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.