Bicycle Tour of the Community Gardens of Westchester

Bring your bicycle and take a garden tour!

This is a tour of the Community Gardens in the Westchester area of Los Angeles.

Pick up a map and meet fellow bicyclists at the start of the tour -- the new Emerson Avenue Community Garden being installed at Orville Wright Middle School.  Enter this garden from Emerson Ave near the corner of Emerson & 80th Place, Los Angeles/Westchester 90045.

Tour is approximately 7 miles round-trip, and easy for the whole family to join in.  Maps of "bicycle friendly route" are provided.  easy-to-pedal route on lower-traffic streets.  Sidewalks are available for small children.  The few rolling hills are gentle grades.

Stops on the self-guided tour include (in a-b-c order):

• Community Garden at Holy Nativity Church
• Emerson Avenue Community Garden at Orville Wright Middle School
• Lion's Garden at Loyola Marymount University (YouTube)
• Westport Heights Youth Garden
• "virtual tour" of Westchester High School Community Garden --
  local Rotarians will explain plans for rejeuvenating the community garden at the high school
•  
• Office of L.A. Councilman Bill Rosendahl, to register our 350.org demands
• Lemonade stand and old-fashioned bake sale hosted by students at Orville Wright Middle School (fundraiser for the Emerson Avenue Community Garden).

Local food is a huge part of "moving on" to lower-carbon lifestyles.  It is now said that our carbon footprint is determined as much by what we eat as by what we drive.  Growing our own food is healthy and delicious, and -- as you'll learn on this garden tour -- it can be very beautiful, as well!

If you do not have a bicycle or cannot ride a bicycle, meet at the Emerson Avenue Community Garden to carpool to the other sites.  Bring your own sun protection.

All ages, kids welcomed.  For babies, please use backpacks or slings -- no strollers, please.  These are food gardens, so no dogs, please. 

Resources and Handouts:

• Why local food?
• High-Yield Vegetable Gardens
• What to plant when in Southern California
• Edible Landscaping resources for Los Angeles
• Organic Vegetable Gardening Classes in Westchester 90045
• Vegetable Gardening Classes at Venice High School

Event coordinated by Transition Los Angeles/Westchester.  We're the local representatives of an international network of local grassroots citizens who are working on proactive solutions to the combined challenge of peak oil, climate change, and economic contraction.  We produce fun projects like these year-round, and focus on growing local resilience.