2am 2

[tags] sunset, 2, nightlife, los angeles [/tags]

Credit: astrangegirl via flickr

Who says u can’t go out in Hollywood without late night train service… well I do for one and just about everyone else does too. And though I know this is not technically true for of course the busses run late enough to do so, I’ve just been too lazy to deal with late (late) night bus service and have just stayed closer to downtown for my partying “needs.”

Well last night that idea got dashed away with a wonderful little bit of moonlighting with the late night 2. Now I say late night specifically for I don’t believe its technically owl service on that line (maybe all?) till after 2am. But whatever its specific designation, it worked out amazing last night.

The story goes simply— I left a bar in Los Feliz at about 1:45am thinking to myself, “Crap, guess I’m spending the night at my brother’s tonight,” something I’ve had to do before because I’ve been too lazy or not wanting to trek the late night bus service, and instead just wallow in my own self pity and jealousy of Chicago and NYC’s all night train service. But not last night. Nay my friends and comrades in public transit, not last night at all.

Amongst the post bar talk, amongst the idling cigarette smoke, I flashed a look at the group I was with, insane and wide-eyed and said, “Gotta go boiz. Gotta catch a bus!” And in a blink I was off into the night without another word, speed walking the hell out of Hillhurst. Thrusting those arms and thrusting those legs. And though I can’t move my hips like those speed walking fools of West LA that I sometimes pass on the way to work, I moved as best I could. And even without speed walking gloves and shockproof pedometer, I was still able to move fast enough to get to Sunset and Hillhurst in time to see that #2 bueat cruisin’ on down my way. 1:55am, on the dot, just like the timetable said.

It was an accomplishment only the bus driver could understand as she looked at my astonished and relieved, ecstatic and grateful face. And breathing… well, relatively normal, I was only speed walking after all, I said, “Thanks.”

There were just four others on the bus so it was nice and quiet, and the fluorescent tracks of green glow set an eerily calm mood. Like we were in a mid 80’s Woody Allen movie and I had just left my wife for Juliette Lewis. After some time I talked briefly with the bus driver. She told me it was her last ride of the night and she couldn’t wait to get to bed. And I said I was looking forward to the same thing as she asked me which stop I’d need. I told her and we didn’t speak again till we stopped and said goodnight.

Until then though we rolled through an asleep Silverlake and even sleepier Echo Park. A stop here and there. For a light that soon turned green or a passenger that soon got off. Till it was just me and the bus driver again and the lights that made me feel guilty about being an adulterer at such a young age against a wife I didn’t even know.

Now I’m still and always will be a huge advocate for rail service to run all night, even if headways are a half hour after 2am, owl service just like the busses (though the busses r an hour apart at that point). I think that it will help invigorate the upswing of businesses that r opening not only downtown but in Hollywood, North Hollywood, and just about every other stop, getting thousands upon thousands more on the trains than ever. Bars/clubs/restaurants all for the most part close at 2am so for rail to stop any rime before that is an obvious miscalculation on the part of Metro. However until that time comes forget the old idea that going out outside of your walking area is out of the question for a bus stop is just around the corner and there’s no smoother ride than a bus cruising elhay at 2am.