I was driving to UCLA the other day to pick up Don Shoup and take the shoupdog out for some photos. I was looking for a shot to put on the July cover. And got it. While on my way to the campus I noticed these strange gizmos on Westwood Boulevard. From a distance they looked like some type of sensor I had seen that detected metal as cars sped past. I thought I had found some technological advancement in the parking industry and asked the professor what they were all about.
He couldn’t figure out what I was talking about so we walked around the corner and there they were. He was laughing, I was embarrassed. They are what was left after the parking meters were removed and Pay and Display machines replaced them. The little circle on the top that Don is holding on to is an engraving of a bicycle. They were converted to bicycle racks. Well duh. Technological advancement indeed.
I’m told that the LA street department paid a couple of hundred per post (and there are more than a hundred in the area) to saw off the top, create and install the engraved logo, weld the circular piece in place and paint each post. I did not see one bicycle attached to any of the gizmos.
JVH
