Sunset Triangle Plaza, LA's first street-to-plaza conversion, opened yesterday on a beautiful, sunny day, and Silver Lakers were chatting, lounging, and drinking iced coffees until well after sundown (here are some other ideas they might try). Rios Clementi Hale designed the little plaza, which stretches by a grassy median at Sunset Blvd. and Griffith Park Blvd.; the group Streets For People organized the project. Sunset Triangle Plaza will be in pilot mode for about a year--the section of Griffith Park is now closed to cars and painted with polka dots. The plaza also has trashcans and street furniture that will be taken in at night. In a press release, LA City Planning Commission President Bill Roschen says "The City Planning Commission wanted to find a way to quickly and cost effectively bring open space to Los Angeles. We modeled this initiative on the success we saw in New York City [i.e., in Times Square], and we hope it is a game-changer for how we transform under-used spaces into community assets." The project was paid for with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via the LA County Department of Public Health.

· The Polka Dotted Plan For Silver Lake's New Pedestrian Plaza [Curbed LA]