Oh 👋 @Omnitrans pic.twitter.com/6xbmOnkQRJ

— Auto Club Speedway (@ACSupdates) October 11, 2018

Well, I’d pay to see 40 buses trading paint in Fontana. But that’s me.

I’m going to try a different format today — a little more newslettery. Just to see how it goes and to see if I can still string together a few paragraphs after years of exposure to social media and the internet of things.

Over in Beverly Hills, it’s the 1960s again. The Beverly Hills Courier writes about a walkout today by local school kids protesting the Purple Line Extension’s plan to tunnel under the city’s high school, which students and officials allege is dangerous. The L.A. Times’ editorial board looked at the evidence and has a very different take in a piece headlined “Seriously, Beverly Hills? Cut Your Purple Line Hysteria Already.” Expect plenty of media coverage and opinionating on social media. FWIW, here’s a good FAQ on construction impacts on the Purple Line Extension home page.

In other Purple Line Extension news, tunneling is on the verge of beginning for the first 3.9-mile section running between Wilshire/Western and Wilshire/La Cienega in Bev Hills. Check out this 360-degree video at Wilshire/La Brea Station that shows the immensity of both the construction site and one of the two earth-munching machines to be used to dig the tunnels (if you have problems viewing in Chrome, try Safari).

The beginning of tunneling in the waning months of 2018 is good reason to celebrate. Putting a train on, under or above Wilshire Boulevard has only been publicly discussed for muchos decades — but has never burped forth. And now it is.

Just like there hasn’t been a restaurant occupying the old Fred Harvey Room since the late 1960s — until now. The Imperial Western Beer Company opened its doors officially on Thursday and the place is a gem.

And I’m not just saying that because Metro owns Union Station just like it owns me. After a hard day of Government Blogging and Assembling Exciting Transportation Panel Discussion PowerPoints, I get mighty thirsty. The Union Lager is a good place to start and I also like the fried chicken. Check out this video by colleague Joe Lemon:

Bus Ops Explained: If you have ever been curious about who plays air traffic control on all those Metro buses rolling along local streets, my colleague Anna Chen provides a tour of the Bus Operations Center:

BTW, we post a lot of quick hit videos on Metro and destinations on our Instagram account.

Dept. of Dodger Stadium Express: The Dodgers open the National League Championship Series at the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. I am an Old Goat who grew up with the Brewers in the American League and the Houston Astros in the National League. Thusly, I have found the last two baseball playoffs to be terribly confusing.

On the other hand, the Brewers’ website lets people know that their stadium weighs the equivalent of 62.5 million 16-pound bowling balls — so they should be fun. Not as fun as next year’s NLCS pitting the Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds, but you take what you can get.

As for the Dodger Stadium Express,  we’ll be running service to Games 3, 4 and 5 (if necessary) beginning Monday. The following video was made over at Metro’s Division 13 and is among my favorite Local Government Cinematic Experiences:

If looking for something to read whilst transiting, a recommendation: the New York Times crossword puzzle app for phones and tablets is much fun, if you consider learning how stupid you are to be fun (I do). I recently finished a Sunday puzzle in a breathtaking six hours and three minutes, which consumed a good dozen or so train rides plus time at home.

Dept. of Weekend: I encourage everyone to step away from their computers and do a lil’ rambling.