It’s hard to imagine, but before Los Angeles went completely car-centric there was another travel obsession: Bicycles.
The craze took off in the 1890s, and the boom was so big that cities around the nation formed bicycle clubs, including ones in L.A. County. There were about 30,000 cyclists between L.A. and Pasadena, and the latter boasted its own track for riders to race on.
Bikes were great for short treks, but long-distance travel remained challenging. Traversing around the hills from Pasadena to L.A. was a bit of a time-consuming feat and the roads weren’t that safe for bikes. So one man had a big idea: A 9-mile elevated path for riders and other horse-less vehicles to get from Pasadena to downtown L.A.
The California Cycleway, as it was called, was hailed as a marvel of transportation design and believed to be the first in America. So with so much excitement, what happened? And why aren’t we cycling on it today?
Here’s how it went from a big dream to a forgotten “ride from nowhere to nowhere.”
How the California Cycleway began
The cycleway as it passes through a wooded area along the Glenarm Curve.
Courtesy Pasadena Museum of History
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Pasadena Museum of History
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Millionaire Horace Dobbins, a former mayor of Pasadena, planned a bicycle tollway to stretch from the city’s Hotel Green to the historic L.A. Plaza.
The cycleway was to be a 9-foot-wide wooden path with…
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