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and it begins! Game 7 overtime. Makes us nauseous just typing that.

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 2, 2014

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!?!?!! IT’S OVER!!! THE #LAKINGS ARE GOING TO THE STANLEY CUP FINALS!!!

— LA Kings (@LAKings) June 2, 2014

If you’re a hockey fan and lucky enough to be attending the Stanley Cup Finals on Wednesday and Saturday afternoon, the Pico Station shared by the Blue and Expo Lines is one block from Staples Center. Maps and timetables here.

L.A. is still car crazy and we shouldn’t apologize for that (LA Weekly) 

The essay and reality check by Dennis Romero is in response to a statement in the L.A. Times that L.A.’s love affair with the car is over — a statement that slipped out in response to the Purple Line Extension securing $2 billion from a federal grant and loan. If you consider that more than 80 percent of L.A.’s commuters use vehicles to reach work and the fact that L.A. remains a significant hub of auto imports and design, Dennis has a point 🙂 This is not an anti-transit article, by the way. I like these two graphs:

You needn’t be a Luddite or pig to embrace our love affair with cars, either. Vehicles are evolving at an amazing pace, and you can still be a “car guy” (or girl) and environmentally conscious at the same time.

Don’t get us started on all the rich Westsiders with power-sucking McMansions who think they’re doing their part by driving Priuses. You don’t have to be this kind of hypocrite to dig cars nowadays.

I just took a few days off and drove to the Eastern Sierra and back in my car. So I have about zero moral authority to argue with Dennis. That said, I left my car parked in Pasadena this morning and took the Gold Line to work. Yes, I still drive. But I drive less than I used to 🙂

Speaking of the Eastern Sierra, here’s a place served only by foot. Let’s see if any readers can name that lake. Bonus points for naming the peak behind it. Photo by Steve Hymon.

When will the Las Vegas monorail expand to the airport? (Las Vegas Review Journal) 

There has been some very preliminary talk about connecting the monorail — which serves the Strip — to the busy airport. But nothing firm yet, although officials say the cab industry won’t hold up an airport monorail if it should come to pass. Because, you know, Las Vegas is such a virtuous place politically speaking 🙂

Fil-Am appointed as L.A. Board of Transportation commissioner (Asian Journal) 

Metro’s Cris B. Liban, executive officer for the Environmental Compliance and Services Department was appointed by Mayor Garcetti as one of the commissioners for the L.A. Board of Transportation. Cris, btw, is someone who most definitely practices what he preaches.

Legal challenge seeks to stop L.A. from demolishing historic bridge (L.A. Times) 

Cycling and open space advocates are seeking to stop the city of Los Angeles from demolishing the old Riverside Drive bridge, which is being replaced with a new structure. They want the bridge to be used as park space and to help provide a cycling connection between the east and west sides of the Los Angeles River. City officials says that keeping the old bridge would require retrofitting and would add to the cost and timeline for completing the new one.

Boxer: transportation bill ‘unworkable’ (The Hill) 

A new proposal from House Republicans to pay for a short-term transportation bill with cuts to the Postal Service is not earning rave reviews from California Senator Barbara Boxer. The current multi-year transportation funding bill expires this year and Congress has been struggling — to say it politely — to come up with a new bill that governs federal transpo spending in the coming years.