Valet parking my bike for free at the Santa Monica Main St. Farmers’ Market‘s always kinda fun — way more fun than circling around looking for parking to get detoured to beach parking then trekking back.

Now, it looks like other cities are joining in the bike valet fun, courting bikers with stress-free parking. The LA Times notes that Downtown Long Beach has a Bikestation, “where they can get free air for their tires and on-site repair service.” Santa Barbara’s opening its own bike center — complete with showers and a locker room — on May 1.

And expect more bike parking services in your ‘hood –

Pasadena, meanwhile, is preparing plans for a bike center near the Gold Line light-rail stop in Old Town. The city hopes to use $180,000 in state grant money to build a facility that will hold 40 bikes.

Santa Monica hopes to build a downtown bike center with room for 300 bikes. In the meantime, the city parks 200 to 250 bicycles at its crowded Sunday market and is bracing for up to 350 bikes this summer. The city funds the valet service.

Anyone know where this downtown bike center in Santa Monica’s going to be? I’m actually not sure where downtown Santa Monica is, to be honest — and I live here. Is it the Third Street Promenade area? The Main Street area? Or some corporate, high-rise area of town that I’ve managed to either ignore or block out thus far?

Also — Is that Anna‘s mom quoted at the very end of the LA Times article?

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