Every year during Pride and Halloween, I walk down the empty and closed Santa Monica Blvd. admiring how peaceful it is and how much more pleasant and fun it is to walk around without traffic everywhere. Every weekend I go out when it is open just reinforces for me how much better things could be without cars. Closing the road creates an open-air, comfortable social space that would really improve overall experience. I believe that WeHo could be one of the best "strips" of bars in the country if it was more pedestrian-friendly.
On Friday and Saturday nights, SM Blvd already functions more like an outdoor mall than a normal road. Sidewalks are packed, rideshares are constantly stopping, traffic is extremely slow, and pedestrians are weaving between cars anyway. At that point, it’s not really working well for drivers or for people on foot. My suggestion would be to close the street from about Melrose to La Cienega (similar to Halloween). This would encourage making the community people-centric instead of car-centric.
Closing it for a set stretch of hours (say 8 pm–3 am) only on weekend nights could:
- Make the area safer for pedestrians, especially late at night
- Easier access for emergency vehicles and law enforcement, even allowing for more services to be available (such as drug-testing centers, resource officers, etc.)
- Better air quality for those walking
- Reduce the chaotic mix of Ubers, double‑parking, and drunk adults
- Rideshare pickup/drop-off zones on side streets would be more organized than the current free-for-all situation
- Lets businesses expand foot traffic and outdoor seating/entertaining
- More room for public art displays, street performers, and live music
- Allows for vendors to set up in the street (not just hot dogs but anything)
- Turn the heart of WeHo into something closer to a weekend street festival vibe rather than a traffic bottleneck
- Supports WeHo's LGBTQ+ legacy: giving it fully to the people on weekend nights honors that history
- Gives more potential patrons to bars that are less popular, because instead of going directly to their destination, patrons will now have to walk by other businesses they might otherwise have driven past
Obviously, I understand how important of a thoroughfare SM Blvd. is for the area and that closing it just moves traffic to other areas, but this would greatly improve quality of life and would substantially increase patronage for the local businesses. I also don't believe that doing so would really decrease accessibility to SM Blvd. that much since there are plenty of side streets and alternative routes.
I'm curious what others think—especially residents nearby and people who work or own businesses along SM Blvd.