Cooking Up Bike Co-Ops in Los Angeles
I don't know if there is an official stat chart on bike co-ops/collectives in the United States, but certainly Los Angeles boasts more in one city then any I am immediately aware of.
So fresh from the oven we cooked up this dish of a Streetfilm from our West Coast swing. We were able to drop by Los Angeles' famed Bicycle Kitchen to see the secret recipe for how it works, along with other inspired-by shops, Bikerowave and Bike Oven. We found the atmosphere at all three to be highly fun and informative, with the spirit of community to be the true draw. When you need to fix your bike why not make friends at the same time?
Oh and if you like the great tune, there are more at Williamsonsound.
Thank you Streetfilms for putting this together. I keep watching it and re-watching it to make sure that L.A. really is this good for bicyclists.
None of these places gets money from the government. We don't need to beg or hold fundraisers. We're organic and grassroots, and we are alive because of the vitality of our volunteers and the the bike community that we serve.
Thanks again for making this movie!
fantastic video! rock on the bike kitcheny folks of LA!
Yay for bikes in Los Angeles! We have a lot more going for us than people think!
Awesome video, yay for bicycle co-ops!
You piqued my curiosity, so I went looking for info. No statistics, but here's a list of bike co-ops and collectives across the US and Canada: http://www.communitycycles.org/links.html
Los Angeles has a lot, but so do San Francisco, Denver, Chicago/Evanston, Boston's suburbs, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Madison, and, as if you couldn't guess, Portland. Bike co-ops all over this land!
and if you are ever in vienna, austria, check our bikekitchen here
http://www.bikekitchen.net
Fantastic! There were 144 bike co-ops across the US and Canada at last count. Check out http://www.bikecollectives.org for more about how we coordinate with each other, share information, and grow the movement. We get together annually for a conference called bike!bike!, and we're adding a few regional conferences in 2009 (see: http://www.bikebike.org and southeast.bikebike.org). Peace to Street Films and everyone sharing bike repair everywhere.
Great to see, you hook on to our ideas more and more over there
We run this 'bike kitchen' since 1981 here in Vienna:
http://fahrrad.wuk.at (sorry, german only).
BIKES ROCK!
I used to bike L.A. It's actually very bike-friendly. Go just about anywhere with bike on Metro Red, Blue, and Green Lines, and DASH. Put yer bikes on buses and go.
In some parts of L.A., i.e. Compton, South-Central, Pico Rivera, it's probably a whole lot safer on bikes, looking like the locals, than a snazzy, high-dolla Lexus.
But, watch out for that closed gate at midnight in Griffith Park. I nailed one. Flipped over and broke my helmet, instead of my head.
booomshakalaka, joseph and summerset! in one video!!
i hope i get to ride the bikeroWave next time.
reverend phil
bike pornographer
http://www.BikeSmut.com