So I mentioned that I've been riding the Red Line to get to rehearsal in Hollywood, and it's been working out really well. In addition to saving me the headache of driving in rush hour traffic, it allows me to people watch. There's no shortage of interesting people to observe on an LA subway, believe me.
There are the locals, many of whom are -- well, let's just call them colorful. Some are pretty interesting people. There are buskers, musicians who play in the subway stations for spare change. There are people getting to and from work. There are thuggish-looking dudes, some of whom mind their own business, and others who look like they're looking for trouble. They're the ones who blatantly break the ridership rules by putting their shoes on the seats or playing music loud enough to be heard over the noise of the rails. And then there are the crazies who are clearly in need of some mental health care. Many of them are homeless, or at least look like they are. Having worked in a hospital for almost seven years, I recognize their behavior as similar to the patients I used to encounter in the psych ward.
But there are also the tourists...more on them next time.
07 March, 2010
27 February, 2010
Go, Chelsea!
Some time back I blogged about baseball and trains, and how they're related. Well, being here in London has driven that point home for me even more.
Today, Amy and I went to Stamford Bridge in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to try to get in to see the Blues play Machester City. To get there, we naturally took the Tube, and from the area of Westminster that our hotel is in it took only two trains and about a 20 minute ride. However, as most Blues fans also take the Tube, the trains were completely packed in. It was a very tight fit, but no one pushed or shoved and everyone was quite polite. Seems that it's a given that the trains to the stadium on match day will always be packed to the gills, so people just go with the flow. And it conveniently lets out at Fulham Broadway station, which is a mere block from the stadium. It couldn't be more convenient.
Sadly, the match was completely sold out. Instead, we went to an Irish pub two blocks up the road from the stadium where we met a couple of fun blokes named Roger and Wayne, who were just a hoot to hang out with. Wayne in particular is a die-hard fan Chelsea; he had on him, among other things, a Chelsea wallet, lapel pin, scarf, away jersey and a tattoo on his calf of the club logo. (Your picture is on its way to you, Wayne, once we get back.)
Disappointingly, the Blues lost 4-2, but as of this writing are still at the top of the table with 61 points, if only by a point. So while I was glad in the end not to have spent money on tickets into the stadium, we had a great time watching the match in the pub with our new friends. And our journey to and from Stamford Bridge was a good deal less hassle than driving into and out of Dodger Stadium. Not that it'll keep me away, but still...
Today, Amy and I went to Stamford Bridge in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham to try to get in to see the Blues play Machester City. To get there, we naturally took the Tube, and from the area of Westminster that our hotel is in it took only two trains and about a 20 minute ride. However, as most Blues fans also take the Tube, the trains were completely packed in. It was a very tight fit, but no one pushed or shoved and everyone was quite polite. Seems that it's a given that the trains to the stadium on match day will always be packed to the gills, so people just go with the flow. And it conveniently lets out at Fulham Broadway station, which is a mere block from the stadium. It couldn't be more convenient.
Sadly, the match was completely sold out. Instead, we went to an Irish pub two blocks up the road from the stadium where we met a couple of fun blokes named Roger and Wayne, who were just a hoot to hang out with. Wayne in particular is a die-hard fan Chelsea; he had on him, among other things, a Chelsea wallet, lapel pin, scarf, away jersey and a tattoo on his calf of the club logo. (Your picture is on its way to you, Wayne, once we get back.)
Disappointingly, the Blues lost 4-2, but as of this writing are still at the top of the table with 61 points, if only by a point. So while I was glad in the end not to have spent money on tickets into the stadium, we had a great time watching the match in the pub with our new friends. And our journey to and from Stamford Bridge was a good deal less hassle than driving into and out of Dodger Stadium. Not that it'll keep me away, but still...
26 February, 2010
The Tube, Part II
Actually, it's more about the DLR, Transport for London's above-ground light rail system. Wikipedia says it opened in 1987, but the trains and the stations seem a whole lot newer than that. The whole system amazed me no end, but the DLR is interesting because as near as I can tell it's semi-automated. There's a conductor onboard, and he occasionally will fiddle with some controls, but it starts and stops largly on its own. The ride is a little herky-jerky, but smooth and enjoyable otherwise.
Amy and I took a joy ride on the DLR today into Carary Wharf, and further on to the terminus of one of the lines at Lewisham. It was after we'd spent the morning touring Tower Bridge, and if it wasn't so cold and windy today, we might have taken a couple of excursions off the DLR to see the Prime Meridian and the Cutty Sark. As it was, though, we were pretty wiped out. So we rode the line back to the other end after Lewisham, and took the Circle Line tube back to our hotel.
The Canary Wharf area was particularly impressive. First, while not the financial heartbeat of London, it rivals it. The area is positively bustling. Second, and likely because of the financial activity there, there's a ton of development going on, most of it seemingly residential. Everywhere you look, there are flats going up all over the place, and very attractive buildings they are, too.
It was a fun and sunny, but freezing day today, and the discovery of the DLR was definitely a highlight.
Amy and I took a joy ride on the DLR today into Carary Wharf, and further on to the terminus of one of the lines at Lewisham. It was after we'd spent the morning touring Tower Bridge, and if it wasn't so cold and windy today, we might have taken a couple of excursions off the DLR to see the Prime Meridian and the Cutty Sark. As it was, though, we were pretty wiped out. So we rode the line back to the other end after Lewisham, and took the Circle Line tube back to our hotel.
The Canary Wharf area was particularly impressive. First, while not the financial heartbeat of London, it rivals it. The area is positively bustling. Second, and likely because of the financial activity there, there's a ton of development going on, most of it seemingly residential. Everywhere you look, there are flats going up all over the place, and very attractive buildings they are, too.
It was a fun and sunny, but freezing day today, and the discovery of the DLR was definitely a highlight.
24 February, 2010
The Tube
It's Wednesday, and I'm in the middle of my holiday in London (yeah, I've picked up a few British-isms). My wife and I have been getting around on the London Underground, commonly known as the Tube, presumably for the tubes the trains travel in. And I have to say, I'm blown away by the system! It's every bit as amazing to use as I've heard. There are about 10 or so lines, which can get you just about anywhere in this beautiful city, and we've been mostly using the Victoria, District and Picadilly lines.
It seems as if there's a train about to arrive every 3 minutes, and many times we arrive on a platform to find a train just about to pull in. We're never waiting for a train, and they're fast, too. I don't yet have a good way to estimate how quick they move, but it seems fast while riding. The trains and platforms are clean, too...which is interesting because of two things: 1) It's permitted to eat and drink onboard a train, so long as it's not 'smelly food', and 2) you remove all your litter when you 'alight' (in the words of Transport for London) from the train. The cleanliness of the system is made even more amazing by the fact that there are no trash cans anywhere on station premises. Riders are required to pack out any litter they may have with them, and, amazingly, they do!
That's it for now. I'm working on a terminal in our hotel that costs £1 for each 20 minutes, and I'm about to run out of time. No, I'm not cheap, but I'm running low on coins. (Oh, and there's no £1 note in this country, just a thick little coin, which I like a lot.)
It seems as if there's a train about to arrive every 3 minutes, and many times we arrive on a platform to find a train just about to pull in. We're never waiting for a train, and they're fast, too. I don't yet have a good way to estimate how quick they move, but it seems fast while riding. The trains and platforms are clean, too...which is interesting because of two things: 1) It's permitted to eat and drink onboard a train, so long as it's not 'smelly food', and 2) you remove all your litter when you 'alight' (in the words of Transport for London) from the train. The cleanliness of the system is made even more amazing by the fact that there are no trash cans anywhere on station premises. Riders are required to pack out any litter they may have with them, and, amazingly, they do!
That's it for now. I'm working on a terminal in our hotel that costs £1 for each 20 minutes, and I'm about to run out of time. No, I'm not cheap, but I'm running low on coins. (Oh, and there's no £1 note in this country, just a thick little coin, which I like a lot.)
15 February, 2010
All aboard!
So I play bass in a band that rehearses in Hollywood. (If you're reading this from anywhere other than Southern California, believe me, it ain't that glamorous.) But getting to Hollywood from the San Fernando Valley by car is a big pain in the behind, especially in the late afternoon. Traffic is everywhere; not only on the 101 Freeway but even the streets around it are clogged with cars. Couple that with the parking rates in Hollywood, which in many parking lots are double what they were a year or two ago, and it became unacceptable to me to get to our rehearsal space by car anymore.
Luckily, the Metro Red Line has a stop a block away from our lock-out, so I decided to give the subway a shot. My first few tries I went full tilt, driving a mere 1.5 miles from my apartment to a nearby Orange Line station, and riding the Fake Train (see one of my earlier posts for the origin of that label) to North Hollywood, where I'd pick up the Red Line subway and ride it to Hollywood. The trip cost me 5 bucks for a day pass, but kept me from having to drive and saved me from shelling out $8 in parking. That put me ahead by at least three bucks.
But a couple of trips on the Orange Line put me off that damned thing for good. So I decided to split the trip in half: drive myself to North Hollywood (on a surface street nowhere near the freeway), then ride the Red Line for $1.25 each way. I have to drive a little more, but I don't torture myself riding that stupid Orange Line BRT. And I've switched to the Universal City station, because there aren't as many freaks hanging out there as in NoHo. I feel like I still come out way ahead, not just in cost, but convenience. I can pretty accurately time my drive so that I arrive at the station about the same time every time, so I arrive to rehearsal on time and ready to rock without having to complain about the traffic. Naturally, being LA, there are some pretty colorful people riding the subway with me; more on that topic next time.
Luckily, the Metro Red Line has a stop a block away from our lock-out, so I decided to give the subway a shot. My first few tries I went full tilt, driving a mere 1.5 miles from my apartment to a nearby Orange Line station, and riding the Fake Train (see one of my earlier posts for the origin of that label) to North Hollywood, where I'd pick up the Red Line subway and ride it to Hollywood. The trip cost me 5 bucks for a day pass, but kept me from having to drive and saved me from shelling out $8 in parking. That put me ahead by at least three bucks.
But a couple of trips on the Orange Line put me off that damned thing for good. So I decided to split the trip in half: drive myself to North Hollywood (on a surface street nowhere near the freeway), then ride the Red Line for $1.25 each way. I have to drive a little more, but I don't torture myself riding that stupid Orange Line BRT. And I've switched to the Universal City station, because there aren't as many freaks hanging out there as in NoHo. I feel like I still come out way ahead, not just in cost, but convenience. I can pretty accurately time my drive so that I arrive at the station about the same time every time, so I arrive to rehearsal on time and ready to rock without having to complain about the traffic. Naturally, being LA, there are some pretty colorful people riding the subway with me; more on that topic next time.
13 February, 2010
He's baa-aaack ;)
Greetings, urbanites. It's been a while, nearly a year, since I last placed words on this page, and in that time I've changed careers. I'm now working in a field that keeps me in my car a lot more, and makes it difficult to use LA's Metro...but not impossible (more on that in future posts). So I didn't think I had a lot to write about. Turns out that I do, not the least of which will be getting around on the Tube, as my wife and I will be vacationing (ok, taking our holiday) in London. By this time next week, we'll be braving the rain and cold to get to know one of the coolest cities on the planet, much of it via the Underground.
I also realized, in reading my older posts, that I have a tendency to be pretty wordy. So I'll be changing that approach, and I'll try to be more economical with my words. Blogs are supposed to be engaging, after all, and not sleep aids. Shortening my entries should also have the effect of allowing me to blog more often.
So stay tuned for more stuff.
I also realized, in reading my older posts, that I have a tendency to be pretty wordy. So I'll be changing that approach, and I'll try to be more economical with my words. Blogs are supposed to be engaging, after all, and not sleep aids. Shortening my entries should also have the effect of allowing me to blog more often.
So stay tuned for more stuff.
03 April, 2009
Dodger Trolley, R.I.P.
Alas, friends, the time has come to bow our heads and pay silent tribute to the Dodger Trolley.
Yes, the half-baked solution to traffic in and out of Dodger Stadium has gone the way of the Dodo, but I can't find a single news story announcing it. There are plenty of articles from January with headlines like "Dodger Trolley on the ropes", or "Dodger Trolley drops into money pit". (I've linked one such article, which includes a PDF copy of a letter from LADOT to the LA city counsel summarizing the problem with funding the service for an entire year.) But the only way I've been able to confirm its demise is from the Dodgers' own web site. And even there, the Trolley is conspicuous by its absence. The Dodgers webmaster has quietly removed all references to the Trolley from the site.
Apparently, the city of Los Angeles doesn't want to continue paying for the service, and the Dodgers don't want to start. From my point of view, it seems cheap on the both their parts. After all, it's not even three miles from Union Station to the ball park. And in the larger picture, $600,000 doesn't seem like a large hit on the city's budget. Hell, if money was such a big problem, they could have considered charging for it. I would have considered paying $1.25 one way, even without the drivers honoring a Metro day pass.
On the other hand, the Trolley had one fatal flaw. It had to go into the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, using the same lanes as the cars. Even though I never took the opportunity to use the service, I've read at least one blog entry that said that having to wait in all that traffic wasn't worth it. And on that point, I'm forced to agree. The whole point of public transit is to provide an viable alternative to driving. But unless there was a dedicated, bus-only lane so that the Trolley to skirt around automobile traffic entering and exiting the park, it would indeed not seem worth the effort.
The Dodger Trolley was a novel idea, and I wanted to be more enthusiastic about it. But I think it could have been executed better so I'm not surprised it failed. LA's transit services aren't as broad as they should be, and the history of Metro's Orange Line (see my earlier blogs) has shown that political support for transit in this city is spotty. Ultimately, it was a band-aid on a much larger problem, and underscores the need for a more permanent (meaning rail-based) transport system in and out of Dodger Stadium. And since the Dodgers organization has made it quite clear that the resposibility for that transport system lies at the feet of the city, Dodger fans will have to petition City Hall or the county for a commitment to make it happen.
And since I spend so much time blogging about it, maybe it's about time I got off my butt and started making some phone calls ;)
Yes, the half-baked solution to traffic in and out of Dodger Stadium has gone the way of the Dodo, but I can't find a single news story announcing it. There are plenty of articles from January with headlines like "Dodger Trolley on the ropes", or "Dodger Trolley drops into money pit". (I've linked one such article, which includes a PDF copy of a letter from LADOT to the LA city counsel summarizing the problem with funding the service for an entire year.) But the only way I've been able to confirm its demise is from the Dodgers' own web site. And even there, the Trolley is conspicuous by its absence. The Dodgers webmaster has quietly removed all references to the Trolley from the site.
Apparently, the city of Los Angeles doesn't want to continue paying for the service, and the Dodgers don't want to start. From my point of view, it seems cheap on the both their parts. After all, it's not even three miles from Union Station to the ball park. And in the larger picture, $600,000 doesn't seem like a large hit on the city's budget. Hell, if money was such a big problem, they could have considered charging for it. I would have considered paying $1.25 one way, even without the drivers honoring a Metro day pass.
On the other hand, the Trolley had one fatal flaw. It had to go into the parking lot of Dodger Stadium, using the same lanes as the cars. Even though I never took the opportunity to use the service, I've read at least one blog entry that said that having to wait in all that traffic wasn't worth it. And on that point, I'm forced to agree. The whole point of public transit is to provide an viable alternative to driving. But unless there was a dedicated, bus-only lane so that the Trolley to skirt around automobile traffic entering and exiting the park, it would indeed not seem worth the effort.
The Dodger Trolley was a novel idea, and I wanted to be more enthusiastic about it. But I think it could have been executed better so I'm not surprised it failed. LA's transit services aren't as broad as they should be, and the history of Metro's Orange Line (see my earlier blogs) has shown that political support for transit in this city is spotty. Ultimately, it was a band-aid on a much larger problem, and underscores the need for a more permanent (meaning rail-based) transport system in and out of Dodger Stadium. And since the Dodgers organization has made it quite clear that the resposibility for that transport system lies at the feet of the city, Dodger fans will have to petition City Hall or the county for a commitment to make it happen.
And since I spend so much time blogging about it, maybe it's about time I got off my butt and started making some phone calls ;)
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