Nate Baird is the bicycle program coordinator of the LADOT Bike Program. Before participating in a panel on bicycle-car relations in Southern California, he talked mind-reading, swimming, and biking by the L.A. River in the Zócalo green room.
What superpower would you most like to have?
I was talking about this with my girlfriend. I want to be able to read people’s minds.
What dessert do you find impossible to resist?
There are a number of them. We just discovered this paletas place on Pico, a little west of Crenshaw. I don’t even know if I should tell people. We bought a whole packet of them. And … beer floats.
What’s the first line of your obituary?
I have no idea. I don’t want to think about it.
What—in your personal opinion, not speaking for the city—is the most beautiful bike ride in Los Angeles?
I really like riding south on Broadway over the L.A. River at night. It doesn’t have any bike lanes yet. But it’s an amazing view of the city.
Where and when did you learn how to swim?
There are stories of me swimming as an infant. I kind of remember learning again when I was 5 or 6 in a southern California pool visiting relatives.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Motorists not respecting pedestrians in the crosswalks.
What teacher or professor changed your life, if any?
There have been a number of teachers and professors who have changed my life. Professor Monique Taylor from Occidental College. She was my sociology professor. And she gave me a sociological lens for the world.
On what device do you do most of your reading, if any?
It varies between my iPhone and paper books.
How do you like your hamburger?
However Stout in Hollywood wants to prepare it for me.