NAME: Tess. Lotta
LOCATION: Los Angeles, CA
OCCUPATION: Writer, musician, teacher, artist
Where do you live and what’s it like riding in your city?
LA natives will know my hood as Little Ethiopia—a little wedge of LA concrete and palm trees surrounded by Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Culver City, Crenshaw/Mid City, and Baldwin Hills.
LA on a bike is as insolent as it is illuminating: the town teaches you to respect and to rebel at the same time. It is no news that the city mascot is the automobile, and people unfamiliar with Los Angeles tend to diss it on this premise without really getting to know it. LA natives and transplants who take the time to know the city understand its pulse. This is why LA is at its very best from a bicycle. In one ride, you can experience the hum and neon of Hollywood Blvd as you hit The Fonda for a rock show, a quiet tree-lined stroll through Hancock Park, and the street bustle of MacArthur Park on the journey to a downtown bar. The LA River, a huge concrete funnel that moves run-off water from one side of the city to the Pacific Ocean, is paved for foot and bike traffic. Throughout the year, you are gifted with straight shot to the ocean, the end of which moves you through preserved wetlands. It is intense watching pelicans and other sea birds resting, bathing, and playing as you ride by. True, you deal with a decent amount of pollution, lots of giant cars, often commanded by middle-aged moguls trying to grope their blue tooth, last strands of hair, and newly discovered star at the same time, or harried designer parents juggling Hummer-like baby strollers and iPod phones in the crosswalk. But, a weakened ability to share and care for space is not a behavior particular to LA.
What was your favorite city to ride in, and why?
LA is my hometown, so I cut my teeth on bikes here. I lived in Seattle for several years—and it is beautiful—but the biking was hard for me there because of the constant rain and the massive climbs—anywhere you fucking went climb, climb, rain, rain. Some riders love this: my husband Dave, who was a messenger in Seattle, loved the hills and commuted year-round through the rain like fucking crazy. I’m a sunshine city girl—I like riding in lights and sounds while chasing a huge bright tropical moon hanging over Sunset Blvd. And the DIY bike culture here is accessible, including organizations that do kick-ass community outreach (heart the Bicycle Kitchen et al).
Why do you love riding in the city?
I toured through a lot of US cities playing in bands, and LA offers a good example of why I love riding in the city. It is such a culturally diverse place, and that is its major asset in terms of quality of life. In a car, you can distance yourself from the block to block changes of a city, a privileged and often elitist position that can breed uniformed judgments and biases. But, on a bike, you might move from a neighborhood lined with families walking to Shabbat services or kosher markets to one lit up by packed Korean restaurants and night clubs. I think the moment you ride by offers the chance for positivity—there is no metal barrier: when we ride to a bustling small business core to stop for the best mole, lentil sambusa, or sag aloo in LA, we have the opportunity for a face-to-face with people and community. A city ride offers opportunities like this.
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