Category Archives: Metro Lifestyle

Go Metro Weekends, Sept 7 – 9

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Apple pie! Get a taste at the Good Food Pie Contest at LACMA this weekend. Photo by Melanie Lukesh via Flickr

This Friday, go Greek at the L.A. Greek Fest. The festival lasts all weekend at the Saint Sophia Cathedral, but everyone gets in free on Friday evening (5 – 11 p.m.). Adult admission is $3 on Saturday (1 – 11 p.m.) and Sunday (12 – 10 p.m.), go Metro and get a discount. There will be music, dancing, shows, games and of course food! And don’t miss celebrity guests Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson. (Metro Bus 30 to Normandie/Pico or Metro Rapid 733 to Normandie/Venice)

Visit the land of Oz on Saturday in Culver City. The Helms Bakery Sunset Cinema series continues with The Wizard of Oz, screening for free on Helms Walk. The movie starts around 7:15 p.m. and there are plenty of restaurants nearby (like Father’s Office!) so you can dine before or after the film. (Metro Expo Line to Culver City Station or Metro Bus 33 to Venice/Helms)

Lovers of pie, get thee to LACMA this Saturday for the Good Food Pie Contest. The event lasts from 2 to 4 p.m. and will serve up pies from five categories, one of which is Metropolis II (pies inspired by an art installation? I can’t wait!). The event is free to attend. If you want a taste of pie, get there early – you can get a free pie tasting ticket from the KCRW welcome table in Hancock Park just north of the Ahmanson Building, but tickets are limited to number of pie entries and are first come first served. Oh, and if you wear an apron to the event, you’ll get free admission to the LACMA galleries. (Metro Bus 20 to Wilshire/Ogden)

If you’re in the West L.A.area anyway, you might want to check out Flash Festival at The Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits. Chalk Repertory Theatre will be performing site-specific, 10-minute plays starts at 8 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Shows are technically free, but there is a $15 suggested donation and reservations are highly recommended. (Metro Bus 20 to Wilshire/Curson)

About 8,000 people rode Expo Line to USC game on Saturday

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Fans en route to the USC game on Saturday on the Expo Line. Photo by Marc Littman/Metro.

The ridership numbers from Metro are in and here’s the skinny: an estimated 8,000 people rode the Expo Line on Saturday to and from USC’s home opener against the University of Hawaii at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

In addition, Metro estimates that 4,000 to 6,000 of those fans reached or traveled from the Expo Line via other Metro buses or trains. In total, there were about 22,000 boardings on Metro on Saturday related to the game.

USC is listing the attendance at the game at 93,607, which means that about 8.5 percent of those who went to the game were delivered there by the Expo Line.

The next USC home game is Saturday, Sept. 22, against Cal. The game time has yet to be announced.

Your playbook for taking Metro to USC football

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Tomorrow is a big — no make that huge — day for the Expo Line. The University of Southern California is opening its football season at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum as the number one ranked team in the country and the game against Hawaii is the first chance for Expo to take people to the game and avoid the usual traffic quagmire. (News release and video here).

Below you will find a very good guide put together showing how to take Metro trains and/or buses to reach the Coliseum from different parts of Los Angeles County (pdf here).

There is free or paid parking at a number of Metro Rail stations. Here's the link to parking info for each line. In addition, there are numerous public and private parking lots and garages near Metro Rail in Culver City (Expo Line), Hollywood (Red Line), Old Town Pasadena (Gold Line), Long Beach (Blue Line) and downtown Los Angeles (Red, Purple, Blue and Expo lines). There is also public parking at Union Station for $6 a day.

For those concerned that transit could put a crimp in their ability to tailgate, here's an idea: grab some food to go, arrive early and stake out a picnic spot in Exposition Park or on USC's campus. There's no eating or drinking on Metro trains or buses — it's the best way to keep them clean — but you can bring food in a bag.

Finally, give yourself a few extra minutes and load enough money to cover the cost of your fare on your way to the game; it will make leaving the game easier. It's obviously a big game for the Trojans for a whole lot of reasons and a huge crowd is expected. There will be significantly more trains running than usual, but there could still be lines, particularly after the game when everyone tries to head home at once. Metro will do its best to get everyone home safely and quickly.

Go Metro Guide to USC Football

 

Go Metro to USC Football this season

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The first USC home game is this Saturday and Metro and USC are hoping lots of potential drivers abandon their cars and take the new Expo Line (via other Metro bus and rail) to this game and others. Not only is it the green way to travel, it will take the pressure off hunting for a parking space since Saturday's game is already sold out. Here's a release from this morning's press event at USC.

Steve Lopes, USC Senior Associate Athletic Director, and Metro CEO Art Leahy were joined today by members of the USC Song Girls and the Spirit of Troy band for a pep rally announcing enhanced service to University of Southern California home games this season. The first game — this Saturday, Sept. 1 at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum — is sold out, which means 92,000 fans could be searching for parking.

Unless they Go Metro. The morning pep rally at Pardee Plaza on the USC campus celebrated the first season of Expo Line service to Trojan home games. Metro's new Expo Line is the perfect vehicle for getting to the games since two stations — Expo/Vermont and Expo Park/USC — serve the university. And game day enhanced service, which includes “event guides” to answer questions, has been designed to make it easy for fans to avoid traffic and parking hassles while taking Expo to the games.

“We want potential new riders to know that Metro staff will be on hand to help riders successfully navigate the system on game days,” said Metro CEO and USC graduate Art Leahy. “And we're adding more trains to make sure travel is smooth. Whether riders are carrying a picnic basket or not, we know they'll see that this new way to the games is convenient and enjoyable. And you don't have to worry about driving home after a long day.”

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Extra late-night service for Labor Day Sunday and go Metro to USC Football

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Monday, Sept. 3 is Labor Day, which means Metro buses and trains will be running on holiday schedule. It also means that Metro will run extended late-night service on Sunday, Sept. 2.

All Metro Rail, the Metro Orange Line and Metro Silver Line will run until 2 a.m. on Sunday, perfect for those who want to take advantage of the long weekend and stay out late or those going to the FYF Fest at the Los Angeles State Historic Park this weekend.

FYF Fest takes place Saturday and Sunday from noon to midnight both days. Take the Gold Line and hop off at Chinatown Station for easy access to the festival.

In addition, the first USC Football home game of the year is on Saturday, go Metro to avoid the traffic and hassle of parking. The Silver Line will be running enhanced service on game day, and of course there's the Expo Line (Expo/Vermont, Expo Park/USC and Jefferson/USC). With a sold out game (that's over 90,000 people milling around the area), it's going to be crowded, and we really want everyone to have a fun – and safe – experience. So plan ahead and keep an eye out for approaching trains.

And that's it! Have a great Labor Day weekend!

 

Take Metrolink to the Los Angeles County Fair

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Here's the news release from Metrolink, the regional commuter rail agency funded in part by Metro:

LOS ANGELES – For the 20th consecutive year, Metrolink will offer safe, affordable service directly to the Los Angeles County Fair. On Saturdays and Sundays throughout the month of September, Metrolink's San Bernardino Line trains will add a special stop at the Pomona Fairplex after 9:30 a.m. A free shuttle will transport passengers to the main entrance.

Metrolink riders with a monthly pass can ride all Metrolink trains at no additional cost on the weekends. Others can take advantage of the $10 Weekend Pass, which allows them to ride Metrolink trains all weekend long for one low fare. Riders can transfer to and from other Metrolink lines, as well as Metro rail and most buses with the $10 Weekend Pass. The Weekend Pass is valid from 7 p.m. on Friday until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday for system-wide travel. The weekend pass can be purchased at Metrolink ticket vending machines after 7 p.m. on Friday.

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Meet Me @Metro III recap

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Watts Village Theatre Company’s artist director Guillermo Aviles-Rodriguez sets up for the show.

Photos by Gary Leonard

If you missed Meet Me @Metro this past weekend, you have four more chances left to catch the traveling theatre spectacular. There are shows at 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. on both Saturday, September 1 and Sunday, September 2. Tickets are $20 (or whatever amount you can pay for the Saturday 12 p.m. show) and include a Metro day pass and a bag lunch. The journey takes about 3 ½ hours and it’s well worth your time.

Check in or buy your ticket at the East Portal at Union Station. You’ll get a colored wristband assigning you to a group (so you don’t get lost or left behind) and a gold star if you ask for the vegetarian lunch option. You’ll also get a bingo card to play along the trip.

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New joint timetable available for regional commuter rail and Amtrak

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As you may know, there are a variety of passenger trains rolling throughout Southern California: Metrolink in the L.A. metro area, the Coaster and Sprinter in San Diego County and Amtrak, the national railroad connecting cities in California to the rest of the U.S.

The four different railroads have historically each maintained their own timetables, making it tricky for Jane Citizen to quickly figure out what might be the quickest or most convenient way to take a train from here-to-there.

To remedy that issue, the Los Angeles-San Diego-San Luis Obispo Rail Corridors Agency has created a timetable that covers all four railroads. Neat idea, people! Outside of transit circles, the agency is a bit obscure but their core mission is easy to understand: improve regional rail service.

Here’s the new timetable (pdf download here) with a hat tip to Dana Gabbard at L.A. Streetsblog:

Joint Timetable

Go Metro Weekends, Aug 24 – 26

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Get down and dance on Friday with Boogie Nights, showing at the Mosaic in the downtown Arts District. In addition to the movie, there will be a costume contest, trivia, free drinks and sweet treats. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the movie begins at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door. (Metro Gold Line to Little Tokyo/Arts District Station, walk south on Alameda toward 3rd Street)

On Saturday, don’t miss the H2O Festival at the Los Angeles State Historic Park. The outdoor concert features two stages and a mix of musicians, including Snoop Dogg, Paulina Rubio and Ozomatli. There will be cash-only food trucks and vendors on site. Tickets start at $25 and are available online. The event opens at 3 p.m. and lasts until 12:30 a.m. Don’t spend money you could be spending on merchandise to park your car, go Metro – the late-night rail service makes it an easy choice. (Metro Gold Line to Chinatown Station)

Sunday is the last concert of the Sounds of Summer series. Dwight Trible will be performing at the Craft and Folk Art Museum courtyard at 6 p.m. The concert is free, but reservations are recommended. (Metro Bus 20 to Wilshire/Curson)