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You're Going To Want To Avoid Pretty Much All Of Downtown Tonight When Biden Comes To Town
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If your Friday night plans involve going anywhere near downtown L.A., you'll probably want to rethink them. Mr. Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States of America and also my heart, will be coming to town to make an appearance at the live Stand Up To Cancer special, and we can only presume that it will make for great T.V.—and one very messy traffic sitch.
Uncle Joe will be touching down at LAX in the late afternoon before heading to the event at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The road closures will start in the LAX area at 3:45 p.m. and follow America's 47th Veep east down to 105 freeway and north up the 110 before going full-scale clusterfuck when they hit downtown starting around 5 p.m. See the breakdown below for full details.
Biden lost his eldest son Beau to cancer in 2015, and he has since spearheaded the White House's "Cancer Moonshot" initiative. According to a statement from the Office of the Vice President, Biden will share "his personal connection to cancer through his son Beau and discuss the work he's done since he was tasked by the president with leading the Federal White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force."
"Emphasizing that we're at an inflection point in the treatment and prevention of cancer, he'll urge Americans to volunteer their time and energy to fighting cancer through volunteer opportunities on cancer.serve.gov."
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Deadline Hollywood reports that a laundry list of bold-faced names (as well quite a few people I've never heard of) will appear at the telethon alongside the Vice President, including U2C co-founder Katie Couric, Ben Affleck, Matthew McConaughey, Emma Stone, Anna Kendrick, Josh Gad, Niecy Nash, Eric Stonestreet, Alison Sweeney, Ken Jeong, Marcia Cross, Greg Grunberg, Danielle Campbell, Charlie Wilson, Brittany Daniel, Viola Davis, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis, Matt Bomer, Dave Franco, Sonequa Martin-Green, Rob Riggle, Tony Hale, Terry Crews, Mel B and Bree Turner.
The biennial Stand Up To Cancer show, which is aimed at raising money for cancer research, will air from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Here's the full list of closures, via Deadline:
The area around Pershing Drive between Westchester Parkway and Imperial Highway from
3:45 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
The area around Imperial Highway between Vista Del Mar & California Street from
4:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
The area around 105 East Freeway between California Street & South Broadway from
4:45 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The area around 110 Freeway between West 117th Street & West 1st Street from
5:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
The area around 3rd Street between Huntley Drive Street & South Hope Street from
5:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
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The area around South Figueroa Street between West 5th Street & West Temple Street from
5:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
The area around 1st Street between South Beaudry Avenue & South Olive Street from
5:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
The area around Hope Street between West Temple Street & West 3rd Street from
5:30 p.m. - 5:45 p.m.
The area around South Figueroa Street & West 5th Street.
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around South Hope Street between 2nd Street & 5th Street.
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around Grand Street between 3rd Street & 7th Street.
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around Grand Street between Olive Street & Figueroa Street.
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
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The area around 110 Freeway between West 1st Street & West 117th Street from
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around 105 West Freeway between South Broadway & California Street from
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around Imperial Highway between California Street & Vista Del Mar from
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
The area around Pershing Drive between Imperial Highway & Westchester Parkway from
6:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
CLOSURES / RESTRICTIONS (no bus routes impacted by the hard closures)
Downtown Los Angeles
East and westbound 1st Street between Hope Street and Grand Avenue; east and westbound 2nd Street between Hope Street and Grand Avenue; north and southbound Hope Street between 1st Street and 2nd Street; north and southbound Grand Avenue between 1st Street and 2nd Street will be closed from 1:00p.m. - 6:30p.m.
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