2 Days in LA

[bcla]

Such a welcome change. Used it many a time last trip.

I find Union Station itself a vision to take in, but it is not everyone's cup of tea to stare at a building's architecture. Laughing.

OP, schedules are abysmal in LA for specific routes/forms of transportation. Huge improvements over the years but alas still not what one would expect. I am very much a wake up and be on my way type of traveller. Does not always work well in that city.
Mentioning that because there is picturesque train route down the coast you might want to look into, out of Union Station.

The Coast Starlight is the long distance train that finishes in Seattle. That's pretty nice, but the Pacific Surfliner runs several times per day, although different trains run through different parts of the route with the north end up to San Luis Obispo, Goleta, or LA, and the south end to LA or San Diego. They're having a problem right now south of Orange County where the ground is unstable and they're using a bus bridge while there's work to shore it up. In any case I think there was only one train scheduled per day that would have run the entire route. Also - some trains are supplemented by buses that travel part of the route and go to stops that the train doesn't.

The Metro Expo line is certainly much nicer right now with fairly new Kinki Sharyo light rail cars. The Red line is almost 30 years old and the equipment looks it, although it works. That's a little bit more interesting in terms of strange people one might meet.

 

[ford family]

No.
I am aware of the character but educate me about the connection to the Angels Flight or the market.

There is a Michael Connelly book titled "Angels Flight" which starts with a high profile murder on the train. Enter Harry to try and solve the puzzling case!

Being in the UK I had never heard of this railway until reading this novel so would definitely go in search of it given the opportunity!

In the same vein, whenever we are in Venice (Italy) we look out for places that figure prominently in the novels of Donna Leon.

ford family

 

[Gracedis1]

Go to the Griffith Park Observatory just before sunset. There are amazing views of the city and the Hollywood sign. Takes a while to get up the hill. The museum has a cool Faraday cage they light up.

 

[bcla]

Go to the Griffith Park Observatory just before sunset. There are amazing views of the city and the Hollywood sign. Takes a while to get up the hill. The museum has a cool Faraday cage they light up.

The bus is free now. Or at least was when I rode it the previous week. Even then, regular cash fare is 50 cents (or 35 cents of stored value on a TAP transit card). It stops right at the circle at the observatory.

https://www.ladottransit.com/dash/routes/obslf/obslf.html

 

[lisaviolet]

The Coast Starlight is the long distance train that finishes in Seattle. That's pretty nice, but the Pacific Surfliner runs several times per day, although different trains run through different parts of the route with the north end up to San Luis Obispo, Goleta, or LA, and the south end to LA or San Diego. They're having a problem right now south of Orange County where the ground is unstable and they're using a bus bridge while there's work to shore it up. In any case I think there was only one train scheduled per day that would have run the entire route. Also - some trains are supplemented by buses that travel part of the route and go to stops that the train doesn't.

The Metro Expo line is certainly much nicer right now with fairly new Kinki Sharyo light rail cars. The Red line is almost 30 years old and the equipment looks it, although it works. That's a little bit more interesting in terms of strange people one might meet.

Yes I meant the Surfliner & the new light rail.

Great information on the Orange County situation, with the timetable bcla.

I have taken the other light rail and have met such people! Insert smile..

 

[lisaviolet]

There is a Michael Connelly book titled "Angels Flight" which starts with a high profile murder on the train. Enter Harry to try and solve the puzzling case!

Being in the UK I had never heard of this railway until reading this novel so would definitely go in search of it given the opportunity!

In the same vein, whenever we are in Venice (Italy) we look out for places that figure prominently in the novels of Donna Leon.

ford family

Well that would be one quick murder, total assassin -level mastery, as you barely sit down and you are done.

I knew the character reference, but did not know the novel.

That's really lovely to discover these places from well-loved novels, on your holidays.

 

[bcla]

Yes I meant the Surfliner & the new light rail.

Great information on the Orange County situation, with the timetable bcla.

I have taken the other light rail and have met such people! Insert smile..

Not sure what's up with the broken image, but here's the schedule.

https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/gl...osure_emergency-schedule-change-10.31.22.pdf/

There's also the 20% Disneyland special - discount code V712. One doesn't actually have to visit Disneyland, but just use the code and make sure that Disneyland is part of the trip. I used it to book my trip home a couple of times, even though one time I boarded at LA Union Station. As long as you ride the partial route on one's ticket it's fine. There's also flexibility to take any train at any time before or up to a year after the reservation. I got the full 20% off including on the bus portion. The base fare for Anaheim to home was higher than LA to home, but with the discount it was cheaper.

https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/offers/promotions/save-on-disneyland/

There's also free public transportation to/from Disneyland (and possibly more locations) if one has a Pacific Surfliner ticket.

https://www.pacificsurfliner.com/plan-your-trip/connections/local-transit-services/

It's probably too late for the OP, but I would have suggested maybe going to Santa Barbara for a half day. Possibly on the Pacific Surfliner if one is going to be drinking. They've got a lot of bars, brewpubs, and wineries. I've been there on a Saturday night where it was just hopping. I was there last New Years Day (Sunday) where it was still interesting but not quite the same as when I visited with my kid on a Saturday night last summer.

 

[tcufrog]

Thanks for the advice. We ended up not doing as much as we hoped because the afternoon before we left my primary care doctor decided to increase the dosage of a medicine I take based on some bloodwork I had done earlier last week. On the first day of the trip, I started the new dose and the side effects were awful so we went straight to the hotel. The next day we wanted to do something chill so we drove to Santa Barbara for the day. It was a wonderful drive and the city was lovely. The following day we went to La Brea tar pits and then drove around looking at the city. We didn't have as much time as we wanted though because some friends convinced us to go to the pep rally. I regret though because the pep rally was lame. I've been to better high school ones. The best parts of the trip were the food (amazing) and Santa Barbara. We also enjoyed catching up with friends we hadn't seen in years.

The second worst though (first was TCU losing) was driving in LA. Parking was easily found if you're willing to pay for it and the traffic and general bad driving didn't phase us since we live in a major metro area. What surprised us was how many drivers would turn on their turn signal and then turn in the opposite direction. We were also stunned by how awful the Google Maps directions were. I lost count of the number of times Google Maps would tell us to turn at a light only for us to discover that the light had a permanent sign saying that we couldn't turn in that direction. That's never happened before.

 

[Kitty 34]

Thanks for the update, TCUfrog. Sorry you didn't feel well but hopefully it was great just to see a National football game and the fact that your team made it that far no matter what!