MetroRiderLA

Yesterday was the Thai New Years’ Songkran Festival, an event in East Hollywood (Thai Town) that has become increasingly popular in the four years it has existed. The celebration spans many blocks of Hollywood Boulevard, from Western Avenue to Vermont Avenue, and the combination of free admission, delicious food, cultural events, and Thai boxing means that those blocks are filled to the brim with over 30,000 people. I’ve personally seen the event grow in scope and popularity, as Thai Town was my first neighborhood in Los Angeles, and I moved in just in time for the first of what would become a yearly event. It’s really one of the funnest cultural events in the city.

The Hollywood/Western Red Line Station is ground zero for the Thai New Years’ Festival as the intersection of Hollywood and Western is where the road closures and festival begin. Parking in East Hollywood, and Thai Town in particular, is limited and tight, thus the Red Line is a popular way to get to the festivities. I rode up from Downtown around lunchtime and the majority of the people on the train exited at Hollywood/Western and headed towards the festival. It was inspiring to see so many people using our transit system. It was a cacophony of races, classes, and ages… a testament to the unifying power of transit and of a good food-based cultural festival.

Metro was a sponsor of the event, but I can’t say that they heavily publicized it or that they had a major presence at the event. No matter though, people went Metro on their own accord in droves. And why not? A quick train ride with family on friends on a warm spring day sure beats sitting in traffic and searching for parking.

Or does it?

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It’s the last day of the month, you need a new Metro Pass, you happen to be at Union Station. Just outside you can see the silhouette of the MTA Headquarters or “the Taj Mahal” at it is snidely referred to because of it’s imposing grandeur. The Gateway Transit Center at the east side of Union Station is filled with spectacular light from the stained glass windows above. A mural representing the diversity of our city welcomes travelers of many races, genders, religions, and all of other possible human categories. The painting seems to come to life below as you see a line of the very people represented in the image, all of them waiting patiently to purchase their Metro Pass for the coming month.

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