Los Angeles Subway

Los Angeles is notorious for traffic; cars everywhere, on everything, in every place, hiding in the bushes...I once got stuck in a traffic jam at 3 AM trying to get back to San Luis Obispo after a concert.

What is far less well known is that LA has a public transportation rail system, a subway if you will, called, like so many in Europe, the Metro.

We live three blocks from the Blue Line, which connects Long Beach and Downtown LA by a combination of Long Beach Blvd, Washington Street, and some other characters I'm not aware of yet. Our Blue Line resembles a light rail system, but more specifically, it resembles either Sacramento's or Amsterdam's trams.

There is a Red Line that connects with the Blue and travels off to Hollywood; a Purple Line that shares the Red Line's track before heading to Korea Town; a Green Line that goes to LAX; a Yellow Line that goes from Pasadena to Downtown and then off to East LA; and an Orange Line that extends the Red Line off into the San Fernando Valley (the famous "Valley" that people around the country refer to unwittingly). The Orange and Yellow may not be a part of the LA Metro proper, but they are train cars.

Before the Blue meets up with the Red and Purple, it heads down under the ground, and the connections from then on are like proper NYC Subway stations.

The train cars from the Red and Purple are more like a hybrid of New York's and Chicago's, and less like the light rail tram feel of the Blue. They're larger and grimier than Chicago's train cars, but still smaller than New York's, but carpeted like Chicago's. They're strangely familiar.

It's all very interesting. We're out here, basically in LA, and can get around like back in the City. Not so great, of course, but it's serviceable, and for any touring friends...we can get to the Staples Center, or Chavez Ravine, or historic Victoria Station and the historic la Reina de los Angeles settlement area, all by train.