Dozens of protesters organized by a progressive Jewish activist group calling for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip blocked the southbound 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles for over an hour on Wednesday morning, bringing traffic to a standstill.
Police were notified about the protest just after 9 a.m., according to California Highway Patrol Officer Roberto Gomez. All six southbound lanes were blocked, Gomez said.
Shortly after 10 a.m., CHP officers were detaining the protesters, leading them to over two dozen police cruisers on the freeway. Behind them, a miles-long traffic jam snarled the morning commute through downtown, south of the interchange with the 101 Freeway.
A protester with his arms bound behind his back said “Free Palestine” when asked for comment as officers led him away.
A tow truck was called to remove vehicles left by protesters and blocking traffic on the 110. By around 10:30 a.m., the last protester had been led away and two lanes of traffic had been reopened.
Authorities arrested 75 protesters for failure to comply with a dispersal order, and the freeway was expected to be fully reopened by noon, according to the CHP.
In videos posted by organizers IfNotNow, the protesters stretched across the freeway wearing black shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Not In Our Name” on the front and “Jews Say Cease Fire now” on the back.
American Jews and allies calling for a cease-fire in Gaza block the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles with a seven-foot menorah.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
They sang “cease-fire now” and lighted a seven-foot menorah as cars waited helplessly behind them.
In a statement to the media, the group wrote that its members “demand an end to the financial support of Israel’s occupation and documented war crimes.”
In helicopter video from KCAL News, several angry drivers were seen skirmishing with protesters before law enforcement arrived. A man pinned a protester up against the hood of a car while others yelled. They grabbed and pushed protesters, throwing some of their signs across the freeway.
The protest is one in a string of actions in favor of ending Israel’s bombardment of Gaza in the two months since Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7.
Another protest organized by the group shut down a Hollywood intersection in mid-November, and during President Biden’s visit to Los Angeles last week, over 1,000 pro-Palestinian protesters gathered at Holmby Park, across from the site of a fundraiser.
A burglary suspect being chased by law enforcement crashed into two vehicles in South Los Angeles early Wednesday, killing one of the innocent drivers.
The pursuit started around 1:30 a.m. after the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to a burglary call in Rancho Palos Verdes, the department said in a news release.
Deputies saw at least four suspects get into a white Lexus and a black Porsche, authorities told KTTV Channel 11. Deputies chased them onto the 110 Freeway, where the suspects drove with their headlights off.
The Porsche exited the freeway during the pursuit, and deputies continued to chase the Lexus. Deputies called off their car pursuit because of excessive speeds but followed from the air and notified the California Highway Patrol, which picked up the chase on the freeway, according to the Sheriff’s Department. The CHP did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Times.
Not long after, the Lexus crashed into two other vehicles near the intersection of Imperial Highway and Olive Street in Broadway-Manchester, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Around 2:20 a.m., firefighters responded to reports of one person ejected from their vehicle in the crash and another person trapped in their car.
A driver not involved in the pursuit was killed in the collision, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Brian Humphrey, and three ambulances took patients to hospitals. There was no immediate information about their ages or genders.
Three people in the Lexus were taken into custody and also treated for their injuries, according to news reports.
With traffic again flowing above, construction crews in hard hats and high-visibility vests are busy surveying the scene: the belly of the 10 Freeway in downtown L.A.
Here, where earlier this month a massive fire scorched the roadway, large timber and steel structures have been erected to take the weight off seven rows of damaged concrete columns.
But what is actually going on under the freeway?
For all the accolades officials gave for reopening the 10 in days rather than weeks, state leaders have publicly said little about the precise damage caused by the fire, exactly how Caltrans plans to make fixes and how much the repairs will cost.
Though the shored-up freeway is safe for drivers again, repairs for the damaged overpass will take months, officials said. None of the damaged columns that hold up the overpass east of Alameda Street have been repaired yet, according to Caltrans spokesperson Michael Comeaux.
“Columns damaged by the fire will need to be repaired. The repair strategy may vary between individual columns depending on the extent of damage. The repairs will include the removal of any damaged concrete, patching of the damage, and wrapping the columns with steel casings,” Comeaux said in an email.
Emergency crews raced to clear debris and hazardous materials after the Nov. 11 fire, which arson investigators believe was started intentionally on Caltrans property leased to a company that was subleasing it to a handful of small businesses. There, piles of wooden pallets were stored alongside combustible liquids, which was in violation of state regulations.
In the following days, construction crews erected the shoring structures and road crews repaired damaged electrical systems, lane striping and signs on the freeway, and some damage to the freeway deck. Currently, engineers are developing a repair plan for the overpass, Comeaux said.
But Caltrans has declined requests for an interview about the work involved to repair the stretch of freeway, which carries roughly 300,000 daily commuters.
An engineer with Caltrans who was not authorized to speak publicly said forty-five columns show clear evidence of spalling, the technical term for the cracking and disintegration of concrete when it is exposed to extremely high temperatures. The heat evaporates water molecules inside the concrete, which makes the material weak and brittle.
Construction crews will have to remove the damaged concrete from each column. In many cases, the engineer said, that damage extends to the reinforcing metal known as rebar that is embedded inside the concrete and spirals around vertical lengths extending from the foundation to the freeway overhead.
Engineers have identified eight columns where the heat of the fire reached far deeper into the concrete. For those columns, crews will have to remove not only the compromised concrete but also the spiral of rebar, the engineer said.
Once the damaged concrete and steel have been removed, the columns will be rebuilt, most likely with steel jackets similar to those used in seismic retrofits of bridge columns (an earthquake review in the 1990s did not lead to jackets being placed around the columns at this location). Grout or concrete will then be injected between the jacket and column.
Jesse Dominguez had the same aspirations many in Los Angeles do: to be an actor.
And he shared the same struggles too: substance use issues, a serious mental health disorder and homelessness.
On Sunday afternoon, while in what his family said must have been a mental health episode or drug-fueled crisis, Dominguez was shot and killed by a California Highway Patrol officer following a struggle on the 105 Freeway in Watts near the sober living facility where he lived.
CHP officials said that during the altercation, Dominguez “was able to access a Taser” and used it against the officer.
“In fear for his safety, the officer fired his service weapon, striking the pedestrian,” the CHP said in a statement.
His family, however, sees the incident differently.
“I’ve pretty much ‘backed the blue’ in a lot of circumstances,” Akasha Dominguez, the man’s stepmother, said referring to a slogan about supporting police. “There have been issues where [police] used excessive force. But I’ve never been on the other end. Now I have a completely different stance. This is absolutely police brutality.”
His family said that Dominguez did carry a Taser for protection after being threatened by others living at the facility where he was staying.
Akasha Dominguez and other family members were in shock Tuesday after learning that Dominguez had been killed. Graphic video appeared to show the encounter leading up to the shooting, during which Dominguez and a CHP officer wrestle on the pavement of the closed freeway before the officer stands and repeatedly shoots Dominguez.
The end of his life was unfathomable to Dominguez’s family members, who knew the 33-year-old as a troubled man who was a “softie” and wanted more than anything to be an actor, though he never got any roles.
Dominguez struggled with bipolar disorder as well as substance use disorder, according to his father, Jesse Dominguez. He wanted to be an actor or a singer, but bounced around from job to job, mostly waiting tables. While family had tried to help the younger Dominguez, who was homeless, and offered him places to live, he wanted to make it on his own, his father said.
His failure to make it as an actor depressed him, family said.
“We just feel terrible that L.A. just robbed him. The Hollywood scene sucked him in to wanting to be that persona. No matter how hard we tried to get him to do other jobs or seek formal education, that’s what he wanted to do. We weren’t going to crush his dreams,” Dominguez’s father said.
The 55-year-old former Marine told The Times that he could not bring himself to watch the bystander video that appears to show the last moments of his son’s life. But his wife and daughter have.
The family is grappling with the same questions that use-of-force experts say will become the focus of the investigation into the shooting by the officer, who has not been identified.
“I don’t know why the officer thought to engage. If someone is walking on the freeway, something is not right. They’re either in mental health crisis or something else is happening,” Akasha Dominguez said. “He was not trying to hurt anybody. Why did he have to use that type of force? After [the officer] had already discharged his firearm once, why did he stand up and then do it again and again and again?”
The questions Dominguez’s stepmother asked will likely be addressed in the California Department of Justice’s investigation into the deadly shooting.
The DOJ investigates police shootings in which an unarmed civilian is killed.
Law enforcement experts interviewed Monday by The Times were divided.
Travis Norton, a law enforcement officer who runs the California Assn. of Tactical Officers After Action Review, said video is a limited way to understand a police shooting.
“It is hard to diagnose without knowing what the officer saw, experienced and interpreted was happening,” Norton said. “All I see is a very short scuffle. I see the suspect point something that appears to look like some sort of weapon. … From the video, without knowing anything else about it, the use of deadly force appears appropriate.”
But other experts said the use of force raises many questions.
Ed Obayashi, a police shootings expert who investigates the incidents for numerous law enforcement agencies in California, said investigators will immediately ask the officer why he was engaging with the person without a partner or backup in the immediate vicinity.
“Why did you shoot him while he was on the ground?” Obayashi said investigators will ask. “You separated yourself from the individual; why was he still a threat to you?”
Akasha Dominguez said she didn’t understand why the officer engaged without backup and why he resorted to deadly force so quickly — even if her stepson had a Taser.
“I don’t know when using deadly force became the first thing cops do in this situation,” said Michele Dominguez, the man’s sister.
Family members said they were reaching out to civil rights attorneys and waiting for the results of the investigation, which could take months or even years.
For now, Dominguez’s father said he would not watch the video, but acknowledged he is only delaying the inevitable.
“I’m going to have to watch the video. I know at some point I do have to see it. But I’m just so raw right now,” he said. “The last time that I saw him, he was smiling. He was happy. And the last thing that I want to see is to have my last memory of him be him going through what he did in that video.”
Disturbing video recorded by a bystander appears to show a deadly encounter in which a California Highway Patrol officer shot a man repeatedly after a struggle in the middle of the 105 Freeway in Watts on Sunday afternoon.
The CHP confirmed Monday that a shooting took place on the freeway, but did not provide basic information.
The Los Angeles County medical examiner’s office confirmed the person had died, though it did not provide identification, pending notification of family. A cause of death was not released.
CHP officials said they responded to the freeway about 3:15 p.m. Sunday after receiving multiple calls about a man walking through traffic near the Wilmington Avenue exit.
After the trooper made contact with the pedestrian, “a struggle ensued and an officer-involved shooting occurred,” the CHP said in a release. Authorities said over a police radio that the man had a Taser and fired it at the officer, leading to the shooting, according to audio posted on the Citizen mobile app.
The CHP directed all inquiries to the California Department of Justice, which investigates police shootings in which unarmed people are killed, according to the department.
The state DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The video begins with a CHP officer on top of another person as the two struggle on the pavement in the middle of what appears to be a closed stretch of freeway.
After a few seconds, while the two tussle, a gun seems to go off and a bullet ricochets off the pavement near the body of the man, who remains on the ground.
The CHP officer then stands up and shoots at least four additional times at the prone man, the video shows.
The man lies motionless for the rest of the minute-long video. The CHP officer remains by the body with his gun drawn.
Travis Norton, a law enforcement officer who runs the California Assn. of Tactical Officers After Action Review, said video is a limited way to understand a police shooting.
“It is hard to diagnose without knowing what the officer saw, experienced and interpreted was happening,” Norton said. “All I see is a very short scuffle. I see the suspect point something that appears to look like some sort of weapon. … From the video, without knowing anything else about it, the use of deadly force appears appropriate.”
But other experts said the use of force raises many questions.
Ed Obayashi, a police shootings expert who investigates the incidents for numerous law enforcement agencies in California, said investigators will immediately ask the officer why he was engaging with the person without a partner or backup in the immediate vicinity.
Obayashi also said that investigators will look into why the officer felt the need to shoot the man after standing up and disengaging from him.
“Why did you shoot him while he was on the ground?” Obayashi said investigators will ask. “You separated yourself from the individual; why was he still a threat to you?”
Good news for Los Angeles commuters: A crucial tranche of the 10 Freeway south of downtown L.A. will open Sunday night and will be ready for the busy morning commute — a day earlier than previously expected and weeks ahead of original projections.
“This thing opens tonight and will be fully operational tomorrow,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a Sunday morning news conference, where he was joined on the deck of the freeway by Mayor Karen Bass, Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.). “This is a significant and big day.”
The mile-long section of freeway between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue has been closed for more than a week, since a massive pallet fire broke out below it Nov. 11. About 300,000 vehicles use the freeway corridor daily.
Newsom and Bass stressed that it was the urgent action and collaboration of local, state and federal officials and construction crews that made it possible to get the freeway open so quickly. Repair crews have worked around the clock since the fire.
“This is a great day in our city,” Bass said Sunday. “Let me thank everyone who worked 24 hours to make this effort happen.”
The closure did not cause widespread gridlock across the city’s freeway system, but it has snarled traffic in parts of the city and created longer-than-normal commutes for hundreds of thousands of Angelenos. Preliminary data from transportation officials also suggest that the closure has prompted more Angelenos to take public transit, heeding calls from local officials.
“Thanks to the heroic work of Caltrans and union construction crews and with help from our partners — from the Mayor’s office to the White House — the 10’s expedited repair is proof and a point of pride that here in California, we deliver,” Newsom said in an earlier statement.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, there had been fears that the damaged section of freeway might have to be demolished and replaced, potentially putting it out of commission for a far longer duration. But within days, it became clear that the impaired section could, in fact, be repaired, and Newsom announced Tuesday that the freeway would reopen in three to five weeks.
An all-hands-on-deck scramble toward a more ambitious target paid off, with Newsom telling reporters last week that all lanes in both directions would be open to traffic by this coming Tuesday “at the latest.”
The freeway will now be fully open to traffic by Monday morning — ahead of the holiday weekend.
“To all Angelenos, I would just say this, tomorrow the commute is back on,” said Harris, who has a home in Brentwood. “Happy Thanksgiving, everybody.”
The fire is being investigated as an arson. The California Office of the State Fire Marshal on Saturday released a photo and description of a “person of interest” in connection with the fire.
Caltrans, the state transportation department that is part of Newsom’s administration, has long been aware of conditions under the freeway, where small businesses stored supplies including flammable wood pallets. Caltrans inspectors were on site as recently as Oct. 6, according to state officials, tenants and a lawyer for the company leasing the land.
The California State Fire Marshall’s office released a photo and description of a “person of interest” in connection with the massive arson fire that burned beneath Interstate 10 south of downtown Los Angeles leading to the closure of the freeway.
Photographs from the scene taken at 12:31 a.m. on Nov. 11 show a man walking in the vicinity of Alameda Street and the 10 Freeway. He is wearing blue shorts and a black jacket and carrying a black backpack and a green scarf. He also has a knee brace on the right knee, and what appears to be burn injuries on his left leg.
The fire, which closed both the westbound and eastbound lanes of the freeway affecting 300,000 vehicles who use the route daily, began under the overpass at Alameda Street and was fueled by wood pallets stored there.
The freeway — one of the most heavily used routes in the country — is expected to open to traffic on Tuesday.
Not long after the fire was extinguished did authorities determine that it was caused by arson. Although the exact cause of the fire was not revealed, Gov. Gavin Newsom at a news conference on Monday said that “there was [malicious] intent.”
In addition to pallets, sanitizer accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was stored under the overpass and helped fuel the flames, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
The office of the State Fire Marshal, which has jurisdiction over the property, which is owned by Caltrans, appealed for witnesses to call a tip line with information and noted those tips could be given anonymously.
“We have identified the point of origin of the fire,” State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said.
If the suspect is identified, authorities are asking the public to contact the State Fire Marshall’s arson and bomb unit at arsonbomb@fire.ca.gov or contact the Cal Fire arson hotline at 800-468-4408.
Caprice “Kip” Harper was among those commuters who heeded the call from transit officials to take public transportation after a fire under the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles closed that vital thoroughfare.
Harper, an archaeologist for the state, opted for a 50-minute commute on the Metro’s A line train from Pasadena to downtown L.A. Thursday morning to partake in a strike held by California state scientists calling for more pay.
“I wanted to chill out,” she said. “Driving in traffic is stressful, and I also wanted to save energy for the protest.”
Preliminary data from transportation officials suggest that the closure of the freeway may have prompted more motorists like Harper to jump on public transit to avoid the traffic headache created in downtown Los Angeles after a fire erupted under the 10’s overpass at Alameda Street on Saturday morning. The fire was fueled by wood pallets stored there and is being investigated as an arson.
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority recorded a 10% increase in ridership on the E line train that runs parallel to the 10 Freeway Monday and Tuesday, L.A. Metro Communications Director Dave Sotero said. L.A. Metro also reported a 25% increase in parked cars at outlying stations including Norwalk, Lakewood, Azusa and East L.A. on Thursday.
“Metro usage is up and we need to continue that until we get to Tuesday,” Mayor Karen Bass said at a press conference Friday, urging commuters taking the Metro system this week to make it a habit even after the freeway opens.
It remains unclear, however, if there has been a notable uptick in ridership on the entire regional system this week in response to the freeway closure. L.A. Metro said it does not yet have data on overall ridership for this month.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the 10 Freeway would reopen by Tuesday — much sooner than expected — the roughly 300,000 commuters that drove that stretch of the freeway daily have been tasked with finding alternative routes or modes of transportation until then. But many commuters have chosen to continue driving, opting for side streets through neighborhoods in the city’s core.
To help speed up the commute for those taking public transit, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has adjusted signal times along the A and E train lines for faster service into downtown L.A. The L.A. Metro has also added buses to Line 66, which runs along Olympic Boulevard, and Line 51, which runs along Soto Street, while Metrolink increased the number of commuter trains from San Bernardino and Covina to Union Station. Bass even rode the Metro’s E line train to work Wednesday morning, encouraging commuters to take public transit while the 10 is closed.
Although taking the Metro had a “comparable” commute time to driving, Harper’s first 15 minutes of her Thursday commute was spent getting to the nearest Metro station, Fillmore Station. It’s a reality that deters many locals from ditching their car and hopping on the train.
For many others, mass transit wasn’t a viable option.
Ashley Olmeda, 30, said taking public transit just does not make sense for her when the nearest Metro train station to her residence in Alhambra is an 18-minute drive to Memorial Park Station in Pasadena. She instead drove 40 minutes to downtown L.A., a drive that would have normally taken 15 minutes. But it was still the better alternative to taking public transit, she said.
“There’s no Metro near me, so I would have to go out to Pasadena to the nearest Metro station,” she said. “But if I had access to one, I would [take public transit].”
For others, using public transit is not feasible when they need to get around the city throughout the day.
Tom Somers, 69, came into downtown L.A. from La Cañada Flintridge to go to court Thursday morning. As a lawyer, he needs to be able to travel freely between the Ronald Reagan Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in downtown L.A. to his office in Koreatown.
“I’d like to [take the Metro]. I’d really like to,” he said. “But I need to get to court and the office and driving makes more sense for that.”
He instead opted for a 65-minute commute to downtown L.A., which would normally have taken him 35 minutes, he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that the fire-damaged 10 Freeway would reopen sooner than expected — Tuesday “at the latest.”
“Five lanes in both directions,” Newsom said at a news conference Thursday evening at the site of the fire in downtown Los Angeles.
More than 100 columns along the swath of the freeway were damaged — nine or 10 of them severely, officials said. Construction crews have erected wooden structures to shore up the overpass while the repair work gets underway.
“By Tuesday next week, trucks, passenger vehicles in both directions will be moving again,” Newsom said. “We’ve doubled the crews, we’ve doubled down on our efforts here.”
Newsom said 250 contractors were working on repairing the bridge, including 30 carpenters joining efforts in the most recent day.
“Things continue to move favorably in our direction,” Newsom said. “The bridge structure itself seems to be in better shape than we anticipated.”
Mayor Karen Bass thanked Los Angeles residents who had switched to public transit and heeded calls to avoid crowding surface streets while the 10 remained closed this past week.
“This is a good day in Los Angeles,” Bass said.
Gloria Roberts, appointed director of Caltrans District 7, thanked the governor and mayor for their leadership. She also praised Caltrans workers who had logged numerous hours at the site.
“Proud to bleed orange,” she said, sparking chuckles and smiles from the governor and mayor.
The fire, which arson investigators believe was intentionally set, started at a property under the 10 that was being leased from the California Department of Transportation. No arrests have been made, and the investigation remains ongoing.
Although the exact cause of the fire has not been revealed, “there was [malicious] intent,” Newsom said at a news conference Monday afternoon. The cost of the repair project also remains under assessment.
In addition to pallets, sanitizer accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was stored under the overpass and helped fuel the flames, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.
The fire was reported early Saturday, shortly after midnight, in the 1700 block of East 14th Street after a pallet yard under the freeway caught fire and spread to a second pallet yard, damaging the freeway overpass and destroying several vehicles, including a firetruck, authorities said.
As part of its investigation, the Los Angeles Fire Department will inspect other underpasses in the city, according to Mayor Bass.
“L.A. city wants to make sure our house is in order,” she said. “We have a number of leases under the freeway as well. So we are looking at those to make sure that what we’re doing is appropriate as well.”
The Los Angeles Times reported that immigrant businesses had occupied the space beneath the freeway while their landlord dodged Caltrans, to which it owed thousands of dollars in unpaid rent. State officials, tenants and a lawyer for the company leasing the land maintain that Caltrans was long aware of conditions under the freeway that fueled the fire.
The state was long aware of conditions under Interstate 10 where a massive fire Saturday severely damaged the freeway south of downtown Los Angeles — with Caltrans inspectors on site as recently as Oct. 6, according to state officials, tenants and a lawyer for the company leasing the land.
The plot of land was leased by Caltrans to a private company that subleased it to small blue-collar businesses at much higher rents.
For years, a pallet distributor, a recycler, a mechanic shop and a garment factory supplier operated between the freeway pillars on East 14th Street a block east of South Alameda Street. Along the perimeters, homeless people camped and lighted fires to keep warm.
The conditions did not raise any apparent alarm bells among state officials who regularly inspected the site. Google Earth photos from January 2023 and March 2022 show dozens of columns of pallets stacked two stories high, amid piles of tires, wood boxes, cardboard and old vehicles, all visible from four streets and a freeway offramp.
“Caltrans staff inspect all airspace lease sites at least annually to check for potential safety hazards and lease violations,” said Eric Menjivar, a spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, which maintains state highways in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Areas under and next to the freeway are considered airspace.
“Staff also monitor what is placed or stored on site by the tenant. If deficiencies are noted, Caltrans staff notifies the tenant for remedy. The State Fire Marshal also inspects regularly for fire and life safety.”
Menjivar said Caltrans inspected the property Oct. 6 after Caltrans had filed a lawsuit to remove its tenant, Apex Development Inc., for noncompliance with the lease. The suit, filed in September, said the company had not paid its rent in more than a year and had illegally sublet the land to a host of small businesses.
The California Department of Transportation has not provided inspection reports requested by the Times.
Jose Luis Villamil Rodriguez, who started renting a spot on the property from Apex in 2011, said he watched Caltrans inspectors regularly come to the site.
“They would even take photos,” he said. “Everyone knew what was under the freeway, they saw the pallet yard and so I’m pretty sure they were aware of it.”
Rodriguez said the pallet yard business had been under the freeway for about seven years. He said the owner was constantly storing and moving the pallets. Rodriguez said he never interacted with the inspectors. Out of caution, Rodriguez said he had fire extinguishers at his job site. “Whether others didn’t, I wouldn’t know,” he added.
Caltrans had rented the 48,000-square-foot lot to Apex and its owner, Ahmad Anthony Nowaid, starting in 2008. Under Apex’s lease agreement, the property could be used only for parking operable vehicles and “open storage”; other uses required the approval of Caltrans and the Federal Highway Administration, something the company does not appear to have secured. Apex was also not allowed the storage of inoperable vehicles, flammable materials or other hazards.
The lease agreement between Caltrans and Apex was filed in court as part of the state’s lawsuit against the company for unpaid rent. As of September, Apex owed nearly $80,000 in back rent on the property that burned.
A court hearing in the suit is scheduled for early 2024.
Apex, through its attorney Mainak D’Attaray, confirmed that Caltrans had inspected the lot at East 14th Street at least once a year. The lawyer also disputed that the various small businesses renting from Apex were there illegally; Caltrans “was fully aware of the sublessees and their operations,” he said in a statement.
The attorney argued that state officials were wrongly blaming the company and knew about homeless encampments and the overall conditions at the site.
“Even the State of California’s Fire Marshall inspected the premises,” D’Attaray said in a statement. “Apex is sympathetic to the loss of property and the adverse impact the fire has caused the people of Los Angeles. But Apex was not involved in the fire. Apex is being unfairly scape-goated for something over which it had no control.”
The lot at the edge of the Fashion District is one of five that Caltrans had rented to Apex’s owner, Nowaid. Caltrans had filed eviction proceedings for all five properties, saying Nowaid’s firm owed a total of at least $620,000 in unpaid rent.
Earlier this week, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Apex and its owner without specifically identifying Nowaid.
“This guy and this organization, whoever the members of that particular organization are, have been bad actors,” Newsom said at a news conference. “They stopped paying their rent, they’re out of compliance, and as was stated yesterday … they have been subleasing this site to at least five, maybe as many as six tenants, without authorization from Caltrans or authorization from our federal partners.”
D’Attaray said that the eviction suits were retaliation by Caltrans for a lawsuit that Apex had filed in June, accusing the agency of interfering with his business.
He said the governor and Mayor Karen Bass were trying “to excuse their own failures to adequately address the public safety issues caused by the unhoused.”
Apex had repeatedly called the Los Angeles Fire Department to report fires started by homeless people who pitched tents around the perimeter of the lot, D’Attaray said. He claimed that the city’s fire and police departments responded “dismissively.”
“The unhoused persons camping along the fence line of the premises were allowed to remain and accumulate all types of refuse and materials over which Apex had no control,” D’Attaray said in the statement.
A spokesperson for Newsom rejected the idea that the governor’s statements were off base.
“CalFire currently believes the fire was caused by arson — the criminal act of deliberately setting fire to property — in a fenced-off area that Apex was responsible for maintaining while they continued to assert rights under the lease,” the spokesperson said.
A representative for Bass did not respond to requests for comment.
A Caltrans engineer, who asked to withhold his name because he was not authorized to speak, said that it was the state agency that should have seen this coming.
“Caltrans has known about this for a long time,” the engineer told the Times earlier this week. “They have permitted lessees to store flammable stuff underneath these freeways for decades. They’ve had a couple of fires in the last three years that have affected columns, but inspectors can’t completely get underneath the bridge to make a thorough inspection because of all the junk.”
In Atlanta, a similar fire in 2017 caused a portion of the 85 Freeway to collapse after a 39-year-old homeless man who police said had been smoking crack set fire to an upholstered chair on top of a shopping cart.
The fire ignited combustible materials stored under the freeway. Federal investigators found the Georgia Department of Transportation partly responsible.
In an alert sent out to transportation agencies across the country, the National Transportation Safety Board warned: “Although catastrophic fires fueled by materials stored underneath bridges are relatively rare events, the loss of this structure demonstrates what can happen if bridge owners are not vigilant about monitoring and controlling such materials.”
The I-85 closure snarled commuter traffic on the region’s busiest throroughfares for six weeks. In response, Caltrans wrote up a policy directive directly based on that incident that prohibited the storage of flammable materials under its bridges and required access for bridge inspections.
It is not clear if it was enforced.
Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) said the fire on Saturday “should have never happened.
“There’s already protocols in place,” he said. He praised the governor’s response to the fire and his administration, which has pushed the effort to “Fix the 10.”
Santiago said he felt confident that the governor’s office and Caltrans would provide information about the state’s leases, including a review of litigation and enforcement mechanisms.
“Once we get the information there needs to be strong accountability mechanisms in place to prevent anything like this from ever happening again and putting the public at risk.”
Carina Quinto, who runs a mobile mechanic shop out of the freeway underpass, was bewildered by officials. She had been watching news reports about the fire and was surprised to hear officials say they had no idea what was going on under the underpass.
“Supposedly the city didn’t know the kind of businesses that were running under the freeway. They knew exactly what we were doing,” she said. Someone from sanitation came regularly to check that oil was properly disposed, she said.
When asked for proof of the visit, she said, it burned up in the fire.
Times staff writers Taryn Luna and Thomas Curwen contributed to this report.
As gridlock seizes the streets of downtown Los Angeles following the 10 Freeway fire, L.A. officials are imploring drivers to ditch their cars and finally hop on public transit — and they’re using free rides, faster trains and more buses on city streets as incentive.
The Commuter Express bus service, which heads directly into the downtown area from multiple locations with few stops, will be free for the rest of the year.
“This is an opportunity for Angelenos to take advantage of the public transportation system that we have today,” Mayor Karen Bass said during a news conference Tuesday announcing the fare changes. A helicopter tour provided evidence, the mayor said, that downtown streets during the evening rush hour were an “absolute parking lot” in the fire’s aftermath.
Arson has been blamed in the massive blaze that forced the shutdown of the freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
That poses the threat of significant gridlock on other freeways in the downtown area, as well as surface streets that the Los Angeles Department of Transportation has identified as detours. To mitigate some of that traffic, public officials are urging people to take public transportation, and making rides on Commuter Express buses free for the rest of 2023.
Riders would not have to pay the fare, which ranges from $1.50 to $4.25 for a one-way ride.
“All you have to do is board, enjoy the ride and let us take you to your final destination,” said Laura Rubio-Cornejo, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, at Tuesday’s news conference.
After Bass announced free rides on all Commuter Express buses Monday, officials said they saw a significant increase in the number of passengers.
On Tuesday, there was a 19% increase on the number of riders when compared to Monday, said Colin Sweeney, a spokesperson with the city’s Department of Transportation.
The DASH bus service, which operates shorter routes within neighborhoods in Los Angeles, including the downtown area, have also been free since 2020.
DASH buses have seen a “slight decline” in the number of passengers this week in the downtown area, but Sweeney said the that could be a sign of residents heeding the mayor’s call to avoid trips to the downtown area whenever possible.
On Monday, the first weekday after the fire, Rubio-Cornejo said downtown surface streets being used as detours saw a 14.7% increase in traffic throughout the day.
On Tuesday, however, she said streets saw a 26% increase along the same streets, which she noted were already among the most congested routes in downtown Los Angeles under normal conditions.
With rain expected to worsen roadway conditions Wednesday, officials urged commuters to opt for public transportation instead.
L.A. Metro sees about 950,000 riders a day, but Lilian de Loza Gutierrez, director of community relations for Metro, said the system could handle more.
“Metro has the capacity to welcome even more Angelenos,” she said at a Wednesday news conference.
Gutierrez also encouraged people to use public transportation to get to events taking place this weekend in the downtown area, including the L.A. Auto Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and Friday’s Clippers game and Sunday’s Lakers game at the Crypto.com Arena.
As further incentive, Metrolink has temporarily increased the number of trains from San Bernardino and Covina to Union Station, said Randall Winston, deputy mayor of infrastructure for Bass’ office.
L.A. Metro has also added buses to Line 66, which runs along Olympic Boulevard, and Line 51, which runs along Soto Street. Those two lines, Winston said, were the most affected by delays Tuesday.
Mayor Bass also directed L.A. Metro to increase the speed on the E line, which runs along the 10 Freeway between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles with 29 stops in between.
That line, Winston said Wednesday morning, had a 10% increase in riders Tuesday.
The Jan. 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake damaged roadways across Los Angeles. But nowhere was the impact felt more acutely that on the 10 Freeway just east of Culver City.
The earthquake knocked out two freeway bridges, at La Cienega and Washington boulevards. It cut off what was central Los Angeles’ key east-west traffic corridor.
Round-the-clock repairs got the Santa Monica Freeway opened in less than three months — in what officials described as record time, giving L.A.’s quake recovery an important boost.
The fire that damaged the 10 Freeway a few miles east this weekend — again closing the roadway indefinitely — has brought comparison to 1994.
“For those of you that remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans worked around the clock to complete the emergency repairs to the freeways, and this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort,” Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday.
It remains unclear how badly damaged the freeway hit by Saturday’s fire is and how long it will take to fix.
Here is a review of that epic 1994 repair effort from the pages of The Times.
A race against time
Officials knew right away they needed to get the freeway operating as soon as possible.
Some economist said the freeway collapse was one of the most costly impact of the Northridge quake.
With an average of 341,000 vehicles a day using the roadway, they said, the extra time it took goods to get to their destinations and workers to get to their jobs cost millions in lost production and wages.
Reporting at the time suggested the closure cost the economy $1 million a day.
The freeway collapse pushed traffic onto crowded surface streets between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles, as frustrated commuters sought alternative routes. Detours caused delays of 20 minutes or more.
How was the freeway repaired?
An accelerated construction effort — one spurred by round-the-clock work — led to reopenings ahead of schedule. In the case of the 10 Freeway, which saw two sections flattened by the quake, contractor C.C. Myers Inc. finished the project 74 days ahead of schedule, allowing it to reopen in April— about three months after the quake knocked it down. The company had been offered a $200,000 bonus for every day the work was finished ahead of schedule, The Times reported.
The price tag on the project rose from the original bid of $14.9 million to nearly $30 million.
It was an intense process.
The damaged structure was torn down, roadways were cleared and the rubble hauled away.
Shafts up to 50 feet deep were drilled for piles, concrete was poured for columns and piles. This took about three weeks.
Ironworkers created a frame of steel that was later covered with concrete. Because the structures were 600 to 700 feet long, construction of the bottom slab and vertical wall supports began on one end as the structures were erected at the other end.
Once formed, the top deck was surfaced.
After waiting five days for the concrete to cure, tension was applied to metal strands, called tendons, which were placed in the concrete to add strength to the structure.
Although the freeway was deemed safe from collapse, experts said the bridge abutments needed even more strengthening with the installation of pilings to avoid damage in a future quake.
Steel rings were placed around the columns during construction to further strengthen them. The rings were inserted around the rebar before concrete was poured.
On each of the two bridges, four pilings 4 feet in diameter and as much as 80 feet deep were attached to the sides of each abutment.
The 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles will remain closed indefinitely as the California Department of Transportation moves to repair an overpass badly damaged by an intense fire early Saturday at two storage yards in an area with multiple homeless encampments.
The incident, which closed westbound and eastbound lanes of the busy freeway between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue, will significantly affect traffic in the area, officials said at anews conference Sunday, without offering a timetable for reopening.
“Unfortunately, there is no reason to think that this is going to be over in a couple of days,” L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said. “We will need to come together and all cooperate until the freeway is rebuilt.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency Saturday to help expedite the work. Acknowledging “the anxiety of millions and millions that live in this region,” Newsom noted that 300,000 vehicles travel through the freeway corridor daily. And he said he knew the question many are asking: “When the hell is this going to get reopened?”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass attend a news conference Sunday at Caltrans headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Several things must occur before construction can begin — starting with an investigation into the cause of the fire. It is expected to be finished by 6 a.m. Monday. Mitigation of hazardous materials also needs to be completed before a detailed structural analysis of the damaged portions of the freeway can commence. Engineers will be inspecting the freeway’s columns and bridge deck.
“I am not going to understate the challenge here — it is significant,” California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin said. “This is not going to be an easy task for our structural engineers at Caltrans.”
Commuters were encouraged to take alternate routes, avoid the area altogether or use public transit to help ease traffic flow through the downtown area as work on the freeway continues.
This could be the most notable freeway closure in the Southland since the 1994 Northridge earthquake buckled portions of the 10 and other routes. The shutdown is expected to increase congestion on adjacent freeways where traffic is being diverted, among them the 5, 110 and 710.
Los Angeles firefighters continue to assess the damage from a fire under the 10 Freeway near downtown Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
The faint scent of smoke hung in the air Sunday morning as Caltrans workers examined a stretch of the freeway near 14th Street. Black marks were visible on the overpass where the Los Angeles City Fire Department responded to a reported rubbish fire at 12:22 a.m. a day earlier. The department said its first responders arrived to find a storage yard with pallets, trailers and vehicles “well involved in fire.”
Ultimately, firefighters from 26 companies and one helicopter responded to the scene; they were able to keep the blaze from spreading into nearby structures, though a firetruck was badly damage.
Newsom said officials are investigating whether anyone was living under the overpass at the time of the fire, but at the moment there are no known deaths from the incident. Bass said some homeless people living nearby evacuated because of the fire and that at least 16 have since been housed.
On X, the service formerly known as Twitter, users posted images that purportedly showed homeless encampments beneath the freeway at 14th Street. Newsom said that he and other officials cleaned up an encampment there in August 2022.
“I am intimately familiar with this site,” he said.
The incident could lead officials to study the safety of homeless encampments near freeways across the city. Peter Brown, a spokesman for L.A. City Councilman Kevin de León, whose district includes the site of the fire, said he believed the incident would “trigger a review” of such properties.
“We just want to make sure folks are as safe as possible,” Brown said. “Nine freeways crisscross through [de León’s] district.”
Since January, Brown said, the councilman’s office had conducted six “cleanup operations” of sites under the 10 Freeway that had moved 36 people into housing in the downtown area. Two of the visits were at the property where the fire occurred, he said.
The area around the burn site is home to many homeless encampments. A man named Enrique who has been living in his car near the now-damaged overpass for most of the last year said that he woke up early Saturday to police shouting for people to clear the area.
“They were big flames, higher than that building,” the 58-year-old said, pointing to a two-story structure on 14th Street.
Behind Enrique, who declined to give his last name, there was a series of makeshift dwellings. A woman walked out of one and wandered the streets with no pants or underwear.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin M. Crowley said that “as for any of the encampments in that area, we do not have any direct correlation at this point as to if that’s where it did start or didn’t.”
“We are going to have to standby and wait for the active investigation to be completed,” she said.
Homeless encampments have been the source of fires under and around freeways up and down the West Coast in recent years. In July 2022, a major blaze struck an encampment underneath the 880 Freeway in Oakland, destroying vehicles, snarling traffic and requiring the work of 60 firefighters to extinguish it. And in March, a fire in Tacoma, Wash., broke out in a tent beneath the 5 Freeway, leaving one person dead.
The 14th Street property where the fire occurred Saturday is owned by Caltrans, a spokesman for the agency said. Newsom said that site had been leased to an entity he declined to name. But the lease is expired, the entity is in arrears and it has been cited by state investigators, Newsom said.
He added that the state is in litigation with the lessee and believes it has been subleasing the space.
Omishakin said it’s common practice across the country to lease space under freeways. “This is something that is going to be reevaluated from a safety standpoint,” he said, including what is allowed to be stored underneath overpasses.
Southern California is no stranger to freeway closures. Far from it.
Mudslides, wildfires and snow storms have routinely shut down portions of freeways, highways and state routes — but those closures often are quickly resolved. The 5 Freeway, for example, was briefly shut down along the Grapevine a dozen times from 2018 to 2022 due to snow, Caltrans said. Some natural disasters have caused notable problems: In 2018, Highway 23, which connects Pacific Coast Highway and the 101 Freeway, was closed for about six weeks starting in November after the Woolsey fire ripped through nearly 100,000 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains.
Man-made fires have also taken their toll on Southern California’s freeways. In 2013, a tanker truck carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline crashed and caught fire, severely damaging a tunnel connecting the 5 and 2 freeways in Elysian Valley north of downtown. The conflagration burned through almost three inches of concrete and caused chunks of it to fall from the tunnel walls, necessitating a $16.5-million repair. The work wasn’t completed until January 2014.
But the biggest disruption to the freeway system occurred after the magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck L.A. on Jan. 17, 1994, killing dozens and causing tens of billions of dollars of property damage. Parts of one highway and six freeways, among them the 5 and the 10, were closed after the temblor collapsed overpasses and buckled roadways, The Times reported.
An accelerated construction effort — one spurred by round-the-clock work — led to reopenings ahead of schedule. In the case of the 10 Freeway, which saw two sections flattened by the quake, contractor C.C. Myers Inc. finished the project 74 days ahead of schedule, allowing it to reopen in April. The company had been offered a $200,000 bonus for every day the work was finished ahead of schedule, The Times reported.
Bass invoked that push on Sunday.
“For those of you that remember the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Caltrans worked around the clock to complete the emergency repairs to the freeways, and this structural damage calls for the same level of urgency and effort,” she said.
Newsom said the state is now determining whether to offer contractors incentives to finish repair work quickly.
“We are sober and mindful of the urgency to get this open,” Newsom said. “It is safety first, it’s speed second.”
10 Freeway between East L.A. interchange and Alameda Street.
10 Freeway westbound diverted at Alameda Street.
5 Freeway north and south transition to 10 Freeway westbound.
60 Freeway transition east and west to 10 Freeway westbound.
Alameda Street closed in area.
I-10 remains FULLY CLOSED until further notice between the East LA interchange & Alameda St due to a fire that damaged the fwy. Avoid the area, expect major delays & seek alternate routes to events in #DTLA or use @metrolosangeles public transit. See detour for WB. & EB I-10 👇 pic.twitter.com/oBduHIFTXY
“Angelenos planning to attend major sporting events in or around Downtown Los Angeles, please plan for delays and check for alternative routes. Traffic officers are on location to alleviate traffic impacts. Drivers are encouraged to avoid the impacted area. Please heed traffic officer instructions,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.
“I would encourage people to avoid this area between the East L.A. interchange and Alameda Street,” added Lauren Wonder, a Caltrans spokeswoman.
The big test will come Monday during the morning commute, if the freeway remains closed.
Metro provided details on some mass transit lines available during the closure:
Line 78 (Huntington)
Line 18 (6th St)
Line 66 (Olympic)
Line 30 (Pico)
Line 33 (Venice)
E Line train
J Line bus
What’s next
The fire damaged the freeway pillars, but Caltrans is not sure how bad the situation is and how quickly repairs can be made.
“We see what we call ‘concrete spalling,’ which is chips of concrete that come off, but we won’t know the extent of the damage until the structural engineers can go in and see if the rebar was burned or not,” Wonder said. “This is still developing.”
Officials expect to provide an update Sunday afternoon.
The 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles was shut down indefinitely in both directions early Saturday after two wooden pallet yards caught fire, damaging an overpass and destroying several vehicles, including a fire truck, authorities said.
Both westbound and eastbound lanes of the heavily traveled freeway are closed between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue, while structural engineers assess the damage, said Lauren Wonder, a CalTrans spokeswoman.
“As of now, the freeway is shut down indefinitely,” Wonder said. “I would encourage people to avoid this area between the East L.A. interchange and Alameda Street.”
The fire was reported shortly after midnight in the 1700 block of East 14 Street after a pallet yard under the freeway caught fire and spread to a second pallet yard nearby.
The massive fire prompted Californai Highway Patrol to issue a SigAlert and closed the freeway in both directions. Traffic on the eastbound lanes was being diverted at Santa Fe Avenue while traffic on the westbound lanes was being diverted at Alameda Street.
Los Angeles fire officials said firefighters from 26 companies and one helicopter responded to the scene and prevented the fire spreading into nearby commercial buildings. Heavy equipment operators were also used to move debris around and allow firefighters to douse small pockets of fire.
Firefighters douse the still smoldering massive pallet fire that gutted Fire Engine 17, right, which became stuck under the 10 Freeway overpass at 1700 block of East 14th Street on Saturday in Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also assisted by boosting water pressure in the area to compensate for the high volume needed.
Fire officials said the fire forced several homeless people to evacuate the area but vehicles parked under or near the freeway were damaged or destroyed. Officials said one of those vehicle was a fire engine.
The fire was extinguished as of 10 a.m. but firefighters continue to mop up the area. Caltrans officials also remained on the scene.
Wonder said hazmat teams are waiting on firefighters to finish mopping up the area and will head in to ensure that it’s safe for structural engineers to go in and assess the extent of the damage to the freeway.
“We see what we call ‘concrete spalling,’ which is chips of concrete that come off but we won’t know the extent of the damage until the structural engineers can go in and see if the rebar was burned or not,” she said. “This is still developing.”
Two cars were shot at on the 91 freeway in Corona on Friday night, and the driver of one was hit in the leg by a bullet, law enforcement officials told KTLA.
The shootings took place around 10:30 p.m. near McKinley St., according to KTLA. A man hit by gunfire was driving east. He was hospitalized and authorities said he was stable. Another car driven by a woman also heading east was hit twice by bullets, but she was not injured, police said.
No arrests have been made and no information on the shooter has been released, police told KTLA.
A pair of violent collisions — at least one of them fatal — closed down multiple lanes on two major L.A.-area freeways early Monday.
The northbound 405 in the San Fernando Valley was shut down after a fatal early-morning crash involving several vehicles. The California Highway Patrol told KTLA that the crash occurred at around 4:30 a.m. at Sherman Way when a Sylmar man, 28, driving an Acura TL collided with a Toyota Camry and a Ford F-250. The Sylmar motorist was killed in the crash, the TV news outlet reported.
A California Highway Patrol spokesperson confirmed to The Times that the investigation was ongoing. A SigAlert was issued, and all northbound lanes were closed at Sherman Way until 11:15 a.m.
The shutdown brought the morning commute to a crawl. Officers were allowing motorists to use the right shoulder to pass, according to the CHP spokesperson. Drivers should anticipate an additional delay of 30 minutes.
Another crash occurred Monday morning on the southbound 101 Freeway near the shared exit to Santa Monica Boulevard and Western Avenue around 6:45 a.m., KTLA reported.
A CHP officer said the collision involved injuries but did not confirm any casualties or provide any other details about the crash.
The two right lanes and the on-ramp to the 101 were closed. But as of 11:30 a.m., all lanes had reopened; the SigAlert alert for this accident expired at around 9 a.m. Caltrans employees, however, could still be in the area cleaning up debris from the crash, the officer said.
A rare occurrence unfolded Sunday morning on the Arroyo Seco Parkway: No cars were allowed.
Instead, the stretch of the 110 Freeway that snakes its way through South Pasadena and Northeast Los Angeles — usually crammed with motorists — was people-powered and reserved for pedestrians, bicyclists and anyone else who wanted to explore the area from a new perspective.
Hosted by Active San Gabriel Valley and presented by Metro, the free, family-friendly event shut down six miles of the freeway and local streets from 7 to 11 a.m. Pedestrians and bicyclists took over the roads, similar to the open-streets concept behind the car-free CicLAvia events. The emphasis for ArroyoFest is on foot traffic and allowing people to explore the neighborhoods of Lincoln Heights, Cypress Park, Highland Park, Hermon, South Pasadena and Pasadena.
Thousands of bicyclists, rollerbladers, skateboarders, walkers and runners enjoy the Arroyo Seco Parkway (110 Freeway) during 626 Golden Streets ArroyoFest, a sequel to the first ArroyoFest held 20 years ago.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
People enjoy the route by foot and on bike at ArroyoFest, in which the 110 Freeway — the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway — was closed off to cars from roughly its connection with Interstate 5 to its terminus in Pasadena.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Thousands traverse the Arroyo Seco Parkway (110 Freeway) during ArroyoFest, a sequel to the first such event held 20 years ago.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Rollerbladers Jenny Renderos, left, of Panorama City and Veronica Rico of Pacoima pose for a photo in the middle of the 110 Freeway during 626 Golden Streets ArroyoFest.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
An aerial early morning view of the participants in ArroyoFest, which shut down six miles of the 110 Freeway to automotive traffic. The first ArroyoFest was held 20 years ago.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Alex Trepanier, 35, rides his pennyfarthing, the same bike he rode 20 years ago at ArroyoFest when he was a teenager.
The Arroyo Seco Parkway was busy in both directions on Sunday morning — without a car in sight.
For four glorious hours, cyclists and pedestrians had a chance to safely explore six miles of the 110 Freeway between Los Angeles and Pasadena, a stretch of roadway that opened in 1940 and typically carries more 100,000 daily motorists who brave its winding turns and scary entrance ramps.
Aside from events such as Sunday’s 626 Golden Streets ArroyoFest and other bike celebrations, such as CicLAvia, cycling in L.A. County is not for the faint of heart. The road network was built for automobiles. Bicyclists are often left to vie for space alongside cars on congested, poorly maintained streets. Fatal bike crashes are an intractable problem in the county, and efforts to build dedicated bike lanes have been spotty.
A recent report from advocacy group BikeLA, found that 85% of L.A.’s bicycle fatalities happened on roads that didn’t have dedicated bike lanes. “Our infrastructure is failing bicyclists” across the county, said Eli Akira Kaufman, executive director of BikeLA.
This was the reality for the cyclists who joined the crowd of thousands in Northeast L.A. on Sunday. A Times reporter and photographer spoke with bike riders and asked two questions: What do you love about cycling in L.A. and what would you change about it?
Here’s what they told us.
Lawrence Sanchez, 41, of Highland Park is a civil engineer who often rides through Griffith Park and Angeles Crest.
“If biking was safer, more people would be encouraged to do it. Most people I know avoid cycling here because they don’t feel safe.”
— Lawrence Sanchez
Alex Trepanier, 35, of Alhambra rode the same antique bike — called a pennyfarthing — to ArroyoFest 20 years ago. He said has more than 600 bikes in his collection, including a bike built by the Wright brothers.
“I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the country where you can ride your bike 350 days a year without getting wet. I wish more people would do it to lower our traffic and keep our emissions down.”
— Alex Trepanier
Rachel and Manny Wong, of Glendale, cruised the 110 Freeway on Sunday on e-bikes with their daughters Joey, 5, and Frankie, 3. Rachel, 45, commutes by bike to her job as a fifth-grade teacher at Morengo Elementary School in South Pasadena.
“It’s just fun to go different places and be outside. But sometimes it is a little scary when there’s a lot of cars. And that makes me a little nervous, especially with the girls.”
— Rachel Wong
John Engelke, 54, and his son, Liam, 12, of Silver Lake enjoy riding together along the L.A. River bike path.
“I love that L.A. River bike trail. I think that’s the best bike trail in the whole region. It’s peaceful, it’s quiet. It gets you away from the vehicles. I wish that bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure in Los Angeles was better.”
— John Engelke
Nathalie Winiarksi, 58, of Glendale teaches bicycle safety courses at the L.A. Unified School District and BikeLA.
“L.A is beautiful and so diverse — we have it all. Biking around just makes it fun. It would be great if people knew the rules of the road better and that goes for not only cyclists, but all road users.”
— Nathalie Winiarksi
Jorge Aviles, 37, of Los Angeles began riding regularly during the pandemic and has had friends killed or injured in bike crashes.
“The beauty of having a bike is that you can go to multiple cities, neighborhoods and experience different cultures. One of the things that I pride myself on is safety, and I don’t ride by myself because I’ve had friends die. So for me … I would love more bike lanes, more biking communities and more maps that just show where the safe routes are.”
— Jorge Aviles
Michelle Benn, 59, and Alicia Benn, 54, of Altadena would like to more bike lanes built in their neighborhood.
“When you’re in a car you don’t get a chance to see the beautiful homes out here and different trails.”
— Michelle Benn
Diego Chavez, 39, of Wilmington is a data analyst who enjoys riding in Long Beach where there are separated bike lanes with barriers between car lanes and cyclists.
“I wish there were more isolated bike lanes versus when you’re riding with traffic — that would be a lot safer. You still got to be cautious and look over your shoulder often when you’re riding with traffic.”
— Diego Chavez
Raul Salinas, 63, of Pasadena rode the first ArroyoFest in 2003 with his twin boys and returned to participate in its sequel two decades later.
“Biking brings you back to nature. It gets you in tune with, you know, what Los Angeles might have been like years ago when it was slower. If they could make it where people are not afraid to get out of the car, that would be great.”
Until a few days ago, Michael Schneider truly believed that his nonprofit, Streets For All, had solid enough political support to pursue what was certain to be an unpopular idea in L.A.: a study of whether it makes sense to rip up a Westside freeway and replace it with affordable housing and a humongous park.
He was a man about town, excitedly touting the letters and statements of “immense enthusiasm” from elected officials.
Like from the office of Mayor Karen Bass, who called the Marina Freeway — a three-mile, lightly trafficked stretch of Route 90 that was left unfinished after a plan to link it to Orange County was abandoned in the 1970s — a “freeway to nowhere.”
And from state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), who described Schneider’s idea as “a forward-thinking project that would help alleviate L.A.’s need[s].”
Indeed, as someone who drives the Marina Freeway all the time, I’ve long thought there had be a higher and better use for the land than a mere shortcut from Marina del Rey to the 405 Freeway and over to South L.A. And so I was excited to hear that Streets For All was applying for a federal grant to study it for two years, tracking everything from environmental impacts to traffic to the opinions of nearby residents like me.
Now, though, my excitement as well as Schneider’s has given way to familiar feelings of frustration. True to form for NIMBY-indulging Los Angeles, the political support he believed was solid has suddenly turned porous.
That includes Bass: “I do not support the removal or demolition of the 90 Freeway,” she said in a statement last week. “I’ve heard loud and clear from communities who would be impacted and I do not support a study on this initiative.”
L.A. City Councilmember Traci Park agrees with her. After conducting a very unscientific poll of her Westside constituents, she wrote in her newsletter that: “The 11th District does not support the demolition of the 90 Freeway. Your voice is why Mayor Bass rescinded her initial support.”
L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell told me that, despite rumors to the contrary, she never decided to back a study or tearing down the Marina Freeway, which abuts her district in the unincorporated neighborhood of Ladera Heights. “But it’s a moot point now,” she said.
Meanwhile, Smallwood-Cuevas said she still supports a feasibility study, but cautioned this week that it can’t be at “the expense of transparent community-driven input and analysis.”
Similarly, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Culver City) said he’s never opposed to research. But there’s a difference between studying the impact of removing the freeway and, referring to several renderings of what Schneider envisions as Marina Central Park, “proposing an alternative design and resolution without a study having been completed.”
Streets for All, a local non-profit is proposing turning the 90 freeway, one of L.A. County’s shortest, and unfinished freeways, into a large public park with nearly 4,000 housing units.
(Courtesy of SWA / Streets For All)
“The 90 Freeway,” Bryan assured me, “is not going anywhere.”
It’s problematic that, at a time when roughly 75,000 people are sleeping in the streets countywide and vehicle emissions are exacerbating the effects of climate change, Los Angeles can’t summon the unified political will even to study — STUDY! — whether to replace a freeway with housing.
Equally problematic is the reason why.
I’m not talking about the blame that some have placed on Streets For All for being overzealous with its messaging and tactics. Or that, according to others, elected officials were too quick to surrender to the fears of their constituents, some of whom wrongly believe the removal of the Marina Freeway is imminent.
I’m talking about the fundamental disagreement in Los Angeles over the role and importance of community outreach. How much of it is enough? How soon should it be done? How much weight should it be given? And to what end?
These unanswered questions are ultimately why political support crumbled for studying the Marina Freeway, and it’s a troubling harbinger.
Most residents understandably want a say — or the say — in what happens to their neighborhood, whether it’s affordable housing on what’s now a freeway or a homeless shelter on what’s now a parking lot.
But given the size of the unhoused population and the scale of the housing construction needed to address it and lower rental prices for everyone else, I increasingly believe L.A.’s political leaders can’t keep putting so much stock in the opinions of residents. Not all development projects that are worthwhile or necessary will be popular.
“For so long, the loudest voices have usually derailed things,” Schneider said. “And all I’m saying is the loudest voices aren’t always the most correct voices.”
::
People don’t like change.
This is a truism that has led NIMBYs to file an untold number of frivolous lawsuits up and down the state of California.
It also has led Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature to repeatedly roll back local control over land use decisions — the latest being a law that lets nonprofit colleges and religious institutions bypass most local permitting and environmental review rules and rezone their land to build housing.
Even Bass, who has made homelessness her top issue, has pushed to cut through red tape and streamline the construction of housing and shelters, trying to extend the pipeline for unhoused Angelenos who have been moved into hotels through her Inside Safe program.
But the mayor said she’s still a big believer in “doing the hard work” of community outreach. She explained why when I shared my skepticism.
“This goes back to my days at Community Coalition,” she said. “We used to fight when the city tried to impose development on South L.A. without including South L.A., which is why you would think that I would say build everywhere, anywhere. But I don’t feel that way.”
Instead, she wants to get people involved in the process and build in ways that are in line with what each community wants.
“If I took a position that said, ‘steamroll everybody, just get housing done,’ we would tear the city apart,” Bass said, adding that residents would likely be against development for no reason other than it was forced upon them.
This is a big reason why she decided against supporting a study of the Marina Freeway. In talking to residents, she told me she heard only complaints — about the possibility of more traffic and longer commutes, and from Black people in South L.A., about losing a convenient corridor to Marina del Rey and the beach.
But most of all, Bass said she heard consternation that there had been no community outreach.
This came up in an online petition that went viral last month — even though it was packed with misleading assertions — written by Daphne Bradford, an education consultant from Ladera Heights who is running for supervisor against Mitchell in the March primary election.
“Ladera Heights is not just any neighborhood; it holds the distinction of being the 3rd most affluent African American community in the nation,” Bradford wrote, channeling her inner NIMBY. “Our community has worked hard to create a safe and prosperous environment for our families, and we believe that our voices should be heard when decisions are made that will affect us directly.”
Schneider sighed when I asked him about the petition.
“The whole point of the feasibility study is we would have almost two years of community outreach,” he said. “We’re a small nonprofit, we don’t have the resources to do the community outreach before getting the grant money.”
In the meantime, rumors about the Marina Freeway have overwhelmed the facts, and many residents have dug in their heels in opposition to whatever they think is happening. Mitchell suspects one reason for this is that Streets For All didn’t “do outreach the way we define outreach.”
The Marina Freeway, an unfinished three-mile stretch of road from Marina del Rey, is one of Los Angeles’ shortest thoroughfares. Now a local nonprofit is suggesting turning it into a large public park and thousands of affordable homes.
(Rendering courtesy of SWA / Streets For All)
“It can’t be 10 a.m. on a weekday, one meeting at the community center,” she told me. “You really have to get creative, partner with communities and not be afraid to reach out to people who will oppose you.”
But community outreach is a thorny issue, Mitchell acknowledges. Again, people don’t like change. And too many people want to “pull the drawbridge up” behind themselves and not let new housing into their neighborhoods.
“When people say outreach, they mean, ‘You didn’t ask me. And then when you asked me, you didn’t do what I said,’” Mitchell said. “That can’t be the expectation. But I do believe that every effort should be made to make sure that impacted communities are aware.”
Eventually, though, everyone will have to get used to the idea that our neighborhoods will look a little different to accommodate the housing that Los Angeles needs.
“These are really difficult decisions that we all kind of have to make,” Mitchell said.
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Which brings me back to the Marina Freeway.
Despite the Streets For All being abandoned by much of the political establishment in Los Angeles, Schneider said its plan to conduct a feasibility study isn’t dead.
“We live in a democracy. You can’t stop somebody from studying something in the public space. That’s just not possible,” he said. “If we’re awarded the federal grant, we will do it. If we need to raise the money privately, we’ll do it. But we’re committed to exploring the idea because it’s worth exploring.”
Whether that study leads to removing the freeway and building thousands of units of affordable housing in Marina Central Park is another matter.
It’s a huge political decision, Schneider admits. One that will ultimately — undoubtedly and unfortunately — hinge on community outreach. After all, this is L.A.
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