Summer Streets

Last Saturday was the second of three Summer Streets festivals. Sponsored by the NYC Department of Transportation, Park Ave from Central Park all the way down to Brooklyn Bridge was closed to cars and people came out on bikes, rollerblades, running, and walking dogs to enjoy the day. This is the fourth year of Summer Streets, and I honestly have been looking forward to this since I went last year. With music, food, activities, and events, Summer Streets is kind of like a really long block party!

It was wonderful having the street closed to cars and to get out on my bike! For a few hours, we imagined how cool a car-free city would be (or at least how the nice it would be if it was not as scary to ride bikes around town). In this picture, you can see all the way down to Union Square, which is still about 25 blocks away. But on my bike it took only about 15 minutes!

I wore American Apparel Neon Coral so everyone could see me coming on my bike (if you recognize these benches, we went up to Central Park after and rode the park loop).

There are stops along the way with fun events like a rock climbing wall, a guacamole making demonstration, and Crunch workouts. Secure "Bike Valet" stations were set up so you didn't need to worry about finding a place to lock up your bike, and you could still walk around and enjoy the events (there must have been some serious research-design minds behind Summer Streets). At the Foley Square stop, there were sandboxes and tools to build sandcastles. These guys were serious sandcastle architects! Do you recognize these NYC landmarks?

At the 25th St stop, there were lots of food samples - thanks, Whole Foods! I had some Greek yogurt, Odwalla juice and bars, "to go" applesauce, and the most amazing Ciao Bello blood orange gelato!

Summer Streets final day is next Saturday, so if you're around, grab your friends/bike/skates/dog/running shoes/self and go. I hope that next year Summer Streets is more than three weekends!

See some more pictures...


I loved being able to look around and enjoy the buildings in a new way. Riding your bike without worrying about cars allows you to see things you don't see when you're walking. I noticed this painting somewhere along the way downtown:

I got this tattoo at one of the stops! I also got a free Water Bobble water bottle and bike patch kit.

Not sure what kind of vehicle this was, but it certainly drew attention!

My favorite part of the whole route was riding through Grand Central. There's a helix tunnel that's all downhill and through the buildings - you could build up speed and fly through! It was like a Disney ride :)

See the neon things on the light poles? It's actually thousands of zip ties and the project is called the Flaming Cactus.

Looking downtown and downhill to Grand Central... on a bike, you can feel the slightest elevation change. Gives new meaning to the terms 'uptown' and 'downtown' :)