Cato Hernández
has scoured through tons of archives to understand how our region became the way it is today.
Published December 7, 2023 5:00 AM
A pedway in downtown Los Angeles.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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Topline:
In downtown Los Angeles, there’s a group of "pedways" with an interesting past. These pedestrian walkways were part of an ambitious and futuristic city planning idea that fell apart in the ‘80s. We dig into the history.
What are the pedways? Elevated, concrete bridges that connect you from the streets to some high-rises in Bunker Hill. They were intended as a way to separate pedestrians from vehicle traffic as part of a larger city overhaul.
Where can I find them? The 10 bridges can still be accessed today. Just be prepared for the trip to be a little lonely since not many people use them now. We have a map to guide you.
What happened? The plans fell apart after the city planning director was investigated for conflict of interest concerns. He stepped down under pressure and his general plan for the city was eventually abandoned.
If you’re in downtown Los Angeles, near Figueroa and Flower Street, look up — and you may find yourself near a futuristic sky bridge.
No, this isn’t science fiction, but it may have been inspired by that. The downtown pedways — a more enticing way to say pedestrian walkway — are one of L.A.’s unfinished dreams.
They’re a bit out of place: elevated, concrete routes that connect only a few high-rises in downtown to each other. It’s the remnants of a lofty but failed idea of what pedestrian travel could have become.
A brief history of the pedways
A pedestrian walks across a pedway in downtown Los Angeles.
You can get around from above, without crossing traffic, and they're probably only useful if you have business in one of those high-rises or the Westin Bonaventure.
The pedways were designed by Calvin Hamilton, a former L.A. city planning director who served between 1964 and 1985. They were expensive, but federal funding covered a large portion of the costs.
Calvin Hamilton (at right), along with Walter J. Braunshweiger and Mayor Yorty, looking at a building model in 1964.
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Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public Library
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Hamilton’s “ambitious” plan was first presented in the 1970 report “Concept Los Angeles.” Among his ideas, Hamilton believed that L.A. should be divided into self-sufficient centers, full of rooftop plazas and rapid transit options where people of any income could live. It was a controversial plan that called for an overhaul of city zoning, but the city council did adopt it in 1974.
The pedways were Hamilton’s way of separating pedestrians from traffic to “enhance the convenience, safety and pleasantness” of the centers. They were part of a larger plan that would’ve put an LAX-esque people mover train in downtown.
“We planned for the rapid transit in each center going all the way around the city, and it would have made a big difference, because it meant that everybody didn’t have to have two or three cars,” Hamilton said in an oral history interview for UCLA. “That would have made a big difference in Los Angeles in terms of pollution.”
A concept drawing of part of Los Angeles with centers and suburbs.
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Courtesy Metro Transportation Research Library & Archive
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A concept drawing of a secondary transit area where people could connect to city centers.
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Courtesy Metro Transportation Research Library & Archive
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Hamilton, ever into aesthetic visuals, dreamed of these bridges being full of sculptures, food and kiosks — and importantly, people. He envisioned hundreds of pedestrian bridges at different building levels, but today there are only about 10 pedways in the Bunker Hill neighborhood. And if you walk on any of these paths now, you’ll likely be alone. The paths don’t get used much compared to the streets below.
A pedestrian walks across a pedway in downtown Los Angeles.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
)
That may be for good reason. Pedways were popular in the 1970s as a way to separate people from cars, but that’s since fallen out of favor with designers.
So what happened? Hamilton’s plan came to a halt in 1981 after federal funding was eliminated and he stepped down as director shortly after over conflict of interest concerns. The city council moved away from his ideas toward planning options that it felt were more feasible to implement. Hamilton died in 1997.
Why designers don’t like pedways anymore
Pedways are largely seen as a design failure these days. There are two main reasons for that — some think they ruin the skyline and others think they zap a city’s energy. Some complained that it hurts the economy because people are routed away from shopping spots.
A pedway in downtown Los Angeles.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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“The pedway sucked life from the streets below without creating sufficient traffic on its own,” architect Rex Lotery told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. Adding insult to injury, Lotery said the bridges tended to “look like hell from a distance.”
A far cry from the futuristic dream they were supposed to serve, but the Jetsonian idea for designers did catch on in a few places across the country.
But in L.A., we’re a sunny haven. Our pedways don’t have those bells and whistles because our weather isn’t as harsh. They’re just a plain walking path, making it less essential for people to use.
Where you can find the pedways
A pedway in Downtown Los Angeles.
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Samanta Helou Hernandez
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LAist
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The pedways can still be used downtown.
If you want to visit them, expect little signage, and possibly, some closed-off exit points. These paths connect between buildings, so you’ll likely be going from the escalator to the lobby. People have documented the routes through each path, so be sure to check it out before you go.
Some sections require you to be on certain floors of the buildings or access from particular sides of the streets. Here’s where they are:
And when you’re there, don’t forget to pay homage to Hamilton’s dingy plaque on the northwest bridge, which was once stolen before.
A plaque honoring Calvin S. Hamilton, a former director of planning, on a the floor of a pedway in downtown Los Angeles.
Yvonne I. Monje Perez, owner of SuperNova Thrift, helped get a pantry outside her business on 1st Street.
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Laura Anaya-Morga
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
A free community food pantry that had been set up outside a market in East Los Angeles now has a new home in Boyle Heights, thanks to community members who rallied to keep it going.
More details: Created by East LA native Rebecca Gonzales, the pantry had been stationed outside of Ramirez Meat Market on the corner of Folsom Street and Rowan Avenue since November, offering produce, snacks and shelf-stable items. Gonzales created the resource after seeing how ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and SNAP delays were affecting the most vulnerable in her community.
Moving the pantry: Yvonne I. Monje Perez, owner of SuperNova Thrift — a shop near Mariachi Plaza that sells second-hand clothing — reached out. Though she had never met Gonzales, Perez didn’t think twice about offering help.
A free community food pantry that had been set up outside a market in East Los Angeles now has a new home in Boyle Heights, thanks to community members who rallied to keep it going.
Created by East L.A. native Rebecca Gonzales, the pantry had been stationed outside of Ramirez Meat Market on the corner of Folsom Street and Rowan Avenue since November, offering produce, snacks and shelf-stable items.
Gonzales created the resource after seeing how ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and SNAP delays were affecting the most vulnerable in her community.
Rosa Ramirez, who has owned Ramirez Meat Market for 26 years, said she hadn’t expected the pantry to be permanent and noticed that fewer people were coming into her store when the pantry was stocked. Ramirez appreciated Gonzales’ intentions, but said the piles of donated clothes and shoes next to the pantry were difficult to manage.
Soon after learning the pantry would have to move, Gonzales posted the news on Instagram. Within an hour, she received about a dozen messages from friends and community members reaching out to help.
“I was worried that I was gonna have to just bring it home and it’s gonna be a lapse of services,” Gonzales said.
That same day, Yvonne I. Monje Perez, owner of SuperNova Thrift — a shop near Mariachi Plaza that sells second-hand clothing — reached out. Though she had never met Gonzales, Perez didn’t think twice about offering help.
The East LA free food pantry now sits outside of SuperNova Thrift on 1st Street in Boyle Heights.
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Laura Anaya-Morga
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Boyle Heights Beat
)
“We could benefit from something like that here in this neighborhood,” Perez recalled thinking after seeing the post.
With coordination from Gonzales and guidance from the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, Perez and her husband picked up the pantry last Friday and it was open for the community the following day.
“It makes me so happy seeing people come to it and look at it, and just take from it,” said Perez. “It’s been received very well, a lot of people are very happy about it.”
Now, Perez and Gonzales have a schedule for opening and closing the pantry, and donations have continued to roll in.
While Gonzales does not keep track of how many donations come in every day, she noticed items usually remain at the end of the day, a change from when the pantry would go empty in East L.A.
Looking ahead, Gonzales hopes to inspire others to start free food pantries in their own communities.
“People want to help,” she said. “People want to do good things. People want to see other people not just survive, but thrive.”
The East LA free food pantry was recently moved in front of SuperNova Thrift on 1st Street in Boyle Heights.
Robert Garrova
explores the weird and secret bits of SoCal that would excite even the most jaded Angelenos. He also covers mental health.
Published March 14, 2026 5:00 AM
Experts at the National Weather Service say we could be facing some triple-digit temperatures next week.
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Etienne Laurent
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AP
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Topline:
Spring is less than a week away, but Southern California has already seen some summer-like temperatures. Forecasters say we could expect higher temps next week, even though it’s still technically winter.
The details: Experts at the National Weather Service say we could be facing some triple-digit temperatures next week, with coastal areas bearing the brunt in the beginning of the week.
Record breaking?: It’s possible. “It is looking likely we’ll see at least a few monthly records fall with this next heat wave this upcoming week,” Dr. Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service said.
Lingering impacts: Munroe told LAist that if we don’t see any widespread rain after this heat wave, “it could fast track us toward the fire season,” bumping it up to late spring or early summer.
If you're enjoying this article, you'll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less.
A warning sign keeps swimmers away at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades on Feb. 21, 2025.
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Christina House
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Getty Images
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Topline:
If you’re looking to escape the summer-like weather, the beach might be a spot to cool off, but it's a good idea to stay out of some waters.
Why now? The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is advising people to avoid contact with ocean water at certain L.A. County beaches because of bacteria levels that exceed state health standards.
Read on... to find out which beach areas health officials are advising people to avoid, and which beaches have recently been declared to be in the clear.
More resources: You can find the latest information and a map on beach conditions online here. You can also find information on the last 30 days of beach water quality across L.A. County at Heal The Bay's Beach Report Card.
The heat isn’t the only thing to worry about this weekend.
If you’re looking to escape the summer-like weather, the beach might be a spot to cool off, but it's a good idea to stay out of some waters.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health is advising people to avoid contact with ocean water at certain L.A. County beaches because of bacteria levels that exceed state health standards.
After recent samples showed unsafe bacterial levels, which may increase the risk of illness, health officials recommend beachgoers to:
avoid contact 100 yards up and down the coast from the public restrooms of the Malibu Lagoon at Surfrider Beach.
avoid contact 100 yards up and down the coast at Santa Monica Canyon Creek at Will Rogers State Beach. It's located near Will Rogers Tower 18.
avoid contact 100 yards up and down the coast from the Castlerock Storm Drain at Topanga County Beach too.
avoid contact 100 yards up and down the coast from the Escondido Creek at Escondido State Beach.
avoid contact 100 yards up and down the coast from the Marie Canyon Storm Drain at Puerco Beach.
Good news, some beach areas have been cleared of previous warnings because of recent water samples that identified quality levels back within California standards. Those include:
Leo Carrillo State Beach in Malibu.
Mother’s Beach in Marina Del Rey.
The Pulga storm drain at Will Rogers State Beach.
And last but not least, the world-famous Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica.
You can find the latest information and a map on beach conditions online here. You can also find information on the last 30 days of beach water quality across L.A. County at Heal The Bay's Beach Report Card.
Fees paid by airline passengers keep piling up, even as airport security officers work without pay.
Where things stand: TSA officers have been working without pay since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 14th. They've already missed part of one paycheck, and many security officers received no money at all in their paychecks on Friday as the partial shutdown approached the one-month mark.
What travelers are seeing: Passengers have encountered hours-long security lines at major airports in Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, and elsewhere, as many TSA officers have called out sick. Some officers have taken on second jobs in order to make ends meet, Jones said.
What about those fees? Airline passengers are still paying the security fees that help to fund the TSA's budget, even as the partial shutdown drags on.
Millions of spring break travelers are heading to the airport this month, and Johnny Jones was hoping to be one of them. But the ongoing shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security forced his family to cancel its vacation plans.
"I won't be traveling anywhere, but I'll be helping out getting people to where they're going," said Jones, a TSA security officer at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. He also serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 100, which represents about 45,000 TSA officers nationwide.
Those TSA officers have been working without pay since funding for the Department of Homeland Security lapsed on February 14th. They've already missed part of one paycheck, and many security officers received no money at all in their paychecks on Friday as the partial shutdown approached the one-month mark.
"They're panicking, they're scared, they're afraid. And they don't know what they're going to do," Jones said in an interview. The majority of TSA employees work paycheck to paycheck, Jones said, and don't have enough savings to cover their expenses. "They're just flat-out not paying their bills because they don't have any money," he said.
Passengers have encountered hours-long security lines at major airports in Houston, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, and elsewhere, as many TSA officers have called out sick. Some officers have taken on second jobs in order to make ends meet, Jones said.
"The officers can't afford to come to work. The gas is expensive right now," said Suzette, a security officer at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport who's worked for TSA for more than two decades. She requested we only use her middle name because she is not authorized to speak to the media.
TSA staff members at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas unload donated lunches from MGM Resorts on Wednesday as a partial government shutdown continues, and workers stopped receiving paychecks.
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Ty ONeil
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AP
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"People have childcare. You have a mortgage that you have to pay," Suzette told NPR's Morning Edition. "Where are you getting the money from to pay?"
DHS has blamed the long lines on Democrats in a series of social media statements over the weekend, though Democrats say Republicans are also to blame.
Democrats have refused to approve DHS's budget unless GOP lawmakers and the White House agree on changes to how immigration officers operate after the fatal shooting of two American citizens in Minneapolis. Senate Democrats introduced bills to fund TSA and other components of DHS instead, but Republicans blocked them.
More than 100,000 DHS workers will miss their first full paycheck Friday, according to the White House, including employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and the TSA.
Meanwhile, airline passengers are still paying the security fees that help to fund the TSA's budget, even as the partial shutdown drags on. The passenger fee, also known as the aviation security fee or the September 11 security fee, was enacted when the TSA was created after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, 2001.
"That fee has underwritten part of the TSA budget for all those years," explains former TSA administrator John Pistole. Airlines collect $5.60 for each one-way segment on a domestic flight, Pistole says. And that money has continued to accrue, even though none of it is finding its way into the bank accounts of TSA workers.
Security officers also went more than 40 days without a paycheck last year during the partial government shutdown last year. The back-to-back shutdowns have only made it harder for the agency to attract and retain workers, Pistole said, as more than 1,000 security officers resigned from TSA during October and November of last year.
At Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, TSA workers are still on the job Friday despite not receiving a full paycheck due to the partial government shutdown.
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Annabelle Gordon
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AFP via Getty Images
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"The longer it went, the more officers who resigned," Pistole said. "Not knowing how long the shutdown will continue, [they] will basically look for other work, because surprise, they have bills to pay."
An additional 300 TSA officers have quit during the current shutdown, according to the White House.
Travel and aviation industry leaders say all of this is creating unnecessary stress and confusion for passengers.
"Travelers should be concerned that Congress has created unpredictability in the system. They've created a system where we don't know whether we should show up at the airport one hour ahead, four or 5 hours ahead," said Geoff Freeman, the CEO of the U.S. Travel Association.
Freeman had urged the Trump administration to restart Global Entry, a program that allows pre-approved, low-risk travelers to get expedited processing when they enter the U.S. from abroad. DHS moved to reopen the program this week.
Now Freeman is hopeful that a change in leadership at DHS will help to break the stalemate over funding for the department. Last week, President Trump announced that he is removing DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and wants Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R.-Okla., to take over.
"The politics of the shutdown are complicated," Freeman said in an interview. "Changes at the Department of Homeland Security create additional opportunities for compromise," he said, though he expects the shutdown to continue into next week at a minimum.
