Will the carnage never end?
Ghost bike used as a display in Brentwood boutique
I noticed this window display the other night when my wife and I stopped in Brentwood for a bite to eat, and stopped by on my ride today to take a picture.
My best guess is, whoever does their displays saw a ghost bike along the road somewhere, and thought it looked cool — without realizing the symbolism. Or maybe they did know what it was, and wanted to send a subtle public service warning to the many riders on San Vicente Blvd to be careful out there.
It could be a not-so-subtle warning to Critical Mass riders to keep out of their store. Or maybe a cyclist really was killed trying to ride between their display racks.
Whatever.
Or am I the only one who thinks it’s incredibly poor taste to use a memorial to dead cyclists to pimp women’s athletic wear?
Will relates a truly frightening tale of a roadway confrontation. Maybe I really am lucky mine got away last week. The Sunday Santa Monica Farmers Market now has a bike valet. Which brings up Stephen Box’s latest post about bicycle parking in Hollywood, or more precisely, the lack thereof. And he picks up the story of how the Orange Line Bikeway became a homeless encampment.
I agree this is in poor taste, and likely whoever is behind it didn’t understand the symbolism of a white bike. What store is this, maybe someone should point this out to them, I don’t imagine they want to be implying someone died riding a bike in their store.
I believe it’s called :59, or Splits 59.
That’s what those are? All the hoidy-toidy boutiques by the big Apple store near the UW have those bikes.
[…] How many cyclists have died in this Brentwood Boutique? – asks BikinginLA. […]
You’re not alone in thinking this sort of display is weird, there’s a similar one in Macy’s in NY.
http://gothamist.com/2009/02/09/macys_white_bike_valentines_display.php
That is pretty damn tasteless.
how bout let’s just be happy that bicycles are still growing as a fashion trend, being used in all sorts of retail displays and gaining exposure in the head space of consumers who might otherwise not even think about them?
so it’s a white bike – yeah it means something to those who are educated about the symbolism, but it’s obvious the designer in question just thought it looked cool.
my 2 cents: get over it.