File this under Not at All Surprising: 84% of commuters in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region drive themselves by car, truck, or van, between home and work. The data comes from an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2009 American Community Survey, reports the Los Angeles Business. Sheesh. No wonder we wigged the eff out about Carmageddon! more ›

Following in the footsteps of the recently-released Walkscore rankings of walkability in U.S. cities, America Walks has just announced the findings a survey of "avid walkers" to help determine what makes a city "walkable," according to Switchboard, the Natural Resources Defense Council blog. more ›

It's not true that nobody walks in L.A., but our city's streets are less walkable than a dozen others around the nation, according to the recently-released Walkscore ranking. Los Angeles comes in at #13 (Long Beach gets #11) on their list. more ›

By all accounts, Los Angeles experienced something amazing for five hours on Sunday. An estimated 100,000 people took to a stretch of 7.5 miles of streets closed off to cars and open to people. And those people responded with positive zeal. more ›

No matter what, we are all a pedestrian at some point when getting from here to there. But in a city that has more pedestrian deaths than most others, how much attention is paid to sidewalks and other walking-related infrastructure from our politicians? more ›

When Jerry Ferrara moved to Los Angeles, he got a $425 jaywalking ticket. He says he now won't jaywalk in New York City where a recent New York City study found jaywalkers to be safer than law-abiding citizens. more ›

If Los Angeles is going to be the greenest city in the nation, making it walkable should be a major part of that effort. Part of walkability is planning a neighborhood or commercial district with the right mix of amenities and destinations. Another part is safety. Because if walking to the nearby grocery store means putting your life overtly at risk, then you're just going to start driving. more ›

For the past week, the blogger Chewie at Straight Outta Suburbia has been conducting a fun exercise by using Walk Score to calculate the walkability of every Metro rail stop (and the Orange Line busway). If you're not familiar with the web tool, it "calculates the walkability of an address based on the distance from your house to nearby amenities" and "measures how easy it is to live a car-lite lifestyle—not how pretty the area is for walking." more ›

Hollywood is often accused of stereotyping a culture, but it's usually a race thing. A cyclist, however, would argue that no matter the color or their skin or how thick their wallet is, riding the streets of Los Angeles means you will be treated like a second-class citizen and be discriminated against. more ›

This weekend is the Big Parade, a two-day 35-mile walk urban hike between downtown L.A. and the Hollywood sign that goes up and down 101 public staircases. Today, the maps were released with extremely detailed instructions on how to join in on the fun at any staircase (they don't expect you to do the whole thing) -- even public transit notes are included. Organizer Dan Koeppel says Saturday will be shorter with more stairs and be more culture-oriented while Sunday will be longer, more adventurous and with cross-country sections. The two maps are also a good resource for many, but not all, of the staircases in the city. An 11-mile prologue walk in Northeast LA will happen Friday. Read LAist's story about this year's event here and see photos from last year here. more ›

The Los Angeles City Council this morning approved a chunk of money from Measure R--the sales tax devoted to L.A. County transportation projects--that will be devoted to pedestrian and bicycle projects. The amount is only about $3.3 million... more ›

L.A. has 10,750 miles of sidewalks, but 4,600 miles--that's around 43%--are in disrepair. Ouch. The cost of repairing all that? Over $1.2 billion. Double ouch. Between 2000 and 2009, some 550 miles of sidewalk was repaired but during that time more than that amount was damaged. Oh, yeah. more ›

Damien Newton at Streetsblog LA announced this morning that he's moved from the Fairfax District area to the Westside. "Westside motorists are amongst the worst in the city when it comes to sharing the road," the avid cyclist noted in addition to the lack of trains and a spotty bus system. "... a missed bus means a missed meeting," he said. Add to that fewer pedestrians, a limited bicycle infrastructure and a street grid problem. However, there's the good, such as the bikeway along Ballona Creek and the planned one along the Expo Line. And we'll add some great pocket neighborhoods of joy like Palms and Little Osaka. What's your favorite part of the Westside? more ›

Taking neighborhood walks can reveal the best of the city. For LAist contributor Julie Wolfson, she was delighted to see this "condo tree," if you will, while walking on Oakwood, a few blocks west of La Brea. You may not all like birds, but some of these little houses are adorable. more ›

Today's the day: The Great L.A. Walk, organized by Mike & Maria of Franklin Avenue, departs at 9 a.m. sharp from the Shrine Auditorium in Downtown, and will take participants on a 14-mile "urban hike" all the way to the water's edge via Adams and Washington. more ›

Face it, throughout much of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region, walking is not always a pleasant experience. And although we already know this, it's also not that safe either, finds a new report, released by two transportation groups with the help of other organizations like AARP. Here are a few statistics: more ›

The brutal drenching Southern California took back in 2005 shut down a good deal of recreational space around Los Angeles. An LAist favorite included the trail Henniger Flats in Altadena, but more locally was the loss of the Lake Hollywood Reservoir more ›

Nearly 75 people yesterday joined Dan Koeppel and friends on the first of two days in The Big Parade, a 40-mile walk from downtown to the Hollywood Sign up and down more one hundred neighborhood stair cases. They begin the last leg of their journey this morning after camping in a Silver Lake pocket park next to the Music Box Stairs. more ›

Los Angeles has thousands of miles of failed sidewalks. Buckled, cracked, missing chunks or completey destroyed, the problem leaves the city paying out $2 to $4 million in trip and fall lawsuits each year. The city's budget only provides for fixing less than one hundred miles a year leaving residents on a wait list for 83 years to have their sidewalk fixed. more ›

In the early days of Hollywood, one of the spoils of the wealthy who built their homes tucked into the area's plentiful hills was the option for seclusion. Many of the homes were built into the hills and accessible by staircases and pathways. In the era of the automobile, anyone navigating the hills behind the wheel knows how steep and precarious the ascents and descents can be--not to mention the fine art of parking. But take away the heavy machinery and strap on a good pair of shoes and you can slide into what feels like another world (and get in a workout!) when you explore the hidden staircases of Hollywood Heights. more ›

Why did Los Angeles make Prevention Magazine's "25 Best Walking Cities" list? As they say, "once a cement pipe storage yard, the Augustus F. Hawkins Natural Park offers lush vegetation and paths for strolling on 8.5 acres right in the heart of the city." There's no doubt that this South LA park is a great public space, but it being the reason Los Angeles is number 14 seems a bit unscientific more ›

Who wants to spend hundreds of dollars a year on a gym membership when Mother Nature gave us California's glorious and varied landscape to explore for free, right? Some of the spots get talked about more than others, while others just sit quietly, doing their thing, and possibly remain unexplored. Up above Burbank are some lovely hills--you may have driven up there to have a meal with a view at Castaways, or you may have stuck to the lowlands--and they boast Wildwood Canyon park. There are a couple of miles worth of trails (described as "moderately strenuous") open inside the park, so grab your shoes and some water, and head on over. more ›

This weekend marked the official opening of the jogging path around Silver Lake Reservoir. The new 3,300 foot path (that's about 2/3rds of a mile) on the eastside of the reservoir goes from Armstrong Avenue to the dog park. This new step helps one jog or walk a complete circle around the approximately 2 mile loop of both reservoirs (that includes Ivanhoe, too). The anticipated Silver Lake Meadow, however, still has not opened. For that, you'll have to wait until next summer. more ›

Get ready Silver Lake residents. That nice dirt jogging/walking path around the reservoir is set to officially open this Saturday morning. But that doesn't mean people aren't using it already. Curbed LA took a lap or two this morning and found it to be very attractive: "It'll make lesser pathways feel inadequate." This certainty should be a good addition to places to train for the Los Angeles Marathon, which will take place on, of all days, Memorial Day. more ›

If you see a group of people moving on foot from one end of the city to another today, you're probably seeing the folks taking part in the 3rd annual Great Los Angeles Walk. It's run by Mike and Maria of Franklin Avenue, and takes place to prove that people really can--and do--walk in LA. This year's route is the entire length of Santa Monica Boulevard. (Past walks have traveled down Wilshire and Pico.) They got underway at 9 this morning at Union Station, and are headed all the way out to the Britannia Pub in Santa Monica for their post-walk celebration. Want to keep up with the walkers? There will be plenty of Twittering going on via the Great LA Walk, and many of the participants are expected to tweet on their feet, too. Good luck, walkers! Can't wait to hear how the journey goes. more ›

The LAPD's Central Division is increasing their resources in downtown in the form of eight bicycle patrols and new foot patrols finds downtown blog Angelenic. According to the Senior Lead Officer for the area (he's like the mini chief of police for a neighborhood), they are focusing on pedestrian enforcement. Blogger not happy: more ›

Although Republican Presidential nominee John McCain has no plan for pedestrians that we know of, he definitely has some unintended subliminal messages around Los Angeles crosswalks thanks to a company that the city uses at crossings. LAist reader Jon Zack noticed these while at Highland and Franklin in Hollywood and exclaimed "say it ain't so!" more ›

Last week, vowing to help make NYC transit less complicated, New York City and Google officially launched Google Transit's ability to help people navigate the city. So it got us thinking. If New York City has it and Chicago has it in addition to Orange County, San Diego, Burbank, Irvine, Metrolink Trains and Thousand Oaks, when will Metro, Los Angeles' main transit operator, launch the tool? more ›

Streetsblog LA reports that the state legislature passed AB 1358, The Complete Streets Act, last week. It's a pretty important bill to help make (or force) cities to become more livable. more ›