San Vincente’s got some very gnarly trees.
Sometimes, they have leaves.
Other times, they don’t.
Runners’re on San Vincente all the time, but as far as runner-friendly streets go, San Vincente isn’t all that. Unless you get to about 10 blocks from the beach, San Vincente doesn’t even have sidewalks on the north side of the street. Runners either run in the bike lane — the street’s v. popular with speedy speedo-ed cyclists — or in the grassy median in the middle of the wide road.
I’m not a big fan of median running, cuz the ground’s always somewhat uneven and I don’t like having to watch my feet so much. Some’ll say running on grass is great for getting over injuries — shin splints and the like –
Adelaide Dr.’s a 3-block road just north of San Vincente — again, very popular with runners. It’s a pretty peaceful residential street near the beach — with access to the Santa Monica steps — so it attracts a wide cross-section of people out for a little exercise.
The exercisers on Adelaide seem to organize themselves into little teams, stretching as a group, jogging as a group, chugging bottled water as a group.
Around 4th, you’ll likely see a group of people that look like they’re holding an 10s-inspired outdoor aerobics class, armed with gym balls, leotard and spandex-type outfits, enthusiastic instructor, etc.
[The kickoff post's here; dark red lines mark the streets I've walked so far]
Update, 6/10/07: Here’s Broadway.
DO you know why the street has the big wide median strip here? Do you?
No, not because the city planners were being nice and thinking of joggers 100 years in the future.
It’s because the Pacific Electric Railway used to run trains along here. Almost any street in L.A. county with a weird, seemingly purposeless median strip (Clifton Way in Beverly Hills, Chandler Blvd. in Van Nuys) or odd street curve (Hollywood at La Brea) is due to former track routings of the Big Red Cars.
Thought you’d appreciate that…
Comment by Scott Mercer — July 7, 2007 @ 5:23 am
Interesting! I wonder if the median strip in the northern end of 4th St’s there for the same reason –
Comment by Siel — July 7, 2007 @ 11:28 am