Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Train Pub Crawl

The train-enabled bar crawl is surely as old as the train itself. The first public transit line in Los Angeles was the Spring and West 6th Street Railroad, a railway founded in 1874 which served Downtown. Surely some bright 19th Century Angeleno had the brilliant idea of using the horse-drawn railcars to carry them from saloon … Continue reading Swinging Doors — Los Angeles Train Pub Crawl

Nobody Drives in LA — Riding the Pacific Surfliner to San Diego

I've now lived in Los Angeles for eighteen years. Even though most of my dreams still seem to unfold in Missouri, I've been in California longer than I've been anywhere else. However, as much as I love exploring cities, I rarely make it over to the state's second largest, San Diego. Furthermore, as much as … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Riding the Pacific Surfliner to San Diego

There It Is, Revitalize It — The San Gabriel River

The San Gabriel River is one of three major rivers which drains and flows through the Los Angeles Basin. The river drains a watershed of roughly 1,850 square kilometers and is bounded by the watersheds of the Los Angeles River to the west and the Santa Ana River watershed to the southeast. For most of … Continue reading There It Is, Revitalize It — The San Gabriel River

Swinging Doors — A Gold Line Beer Crawl

In Los Angeles, I regularly find myself so spoiled for choice that it sometimes leaves me distressed; but really, there are surely worse problems than being presented with too many great possibilities with how to spend one’s time. On Sunday there was a nine kilometer hike in the San Gabriel Mountains which culminated with a … Continue reading Swinging Doors — A Gold Line Beer Crawl

Nobody Drives in LA — Opening of the Expo Line to Santa Monica

Today the first train left from downtown Los Angeles to downtown Santa Monica left 7th Street Metro Center. It was the first passenger train to run between the two downtowns since October 1953 (although freight trains ran until 1988). The first train departs for downtown Santa Monica, and thus the Westside was dragged kicking and screaming … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Opening of the Expo Line to Santa Monica

Nobody Drives in LA — Los Angeles Train Map

Los Angeles was made possible by trains. Rate wars between Southern Pacific and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railways ignited the first population boom. To this day, the vast, expansive Pacific Electric Railway was the largest interurban electric railway the world has ever known. Its primary purpose was o expand growth in the suburbs -- or as … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Los Angeles Train Map

Nobody Drives in LA — An Interview with Alissa Walker

With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. ***** In the past most of my posts for Women's History Month have focused on historical figures. This year I decided to instead focus on living breathing women who're … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — An Interview with Alissa Walker

California Fool’s Gold Episode Guide… and links to related series

I thought that it might be useful to publish an "episode guide" of my California Fool's Gold series of explorations. When I explore a new community, I usually rely upon the vox populi which is why anyone may vote for what communities they'd like to become the subject of future articles by clicking here for Los Angeles … Continue reading California Fool’s Gold Episode Guide… and links to related series

Nobody Drives in LA — Previewing Santa Ana’s SOMOS (Sunday On Main Open Streets)

With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. ***** A couple of weeks ago I visited Garden Grove to preview that city's upcoming open streets event, which I wrote would be the first of its kind in … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Previewing Santa Ana’s SOMOS (Sunday On Main Open Streets)

Nobody Drives in LA — Reimagining Garden Grove

With bicycles, buses, ferries, planes, rideshares, sidewalks, subways, taxis, and trains at Angelenos’ disposal, why would any sane person choose car-dependency? Nobody Drives in LA celebrates sense and sensibility in transportation. ***** On October 12, Garden Grove will host Re:Imagine Garden Grove - A Downtown Open Streets Event, and for a few hours a few blocks of that city's streets … Continue reading Nobody Drives in LA — Reimagining Garden Grove