MetroRiderLA

With all this talk about the Westside alignment, some heated, some humorous I feel that a great disservice is being made to the many fine residents of this city. And I’m not talking about the “obvious” crime element getting speedy and timely access to Los Angeles’ upper gay echelon to do their misdeeds, nor is it our children’s and baby’s safety (like it is elsewhere, lolz) or environmental racism (again like it actually is elsewhere, lolz 2x). But something a great deal more important. Something far more drastic of an oversight than imaginable.

(more…)

Aside from weekly street cleaning, parking is a complete nightmare. Credit Flickr my f_cking photos’.

There are a lot of things in this world that I’ve regretted. That I try to forget from my past. Events I would rather have not partaken in. Ideas I should have never let come to pass (but his sister was just so hot). And in the end the only thing you can do is be positive and try to learn from all of your past mistakes so that such things don’t happen again. Whoever spoke at your high school graduation probably said it; followed by an evening of intoxication at some stranger’s house you might have sat next to in Marine Biology. Whose carpet got ruined and mother’s votive candles got stolen, and the next day I learned I never need that many votive candles lit at once again.
(more…)

[tags]halloween, metro, red line, costumes, los angeles, hollywood[/tags]

Pork chops are always strapped for cash, good thing Metro now takes debit cards. Credit Flickr jesusskateboarding.com

Didn’t dress up this year? Didn’t get a pillowcase and beg for candy only to be let down by an apple? Didn’t think, you know what, I’m going as an ironic icon from the early ’90s? Answer no to all of these? If so then I hope you at least decided to ride around on Metro’s pride and joy Red Line last night because boy oh boy was that a site to see.

As we’ve all been accustomed to by living the public transit life, the Red Line, though packed to near capacity during peak hours, nights are usually much more docile. Nights greet our beloved subway with a calm hand and soothing massage. She’s (our subway’s, like boats, female) not working all that hard and is allowed to cruise through the serene LA underground in comfort. Sure, some guy might be eating sunflowers and spitting the shells out on the seat next him, and a group of kids might be swinging around on her hand rails like strippers, but for the most part, she’s got it made in the shade. However, most nights are not Halloween nights. Cuz on Halloween nights, bitch has gotta work.

(more…)

We’ve all heard it a hundred times. From friends to co-workers to the old lady that walks her dog in front of your building and smokes three packs of Virginia Slims a day. “Stay off the freeways.” This of course sounds disheartening to a freeway centric city yet it’s a mantra many LAites live by. When traveling to the West Side from Hollywood for one of my first jobs in LA I was told by a barista (I was trying to meet people and frequented coffee shops though I dislike the taste of the stuff) that the best way to get there was avoiding the 101 altogether, despite the fact the 101 was two blocks from where I lived.

(more…)

Curbed had a post a few days ago about a reporter from Philly who came to LA and really enjoyed our rail system. Like a lot. Probably more then we do. The article he wrote gives a bit of insight in to how a tourist sees our city. I especially like what he says about the fare honor system:

“L.A.’s high-speed transit is - are you sitting down, preferably on a subway bench? - based on the honor system. You can’t crawl under the turnstiles to con Metro; there are none. No one collects a ticket.”

Now if everyone could take the system for what it is, we would be a much happier Los Angeles.

[tags] la, metro, limp, actor [/tags]

In another entertaining Metro episode today, a Latino man standing about 5′5″ and dressed in a green hoody, kaki jean jacket, jeans and all white shoes faked himself a limp. He was sitting at the back of the bus in the seats facing each other with his legs well extended when two black women boarded and wanted to get passed. Seeing as he didn’t have any intention of bending his left leg one of the women spoke sternly for him to please move his leg, causing no reaction from the relaxin’ man. Perhaps because his hood was up and he wasn’t acknowledging her, the woman assumed he didn’t speak English and like all people do when they are encountered with a language barrier, she spoke louder.

(more…)