By LaMar Anderson | October 1, 2020 | 6:00am
Tell us the name of your business and how long you’ve been in Leimert Park (Los Angeles)?
Ride On Bike Shop Co-op, I have been at this location for four years and Leimert Park for 7 years.
Did you grow up in Los Angeles?
No, I was born and raised in Haiti and grew up in Boston, I moved out here in the late ‘80s early ‘90s.
Did you start the business by yourself or have partners?
No, I started it by myself, and people have come on board as its been growing.
What is Ride On?
Ride On is a full-service bicycle shop. We repair, sell, and rent bicycles. Also part of what I do is advocate for better, safer, infrastructure in the streets of South Los Angeles, pedestrian, and cycling.
Are you involved in the community efforts regarding Crenshaw District redesign, implementation, and renewal?
Yes, I work with different organizations and partner with some community CBO’s (Community Based Organizations) and we work street safety, transportation safety, transportation equity, to try to get bike lanes up and the streets protected bike and more bike infrastructure, parking for the community, you know. Everything has to do with transportation and making it more accessible to us.
Why bikes, why cycling, is it something you grew up with? Were you a professional rider?
So Ride On is really my Capstone Project. I went back to school later in life to get a master’s degree in urban sustainability and in the process, I basically couldn’t afford a car anymore. It’s one of those things where I was going to school fulltime didn’t have a full-time job but car note, tickets, and insurance-all the stuff- I was like this is way too much, like this is some bullshit, haha. So I got rid of the car because I was getting tickets when I wasn’t driving if I forgot to move it, it was maddening, just drove me crazy. So I got rid of the car and got a bike and in the process of getting a master’s in urban sustainability, it’s all about social justice, really.
Experiencing the streets myself firsthand as a cyclist in the city for transportation not for sport ya know, I was like “yo, this is insane”, it’s not safe. The proper infrastructure is not there for us, it is in other parts of the country and city. I just kept talking about it but it wasn’t the field that I wanted to get into. I like to travel so I wanted to do infrastructure and worked on a water project in Cameroon so I wanted to go back and do that in other parts of Africa where there was solar energy work.
How can we support you and Ride On and get involved?
We’re on social media is the best way, we are on Instagram which is Ride On Bike Co-Op (, also on Facebook and Twitter with that handle. We have merch were putting out, a t-shirt line and cycling hats and other merch soon but other than that come by, we are full service if you need repairs.
Ride On Bike Shop Co-op
https://www.rideonbikeshop.com
323-903-5043
[email protected]
4319 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008
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