Meeting may decide the fate of Colorado Lagoon

On Wednesday, August 11, at 7 pm there will be an important meeting to discuss the various alternatives to renovating the area between Colorado Lagoon and Marine Stadium, especially Marina Vista Park. Friends of Colorado Lagoon advocates an open channel design, because it maintains the sports venues already in the park and the design will be the easiest to maintain in the long run. The meeting will be held at the Bruins' Den, 4900 E 7th Street.

Sorry I missed it

So many things were going on last weekend while I was tied up with a yard sale. The sale went well by the way and all the neighbors on my block who got involved made a few bucks by the end of Sunday.

But, for the record, if I could have cloned myself, I would also have made the scene at:
Adopt a Wetland Clean Up at Golden Shore Marine Reserve July 18

Home Garden and Green Expo July 18 and 19 (although the name includes "Green" it looked more home and garden-y from the website info)

Tour de France conclusion on the big screen at the Art Theater on July 19 (with valet bike parking)

Wrigley Area Neighborhood Aliance LA River Walk along the Willow Estuary at Deforest Avenue south of Willow Street at the bike path on July 19 (it cost $10 but it was part of the Friends of the Los Angeles River project)

Bird Walk in Gum Grove Park at 8 am on July 19 off PCH near Orange County Line (another piece in the Los Cerritos Wetlands puzzle)

Talk by Russ Roca, the eco friendly bicycling photographer, on planning a bicycle touring adventure at {open} bookstore on July 18

Acoustic Tidal Artwalk at Colorado Lagoon from 5 to 10 pm with music, artists, food and those irrepressible bike valets (actually, I would have gone to this if I had heard about it in time)

Bike Redux

Great photo by Briebanofsky, n'est-ce pas?

It’s been a little over a week since the Bike Festival and bike news just keeps rolling in. Unfortunately, even though I’m pedaling as fast as I can, I just can’t seem to keep up with it all. Last Sunday April 5th, for instance, the CSULB Cyclists held a Sustainability Bike Ride from Colorado Lagoon, past Sims Pond and around the Los Cerritos Wetland. The event was co-sponsored by LB Cyclists and Friends of Colorado Lagoon and sounds like a good ride for a good cause. The blog highlights a monthly event as well as many other regularly scheduled opportunities to “ride your ass off,” so grab your helmet and go!

Meanwhile, over at the Art Theater, a Bike-In Movie Night was sponsored by LB Cyclists on April 11, where valet bike parking was available. Missed it! The good news is that there will be at least two more—Saturday May 2nd and Saturday June 6. With any luck, I’ll get a bike light for Mother’s Day and I’ll be all set.

I am a little bit ahead of the curve with this last item. Bike Long Beach is going to sponsor a video contest on the theme “Grab Life by the Handlebars—Bike Long Beach.” The contest begins on April 15 for 4 minutes (or shorter) videos. More details will be posted on the website soon.

Friends Get Arty Down at The Lagoon

The Grunion Gazette reported last week ("FOCL Art Walks Add to Lagoon") that the Friends of Colorado Lagoon have a new Creative Arts initiative. Poking around the FOCL website, I couldn’t find any hard dates or any information about getting involved, but the article interviews Timothy Dunham as saying, “We plan to dig posts into the sand and hang or install pieces. It would be a venue for local artists.” Art and nature, can’t get better than that. He goes on to say that an Earth Day celebration at the Lagoon is also in the works.

The FOCL blog doesn’t have any information about these events either, but there are some lovely photos of early morning wildlife at the Lagoon. Dunham gets up at dawn so you don’t have to and posts several photos almost every day. Now if only he can uncover the mystery of why they haven’t taken down the floating Christmas trees yet.