors. I get compliments at work about “not looking like I just biked in” but I also don’t come in with fresh from the salon looking hair. Ever.

On car-dependent people.

People are generally surprised but supportive. The only real stigma I’ve come up against is mainly from Eastside friends that think being car-free makes me “Westside – centric” and that I miss out on all that the Eastside has to offer. Which is true, but the way LA works, most of my Eastsider friends haven’t seen the beach in months. I do wish there was an easier way to head East (the new train? A better ZipCar Network in LA?) but I’m not sure having a car makes East-West travel happen significantly more.

Advice for the car-free curious.

- Start small. Lock up the car and toss the keys in a drawer for a weekend, it’s a great way to really get to know your neighborhood – walk to breakfast, bike around and do your errands. Try biking to work for a week if you’re close enough.

- A good bike makes a big difference. I’ve had vintage cruisers forever but when I got my fixed gear bike a few years ago it was a completely different story. I could never do what I do without my fixed gear, it’s fast and light and makes riding easy and enjoyable. There are nice road bikes and fixed gears/single speeds on craigslist for $150 – $250 and the Bicycle Kitchen (Eastside) or Bikerowave (Westside) are amazing, dirt cheap resources for fixing up a bike, building a bike, and maintaining a bike. The people who volunteer there are ridiculously rad & helpful. Also, investing in a good lock, a good bike bag, and bike lights.

- Find friends! Get together a bike gang with your friends for a Saturday afternoon or night. Find a Midnight Ridazz ride  there are rides for all parts of LA, all levels, and all interests (from booze cruises to crews that get together to ride to gallery openings downtown). Critical Mass is a good starter too, especially if you don’t have a road bike.
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green LA girl’s notes: Katie’s interview induced these pangs of guilt for me about owning a car again. I comfort myself with the knowledge that I only drive that hunk of carbon-spewing mass once a week….

An interesting notable about Katie’s interview has to do with — high heels! I write this right after biking home on Bebe heels (begotten pre-loved, of course) from Green Lounge in Santa Monica — and I’m not alone. Uber-bicyclist Enci‘s all about two-wheeling in heels for eco-fem creds! Clearly women have differing opinions on this — so I’m thinking it’s high time we put together heel-related eco-travel car-free panel, yes?

Read Katie’s blog Siempre Domingo for green living tips — and follow her on Twitter @_katiebell while you’re at it too.

Photos courtesy of Katie Bell

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