Carmageddon!

I think all of LA has OD’d on the word CARMAGEDDON, aka the supposed mind blowing traffic that will encompass Los Angeles for the weekend of July 16-17.  With all the fear mongering surrounding Car-mageddon, I thought I would give you a few ideas to avoid the crush.

Road Rage Rest Stop

If for some reason you are forced to brave the streets of LA or God forbid live in the soon-to-be-car-infested Westside, you might want to visit Lauren Horowitz’s art installation entitled “Road Rage Rest Stop.”  It is premiering just in time for Carmageddon along the freeway closure detour route on Venice Blvd at the Helm’s Bakery “Eat Real” Festival which is also this weekend in Culver City.

The Road Rage Rest Stop features

• A Punching Station: to beat the living sh*t out of that imaginary guy who cut you off and used the bike lane as a driving lane
• A Relaxation Center: for emotional rehabilitation
• A Screaming Booth: to say all those things your mother taught you not to

While you’re there you can check out the  Eat Real Festival, which focuses on local food, handcrafted beers, and the DIY lifestyle of food.  Entry is FREE.  There is plenty to eat, drink and learn.

Stay-cation

Pasadena wants Angelinos to take a stay-cation.  Stay in Pasadena & skip all the Westside madness.  They have even created a great excuse for you.  This weekend, the Rose Bowl hosts the LA Street Food Fest, which I posted about a few weeks back. Get a room for the weekend & “cab it” like you mean it.  The Courtyard Marriot in Old Town Pasadena is even offering LA Street Food Fest attendees a special guaranteed discount rate of $119 per night! They have a free shuttle to the Rose Bowl & a pool.  So, enjoy a night… or two in Pasadena.  Mention the LA Street Food Fest when booking to secure the rate.

Carmageddon Warrior

If you fancy yourself a Carmageddon Warrior, you can score some serious discounts if you venture outside your front door.  The website CAR-MAGEDDON.COM has compiled all these deep discounts for you, complete with a map should you find yourself stranded far from home.

Truthfully, I think all our hype will result in perhaps the best traffic LA has ever seen. As I see it, this is a clear case of latent capacity, where Angelinos conserve their trip to yoga/botox/runyon for another date, as espoused in one of my favorite articles in LA Magazine by Dave Gardetta, or maybe that is just wishful thinking on my part.