The November Ciclavia is... a Netflix promo event
Ciclavia is one of my favorite bike events in LA - it's an "open streets" event based on the Ciclovia events from Bogota. Once every month or so, LA closes miles of roads in the city to cars, and thousands of people show up to bike on them. It's very chill, enjoyable stuff, and very popular. There are both full-size Ciclavias and "Cicla-minies", which close much shorter sections of street.
I was extremely surprised to learn that the next Ciclavia is a Netflix event promoting Stranger Things season 5.
This epic event is bringing fans together to bike, skate, or stroll along a car-free stretch of Melrose Ave in celebration of the cultural phenomenon’s finale season. For one day only, the street will be reimagined as Hawkins itself, where the familiar collides with the mysteries of the Upside Down and fans come together for one last adventure.
We’re going full 1980s! You can show up as your favorite Hawkins character or monster of the Upside Down or channel peak ‘80s vibes with neon, leg warmers, windbreakers, or any totally awesome retro fit.
I'm genuinely not quite sure what I think of this!! I do not give a shit about Stranger Things anymore - I quite liked the first season, but it seemed to get into water-treading mode very quickly, and the entire brand adopted what I can only describe as "fatal funko pop vibes," so I dropped off hard. I'm also not a giant fan of public space being used for advertising any "cultural phenomenon" owned by a large tech company.
That said, if Netflix is paying Ciclavia a bunch of money, I think I'd partially forgive them. I'd rather that wealth moves from the company to the city in the form of taxes and entertainment union employment, but... whatever!! I don't know for sure, but I assume there must be some money changing hands here. I hope it's a fuck ton.
I have no idea if I'll go or not. I would be surprised if many people actually treated it like Stranger Things fan event... people tend to go to these things and just bike around for their own enjoyment, and I would not have known that this event was branded if someone in my life hadn't made a point of telling me. There is an alternate universe where I showed up and got jumpscared by immense amounts of Stranger Things branding.
I don't want to act, like, an asshole zoologist traveling to Melrose to observe cringe levels in the local fauna... but if I go, I suspect I'll find myself slipping into that role. Oh well.