Logistics for Wednesday's Lakers Parade
Fabricio Vai
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Fans at L.A. Live celebrate the Lakers' championship on Sunday evening. Photo by dataxy from the blogdowntown photo pool.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — A parade celebrating the Lakers 2009 NBA Championship will make its way from L.A. Live to the Coliseum late Wednesday morning. The parade starts at 11am and leads to a noon celebration inside the Coliseum.
Gates at the Coliseum will open at 9:30am, with 95,000 fans allowed inside on a first-come-first-served basis. According to the Lakers website, Coach Phil Jackson and several players will address the crowd.
Players, coaches, team executives and city officials will board double-decker buses at L.A. Live for the two-mile trip down Figueroa.
Downtown, street closures will start in the L.A. Live and Figueroa areas. Closures on Figueroa will start at 6am and run from Chick Hearn Ct. (11th street) to Martin Luther King. All cross-streets will be closed at 10am. Streets will reopen at roughly 1pm.
Numerous Metro bus lines will be affected. Metro says to expect delays on lines 28, 30, 31, 35, 37, 38, 40, 42, 55, 70, 71, 76, 78, 79, 81, 96, 102, 200, 204, 335, 355, 378, 439, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447, 450x, 460, 484, 485, 550, 714, 728, 730, 740, 754 and 770. LADOT's DASH Route F will also be affected.
Fans arriving via public transportation can take the Red Line to 7th / Metro or the Blue Line to Pico in order to reach L.A. Live, or the Blue Line's stop at Washington / Grand in order to get a little under halfway to the Coliseum.
Buses to the Coliseum are available on Vermont from the Wilshire / Vermont subway station, but traffic in the area will likely cause delays.
After controversy over the city's involvement in financing services for the parade, private donations will now pay for all costs incurred. The L.A. Times reports that $850,000 has currently been raised.
Jasmijn on June 16, 2009, at 03:27PM – #1
I just got the following email from the California Science Center:
TEMPORARY CLOSURE NOTICE: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17
Please Note:
In order to assure the best and safest experience for our Members and guests, the California Science Center will be closed on Wednesday, June 17, the day of the Lakers' celebration here in Exposition Park.
Please reschedule any plans for visiting the Science Center on Wednesday. The celebration is expected to bring over 250,000 people to the park causing major street closures and parking challenges.
We will resume our regular operating hours (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) on Thursday, June 18. We look forward to seeing you at the Science Center on a future date.
sue on June 16, 2009, at 05:38PM – #2
Are these private donors going to pay for the damages incurred by the local businesses when people start looting and ransacking the area?
I suspect USC will have its security in full force.
D on June 16, 2009, at 09:19PM – #3
Sue, there was no rioting or damages after the parades in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Big differences between celebrating right after the win, with people being shit faced and also with it being night time, compared to a parade during the day with 1700 police officers present. the 100 bad apples dont represent the 5 million Laker fans in LA.
eva on June 16, 2009, at 10:04PM – #4
I hope the sheep don't trample the rose garden at Exposition Park.
Harvy on June 17, 2009, at 11:09AM – #5
The CA Science Center closes because of a sports celebration.
Nice buckling of intelligence and culture to superfluous sports mierda.
Teaches the kids a valuable lesson.
grag on June 17, 2009, at 11:21AM – #6
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Eric G on June 17, 2009, at 12:30PM – #7
"Nice buckling of intelligence and culture to superfluous sports mierda."
As important and invaluable as museums are I still have to disagree with your comment Harvy. Like it or not, sports are a part of Los Angeles culture as evidenced by the hundreds of thousands who are attending today's parade. Morever, sports' cultural significance is further demonstrated by the the collective millions of fans of not only the Lakers, but also the Dodgers, Angels, UCLA, USC, Kings, Clippers (well maybe not the Clippers), etc. The beautiful thing about sports is that it has the ability to bring people together from all walks of life, even more so than a museum! Did you go to any bars or other gathering places to watch the playoff games? Well I did, and met diverse people from all over the city and gave tons of high fives to people I don't know.
You may or may not like sports and may believe that they are trivial in comparison to museums, concerts, etc. But like it or not, sports are indeed significant and important to the people and culture of Los Angeles.
So i think it's perfectly fine to close a museum for the day to celebrate a different form of culture. Go ahead, next time there's a Lakers' parade take the kids and give them an opportunity to rub shoulders with the diverse population of this beautiful city! Don't worry, as a poster stated earlier, you should be perfectly safe since the previous 3 parades were quite safe.