Monday, January 07, 2008

My bus riding skills

They have not been tested in eons, literally eons.

When visiting sister we tend to gas ass a lot. Being the good souls we try to be, sister thought it was a good idea to utilize the Los Angeles transit system. Now some of this she has done before, BUT not this particular trip.

Our one destination was to be Olvera Street Downtown Los Angeles. It just so happens that Los Angeles Union Station is directly across the street from our destination. How Lucky is that.
So we travel from sister's house to the Valley to pick up our first leg of the journey. Guess where it takes us. HollyWEIRD!!!! Walk off the train go up the escalator to the famous Hollywood Blvd and there it is the Kodak Theater and right next door to the Grauman's Chinese Theater. You know that place where all the stars have there feet and hands in cement in the entry way. I remember going there as a kid thinking how cool it was to actually witness the foot and hand prints of the likes of Clark Gable and many others. Don't know how they pick and choose who gets to lay their hands and feet in cement but there happened to be some new ones like Will Smith and others like, yep kimmy George Clooney.

Anyway it was pretty cool years ago and just as cool now I guess cause Hollywood Blvd was mobbed with folks.
Kodak Theater....very interesting. When watching those award shows I will now look at that red carpet a bit differently. It is a VERRRRRRY long way from the Blvd. to the entrance of the theater. You are not allowed in the Theater unless you pay for a tour...NOT ME!!! But the surroundings are quite unusual, it's an upscale Mall, so we shopped and had a snack.

Back to the train we go and head to Downtown Los Angeles.......look out Olvera Street.
Most of the riders on the Metro are your everyday working people. Sometimes you get a bonus of entertainment with some (how do I put this) street folks. We were entertained and stunned all at the same time. Suffice to say these young people are not the future of this country, THANK GOD!!!

Get off at the absolutely gorgeous Union Station. Have some pictures that I took and I'll post over on my flickr site. But I do love going to Union Station cause I know the next stop is Olvera Street and those tasty taquitos. We, as a family, have been going there since we were younguns. Niece was at Olvera Street a few weeks back and happened to call me from there just to tease. It's one of those places.

Needless to say we did the Olvera Street walk which consisted of popping into a few shops and the small purchase of some wonderful candy another added memory.

OK back to Union Station for the return trip which I must say was quite sane.

Next trip to be Pasadena and the Craftsman Architecture tour....stay tun'd

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I love navigating public transportation in different cities. One of the things I'm most proud of is that I learned how to use both the metro and the buses in Rome when I was studying abroad. Such a sense of accomplishment! I can't wait to see your Union Station pictures. =)

Anonymous said...

ah man....as jealous as I am that you were that close to something that George actually touched ....Grant will be more jealous when I tell him where you went ...he was just talking about Graumans the other day ! sounds like y'all are having a blast ...stay away from those street people will ya ??