2:36pm, Friday, May 7th. I arrived in Gardena via a long Metro ride, taking the rail from North Hollywood to downtown and then catching the Silver Line there to the Artesia Transit Center. Nineteen minutes and a mile later, I found myself at my parents’ house. Walking through the ghetto was nerve-wracking being a “pretty girl” on the streets. Everyone who was walking was a minority with carts full of recyclables, or looked homeless.
My friends invited me to the Natural History Museum for their First Fridays series. Riding on public transportation is very rare for them, but for some reason they wanted to take the Metro to the museum that night. Great.
4:15pm. I was hungry. Really, really hungry. A friend came to meet me at my parents’ house and we walked to 7-Eleven to grab some cash for my museum admission. I perused through the aisles, hungry, and came out with an Almond Snickers along with my cash. Bad choice, but convenience stores usually don’t have the greatest selection of (good/healthy) food.
We got to the Natural History Museum too late for the tour. We bought tickets for the regular entrance and to listen to the discussion at 6:30pm: “Toxic Algal Blooms Along the Southern Californian Coast: Causes, Challenges and Solutions” with Dr. David A. Caron.
First Fridays changed a lot since I attended three years ago. A regular museum admission ($6.50 students/$9 adults) included live entertainment along with the extended hours of the museum. Now, people have to pay $15 to get into the room to watch the bands play and they stream the performance on large projectors in the main hall for those that only paid to roam the museum during its extended hours.
These pictures will tell the story of my visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aileenrobot/sets/72157624018618686/
8:30pm. I said my goodbyes to my friends and decided to take the Metro home from there. Due to the Revlon Run/Walk event blocking Figueroa St., buses going northbound at night were rerouted AND I DID NOT KNOW. I waited at the stop for an hour. Waited longer, even when this creepy bum looked at me, saying indistinguishable ramble. Waited longer around the ghetto streets of USC and examined the juxtaposition between the neighborhood folk and the erudite students of higher education.
9:30pm. A California Science Center employee finished her shift and came to the stop I was waiting at to also catch the bus home. She knew instantly, since I’ve been waiting there for a long time, that the buses were picking up people from different stops. The creepy bum finally left when Reyna started talking to me, reinforcing the idea that a pretty girl shouldn’t be alone in the streets.
We talked the whole time about growing up in LA. She told me about Echo Park, pre-hipster days, and how she lived through the drive-bys and cholos hanging out in the streets. It was very gang-infested before its inevitable gentrification. “I lived there for 20 years and had to move out two years ago when the white people with tight jeans started moving in. The rent became too expensive to afford.”
She and I walked a couple of blocks down to wait for either the 81 or the 200 buses. The 81 routes to downtown, while the 200 cuts through MacArthur Park to Echo Park. We opted to take the first bus that arrived, which was the 200 that was rerouted because of the special event. Luckily, there is a rail at MacArthur Park that took us to our respective destinations. The unexpected route was much different than what I had planned: Silver Line northbound to the 7th St./Metro Center stop to the North Hollywood Station via Red Line.
We parted when my train stopped at the platform. She gave me her card and told me to keep in touch. Without her, I wouldn’t have gotten home that night. I am so appreciative to interact with her. I learned a lot about the city I grew up in as well.
10:50pm. The last stretch was to walk from the station to my apartment. It felt so good to be home.
No comments:
Post a Comment