Boos & Yeahs at Sunset Triangle Plaza Opening

In a city of pop-up restaurants and stores, the Sunset Triangle Plaza may set the new standard.

With the help of federal and city agencies, the project has reclaimed a stretch of Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake for pedestrians and cyclists.

The stretch between Maltman Avenue and Edgecliffe Drive is now closed to traffic.

It will be dressed with green paint and polka dots, bike racks and planters for the next year.

The so-called "Polka Dot Plaza" had its formal opening Sunday.

LA City Council president Eric Garcetti; Bill Roschen, chair of the LA City Planning Commission; Jaime de la Vega, LADOT General Manager; and Dr. Paul Simon of the LA County Department of Public Health.

Also attending were Silver Lake Improvement Association President Genelle Le Vin, Silver Lake Neighborhood Council members and representatives from Streets for People.

It was a morning full of celebration and focus on the plaza's unique status as the first greening of a public roadway in LA.

“By reclaiming small, unused and underutilized spaces and transforming them into welcoming public places that benefit business owners, residents, pedestrians and bikers, this project shows that ‘place’ is very important to the health of a community,” said Dr. Simon, of the Public Health Department.

Speakers also emphasized the collaboration involved and the role community groups like the Silver Lake Improvement Association and local merchants were playing.

But not everyone on the plaza Sunday was pleased. Silver Lake resident Cliff Lecuyer repeatedly booed from the sidelines in what became kind of call-and-response with those at the podium.

Crowd members broke in after a while answering Lecuyer's boos with their own "Yeahs."

Councilmember Garcetti responded indirectly to heckling at one point, asking everyone to settle down.

He also ended his remarks with a reminder that the project is temporary and its impact on the neighborhood will be periodically revisited.

That didn't seem to soothe Lecuyer, who told Echo Park Patch afterwards, "There's no more free parking in this neighborhood because of the delight. It's aesthetically hideous."

Lucuyer also expressed concern that Silver Lake Farmer's Market vendors were not consulted. The Sunset Junction Alliance still manages the twice-weekly market there,

Others have commented on the additional traffic the closing of Griffith Park Boulevard has sent up Maltman Avenue.

But for the most part, community reaction has been positive.

Read some of that here:

From Militant Angeleno

From The EastsiderLA

From Teapots and Polka Dots