CicLAvia Heart of LA Opens 6.5 Miles of Car-Free Streets From Echo Park to Boyle Heights on Sunday, October 11
CicLAvia's 68th open streets event and its 16th year return to the original 2010 route on Sunday, October 11, 2026, from 9 AM to 4 PM, linking Echo Park, Downtown, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, the Arts District and Boyle Heights with four activity hubs, free pedicab rides and people-powered wheels only.
The streets where CicLAvia began are opening up again. On Sunday, October 11, from 9 AM to 4 PM, the nonprofit closes 6.5 miles of Los Angeles streets to cars and hands them to everyone else: walkers, joggers, cyclists, skaters, strollers, wheelchairs and anyone who just wants to sit on a curb and watch the city roll by. Heart of LA is the route that started it all in 2010, and this is CicLAvia's 68th car-free event.
Show up anywhere along the route, whenever you like. There is no start line and no finish line. The corridor runs from Echo Park Lake down Glendale Boulevard, across Downtown on 2nd Street, north into Chinatown on Broadway, south through Little Tokyo on Central Avenue, then east on 6th, Whittier and 1st Street to Mariachi Plaza in Boyle Heights. It is free, it is for all ages and abilities, and it is one of the few days a year you can stand in the middle of Broadway and hear people instead of engines.
Since 2010, more than two million Angelenos have walked, jogged, skated and cycled CicLAvia routes covering over 380 miles of streets, from Watts to Canoga Park. The idea came from Bogotá's weekly ciclovía, and 16 years later it is still the simplest civic experiment in town: take the cars away for seven hours and see what a neighborhood does with the room.
Four hubs, one long Sunday
Each hub is a walking zone, so plan to dismount. The Echo Park Hub sits on Bellevue Avenue off Glendale Boulevard by the south side of Echo Park Lake. The Chinatown Hub is on North Broadway north of College Street. The Little Tokyo Hub is on South Central Avenue south of 1st Street. The Mariachi Plaza Hub is on 1st Street east of South Boyle Avenue.
Every hub carries the essentials for free: family-friendly activities, restrooms, water refill stations, basic bike repair, bike parking, first aid, and places to sit and regroup with friends. Free pedicab rides run from each hub's information booth, which is the polite way to say nobody has to finish all 6.5 miles under their own power.
Metro Rail lines the route. The official map marks Chinatown, Union Station, Civic Center/Grand Park, Grand Ave Arts/Bunker Hill, 7th Street/Metro Center, Pershing Square, Historic Broadway, Little Tokyo/Arts District, Pico/Aliso, Mariachi Plaza and Soto stations along or beside the corridor, so the easiest arrival is a train and a pair of shoes. Marked crossing points let car traffic cut across at a handful of intersections; everything between them belongs to people for the day.
Rules of the route
People-powered only. No electric scooters, electric skateboards, hoverboards, electric unicycles or motorcycles. Class 1 pedal-assist e-bikes are welcome. Class 2 e-bikes are allowed with the throttle powered off, and Class 3 e-bikes with pedal-assist powered off. Manual and motorized wheelchairs are allowed. The full list lives at ciclavia.org/safety, and participants assume the risks of the day as described on CicLAvia's safety page.
If you ride to or from the route on streets that are still open to cars, that part is on you. CicLAvia is a nonprofit that opens streets across Los Angeles County and relies on public support to keep doing it. The 2026 season closes on Sunday, November 15, with CicLAvia Pasadena. Questions go to info@ciclavia.org or 213-355-8500, and the day-of updates land on @ciclavia.
“Every October, returning to the route where CicLAvia began in 2010 is a powerful reminder of how far we've come. Heart of LA is where LA first experienced what our streets could become when they are designed for people, and not just for cars. CicLAvia reminds us what's possible when LA makes space for people, prioritizes safety, and brings communities together.”
Romel Pascual, Executive Director, CicLAvia
This is the route where CicLAvia started, and it is still the best way to see six neighborhoods in one morning without touching a steering wheel. My move: take the A Line to Chinatown, roll south to Little Tokyo, cross the river to Mariachi Plaza, then eat your way back. Pedicabs are free at every hub if the legs give out. Bring the Class 1 e-bike; leave the throttle at home.