WeekOnTheStreets: Kids and Trains Mixed Well [Part 1]

I live in Leimert Park, CA, and I wanted to take the Exposition Light Rail Line (Expo) across town because I heard that it was (originally) supposed to open in October, 2010. Weeks and months passed with still no functioning light rail while my own desire to utilize the line increased tenfold until, gradually, I made a simple decision: I would ride the Expo, whether the city had finished it or not.

If this choice meant riding the Expo by bicycle-- all 15+ miles of it (one way)-- then I, perhaps more than most others, was prepared to see that choice through. By Los Angeles' standards I am what is referred to as a "local." For years I lived in the Stoner Park neighborhood north of Exposition Boulevard in West Los Angeles, and whenever I could I would visit the nearby Bergamot Station art complex along the Exposition right-of-way. Years later I moved into my sister's apartment just south of the Exposition tracks near the Motor and National bridge. I have walked the track remnants of the decommissioned Pacific Electric Exposition line between Overland, Westwood, and Sepulveda countless times. Currently, I live in the southern extent of historic West Adams (otherwise known as north-west south-central [LA is enormous]) barely more than a mile south of the Exposition crossing at Degnan between Crenshaw and Arlington. Nearly every instance in which I operate my vehicle in this city, I see the construction crews working day or night to bring this burgeoning transportation project to life. I commute 8 miles one-way 5 days out of the week to Pico and Sepulveda in West LA, just 1 block north of the Exposition right-of-way and a proposed future station platform for the Expo when Phase 2 construction begins in 2013. I have been a longtime member of the Westside Family YMCA, which I (aim to) visit at least 3 times per week, a facility located some 4 blocks north of the old Exposition Line. To cap this list off, many of the restaurants, pubs, and cafe's that I frequent (Irish Times, Boardwalk 11, Hurry Curry, San Francisco Saloon, Don Antonio's, Father's Office, Industry Cafe, Carbon, Liquid Kitty, Joker, Unurban, Wellesbourne, The Apple Pan,) are a short walk's length from the Exposition corridor.

In addition, I was born in Washington, D.C., where I lived long enough to determine that it ought to be the right of every American citizen to have access to clean, quiet, and functioning public transportation.

With the decision to carry out an Expo ride finally made, I swung by my sister's apartment on Monday night and secured her boyfriend, Nate, as my riding partner in this endeavor. We would set out with our bikes after noon the next day, Tuesday, from their apartment on north Venice Boulevard in (what is technically the southern edge of) Palms near downtown Culver CIty, approximately one half mile from the nearly complete Expo line aerial terminal platform at Robertson and Venice, the terminus for Expo line Phase 1. [Here's more photos of the Culver City platform than you ever thought you'd see anywhere!]

The following morning I collected supplies into (many) bags, as I am known to do, which were loaded, along with my humble bicycle, into the trunk of my Saab 4-door. I made my way west to Culver City/Palms to prepare to embark with my compatriot. What happened next was a 10 hour expedition across the greater Los Angeles basin, traversing dozens of major landmarks, attractions, highlights, natural features, neighborhoods, and bountiful wildlife-- human or otherwise.

--continued in "Kids and Trains Mixed Well [Part 2]"--

**None of this journey has been approved by Westwood resident's associations such as Neighbors for Smart Rail (whose stance opposing the Expo line is, in my own opinion, outlandish.)


...But first, a brief referential note (accompanied by music!) from another recent source: