Caution tape. It’s our visual prompt to stay away.

We are conditioned to see it at crimes scenes, construction zones and natural disasters.

Where we are not used to seeing it is at playgrounds, skate parks and wrapped around a bear statue at the La Brea Tar Pits.

Welcome to the Southland in the age of the coronavirus outbreak, when stay-at-home orders have given new life and purpose to caution tape.



Torrance

Robert Hennie, 51, an independent filmmaker, gets in a workout on the children’s playground at De Portola Park in Torrance. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Santa Monica

Caution tape helps kept people in an orderly line at the Santa Monica Farmers Market. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

San Diego

Caution tape is strung across the edge of the Sunset Cliffs in the Point Loma community of San Diego. (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Mid-Wilshire

A statue of a prehistoric short-faced bear is surrounded by caution tape at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Thousand Oaks

A customer leaving with his takeout order walks past outdoor tables wrapped in caution tape at an Arby’s restaurant in Thousand Oaks. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Venice

Raymond Bartlett of Venice exercises next to yellow caution tape near the entrance to the basketball courts at Venice Beach. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)


Sherman Oaks

People ignore the caution tape and work out at Van Nuys/Sherman Oaks Recreation Center in Sherman Oaks. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)

Encino

A man walks on a path at Lake Balboa Park in Encino near caution tape placed around a children’s play area. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

South L.A.