What if Central Los Angeles could have a new park, 3.2 miles long?  That’s the vision for San Vicente Park, a replacement for much of the significant public land currently devoted to San Vicente Boulevard.  With the upcoming proposed Metro Crenshaw Line Northern Extension, a re-imagining of mobility and recreation will become available to reconsider public space for more vibrant communities.

• Convert approximately 3.2 miles of San Vicente Boulevard to public parks, plazas, and recreation facilities
• Extend from Mid City (Lowe’s) to the West Hollywood Boundary (The Beverly Center and Cedars Sinai)
• Maintain local access roads for homes and businesses
• Encourage ridership in Metro Crenshaw Northern Extension
• Provide alternative mobility routes for bicycles and scooters
• Provide attractive first/last mile approaches and space devoted to new proposed Metro stations

The citizens of Central Los Angeles have a provable lack of access to quality public park and recreation spaces.  The upcoming proposed light rail project will connect this large swath of Los Angeles by light rail.  When overlaid onto the city’s street configuration, it becomes evident that the proposed mass transit line generally follows San Vicente Boulevard between Mid City and West Hollywood.  Historically, the boulevard was a major connector within the Pacific Electric Railway system (aka Redcars), and when the lines were removed, the street was widened for vehicular traffic, typically 3 travel lanes in each direction.

With the construction of the Metro, Los Angeles and its citizens have an opportunity to reengage with our public space and encourage the replacement of San Vicente Boulevard with a grand park, linking communities by providing alternative mobility options including pedestrian connections, dedicated scooter/bicycle lanes, and encouragement of mass transit ridership.

Without a transfer, the Metro line will link dozens of major LA highlights, including LAX, Inglewood, Crenshaw District, Mid City, LACMA/Academy Museum, The Grove/Farmers Market, Cedars Sinai, The Beverly Center, West Hollywood, Hollywood/Highland, and potentially the Hollywood Bowl.  Returning public space to citizens, away from vehicle use, is a gift to some of the most dense portions of the city.

As a diagonal street, San Vicente provides many instances of complicated intersections as it meanders against the general grid of Los Angeles.  Any frequent driver in Central LA will probably relate to how much emptier San Vicente is for traffic, but how it provides intersections too wide for pedestrians and too unsafe for alternative mobility options.

The project is conceived to have a northern terminus around Beverly Boulevard, as San Vicente Boulevard becomes a major thoroughfare for the City of West Hollywood.  Beginning at Cedars Sinai and The Beverly Center, the street links to the Melrose Design District, Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood Park, West Hollywood “Boystown,” and Sunset Boulevard hotels and attractions.

One of the most appetizing features of the existing San Vicente Boulevard is it’s generous landscaped median.  For decades, this marooned park-like feature has nurtured old growth tree, sitting idle of human use due to lack of programmed space, crosswalks, and zooming cars.  Transforming the boulevard into a park would incorporate the old trees and expand the existing medians to become the primary use of this urban space.

In 2022, DOT implemented part of their intent to convert a lane of traffic along San Vicente from Olympic to La Brea to become a protected bicycle lane.  Their traffic study showed little difference in travel times for the area, as the travel lanes in each direction decreased from 3 to 2.  Already, the slower traffic and more narrow road have improved the visual quality of the street, and impressed upon stakeholders the value of alternate public uses of urban space.

In addition, the City of Beverly Hills has committed to improving San Vicente Boulevard within its jurisdiction to be “Complete Streets.”  New bicycle lanes are proposed between La Cienega and Wilshire.