Thirty Day LA

Note: If you want some background read The Adventure Part 1 if you dont want to read this long ass post and just look at all of the pictures I took go here:
Bus Photos

So you may ask yourself why the hell is this picture here. Well this person is a representation of my past experiences exploring LA. Basically this is me (in this case I am an Asian woman) fidgeting with my ipod and ignoring the people and places around me. Things have changed though. I now was looking to open myself up to exploring Los Angeles through its people. While LA may be a pretty segregated no one can deny how diverse it is. On Day 4 it was time for me to get to know the diverse people of LA firsthand. I had made the decision that I would take various bus routes to get my from my apt in Palms to work in Pasadena and back, making sure that these routes took me through news areas of LA that I had yet to explore.

Now I’m not going to start this off by spinning some bullshit about how I got on the bus last Thursday and realized that I am no different than the typical crowd of LA busriders; but simply had decided to isolate myself in the past because I had perceived myself as not fitting into the bus-riding community. No I got in on the bus dressed up in with my shirt and tie ready for work and realized that I was the only one on the bus with sleeves. The reality of the matter is that I am privileged child who drives a car usually driven by the patriarch of a upper-middle class family and decided to take the bus in an attempt to try something new and meet people, for me taking the bus was a journey not a necessity. Today I wasn’t going to let that fact be an issue.

My trip in the morning took me from visions of diversity to a sterile environment filled with the young commuters of LA.

However I didn’t fully take advantage of the opportunity to meet new people. I struggled for most of the bus ride before I could attempt initiating conversations with the people I was sitting near. Instead I awkwardly took pictures until I pushed myself to communicate with those around me. During the hour and thirty minutes it took me to get from west la to Pasadena I got the chance to very briefly speak to a math professor, a woman who didn’t speak English, and a lady whose job had forced her to come in early this morning. When I got the nerve to engage in a full conversation with someone, the lady quickly opened up. Telling me about how she has been desperately looking for new roommates, cause her current roommates who she found on Craiglist are nightmares, and she hasn’t fully gotten use to how cold people are in LA are compared to where she grew up in Oregon. She talked and talked until I realized, “wow this girl is pretty fucking annoying”. While I had succeeded in pushing myself to approach random strangers and try to meet the people of LA I was already beginning to regret it. When I got dropped off at work I just hoped that the ride home would prove to be much different.

For my ride home I choose a route that forced me to travel through Echo Park, Los Feliz, Hollywood, and the Melrose/Fairfax districts; the areas of town that I was most unfamiliar with. My ride home got off to a fun start when I managed to chase after the wrong bus and in the process of chasing after that bus I ended up missing the actual bus that I was supposed to get on.

After I slight delay things started to move forward. I knew I had to achieve what I set out to do that morning so I quickly tried to jump into conversation with those around me.

The first person I met was a designer from Eagle Rock, who had traveled all over the world growing up in a Military family (even Anartica for god knows why). This lady took the time to even point out various photo spots that I should visit across Los Angeles.

[No picture]. The next lady I came across took the time to talk to me about her children. She had a son who had been in the military, who she continually prayed would not have to be sent abroad. In more recent years her son had been studying education at UCLA. Her family didn’t have much money so even though they were proud of him she couldn’t wait for him to finally be done with school.

Going through Hollywood I had a chance to speak to your occasional person who had moved out here to pursue their dream of acting and of course found it to be much harder than the had anticipated.

Going in the same bus across the city gave me the chance to see diversity and change first hand as the same seat would see a diverse array of faces as we traveled through various parts of town.

[Special Note: It took me a long busride to Hollywood to realize that L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology have a pretty huge presence in the city / Also people don't always like it when you keep taking pictures of them right in front of their face without saying anything]

The most exciting part of my ride had to be when I got on the 305. When I got there the busline was completely empty. I had no choice but to pursue a conversation with the busdriver (Vince) for the majority of the trip. He quickly told me of the diversity you see on this busline. The line itself goes from Watts to Westwood, traveling through Beverly Hills along the way. From time to time he takes the younger kids of his family on a trip across the busline, he calls it a life tour. He told me on this busline you can see the “depths of shit and poverty” and the richest people in the city. The bus tour has over the years become his way of trying to convince kids to go to college and then pursue a graduate degree.

Vince had his own stories to tell. He worked the past few years as a busdriver but has continued to pursue his dream career of being a music producer on the side and plays with various groups hoping for his break. Over the years his career had taken him various places, working as an exterminator for the celebrities to trying to make it big as a member of the Paparazzi. I thought the most interesting part of his life was the time he spent working in the Forum during Kareem’s time. Back in those days he had the chance to work various shows including 8 nights in a row of watching Prince perform. One of the most interesting nights he had worked was when Tina Turner came to perform and he had been placed on the lookout for Ike to make sure he didn’t cause any trouble that night.

When I had finally got dropped off I knew I had reached my goal of getting to know people across LA. The people I met gave me a sense of what this city has to offer. For the next few weeks I am going try to tone down the cynicism for a big and just explore. One thing I realized though was when people of LA turned the conversation towards me I was thrown back and hardly knew what to say. I wasn’t really sure yet how I wanted to portray myself.