Forgot to mention super easy to get there on Metro E line to the Pico/Aliso station. There are also…read morea number of cool bars and taqueria places in the area for a great ELA beginners experience (or if you ride to the end of E, there's dim sum in Alhambra or the beach in Santa Monica.)

The 1st Street Bridge, officially the 1st Street Viaduct, is a beautiful old bridge. By…read more"beautiful," I don't mean pretty; it's not a pretty bridge by any stretch of the imagination, but it serves its purpose in a no-frills way, and it reminds me of the Downtown L.A. I grew up with, a sometimes scary but always fascinating place dominated by imposing physical structures of steel and concrete. The East L.A. Interchange and everything around it seemed intent on delivering millions of cars into and out of Downtown as brutally efficiently as possible, with no regard for the local neighborhoods (or the people who lived in them), the physical environment, or even the L.A. River itself. Unlike its flashy new neighbor the 6th Street Bridge and its closer and more crowded neighbor the 4th Street Bridge, the 1st Street Bridge always felt like the little-used last chance to cross the river before the busier (and confusing) Cesar Chavez Avenue (formerly Macy Street) Viaduct, not to mention Main Street much farther north. The construction of Metro's Gold Line (now the E Line) saved the bridge, in a way. Before the train tracks were laid across the span, there were five total lanes, with the center lane being one of those confusing ones that changes directions at certain times. Caltrans or L.A. Public Works or whoever couldn't seem to decide how wide to make the lanes, so they kept changing the sizes, possibly because the bridge originally had shoulders or three lanes in each direction? Now, there's one lane of motor-vehicle traffic heading westbound and two heading eastbound. All lanes are now permanent. There is a fairly well protected bike lane on the north side of the bridge, and the train tracks run in the middle. It's probably slower now, but because everyone knows it has three lanes total, fewer people probably use it. Or maybe GPS navigation has completely ruined the idea of people driving and not driving places because of their personal knowledge of situations there. In any case, driving westbound gives you the perfect view of Downtown L.A. My dad's side of the family has deep routes in Boyle Heights, so I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff, as ugly as it probably is to most non-Angelenos.

THE ARROYO SECO PARKWAY CAN BE FUN OR SCARY…read more================================== I've had many beautiful and scary drives along the Arroyo Seco Parkway. On Sunday, October 29, 2023, the Arroyo Seco Parkway was closed for Arroyo Fest from 7:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.. All the southbound lanes were reserved for runners or pedestrians. All of the northbound lanes were reserved for cyclists, skateboarders or skaters. My husband and I decided to cycle on the northbound lanes heading south around 9:00 a.m.. We started at the north end of the route at Glenarm. The two right lanes were supposed to be for going south. The two left lanes were for going north. The middle lane was supposed to be for passing either going south or north. But the faster riders just stayed in the middle which resulted in many potential head on collisions whereby the rider then crams in to the right. We decided we needed to escape the mayhem at York, but crossing in front of three lanes with many riders was almost impossible without causing a pile up. Both sides of the freeway should have been for those on cycles, skates or skateboards. They should have organized another event for pedestrians and runners. I sent an e-mail to the organizer with no response. It was a poorly organized event.

Made you look with a 5 star?…read more ***** PSA ***** As a departing DTLA denizen, I've watched 10 years of people insisting to merge into the South 110 from the South 101 badly. Everybody hates you when you halt traffic flow doing that! Nobody notices the sign that reads South 110 / 6th street (stay in your lane!) For those of us in the know we love skipping by in the right lanes and cutting in front of the panic roadblocks.

The days of partying until the early hours the next morning. Oh the memories made here. Now it…read moreseems like ages ago. WeHo as we all know it. Fun college nights club hopping along Santa Monica Blvd and the sunset strip. A gay Mecca with bars after bars along Santa Monica Blvd happening all day and night. If you're craving something to eat, look no further as there's loads of restaurants to choose from. From something fast and easy to more of an upscale dining experience. There so much to choose from. Besides bars and club hopping, WeHo has the main park right in heart of the city. Across the street from the Pacific Design Center as it's also a place that you should check out. West Hollywood has loads of things to do. Not only a tourist spot as you definitely will see the TMZ tour bus going up and down the street, but also home to loads of residents. It's minutes from Beverly Hills, a straight short drive down to the beach and Santa Monica. Then you have Hollywood a couple miles away. But be advised, Angelenos don't go by miles, we go by minutes and hours...lol... IYKYK... It's a place where I used to spend my teen walking the shop filled street with friends. Grabbing lunch and people watching along Melrose and Santa Monica. It's constantly changing as loads of new businesses are replacing the old historic places I once would frequent. Funny thing as well, you know it's there so you don't visit as often now. It's someplace that is worth checking out for a fun night or weekend. Plus it's known for their Halloween Carnival parade along the strip. Not quite a parade but more a big street party with everyone showing off their costumes. Then you better bar hop as it's what's it's all about. And then there's the WeHo Pride Parade and Festival held during the summer during Pride Month in June. It's a vibe...

I love West Hollywood. It's a place where everyone has a good time and everybody's smiling most of…read morethe time. It's a fun place to visit because everyone is authentically exactly who they are. Where else can you say that. It has changed a lot over the years since I moved their originally in the 90s. It's a lot slicker and a lot shinier. But it still has a lot of of the small businesses that give it that neighborhood feeling. I understand big changes are coming to West Hollywood. Huge monuments and dwellings are on the horizon. I welcome change and I welcome advancement. I hope it still maintains its charming neighborhood feeling with those changes.

Santa Monica Boulevard is fine for getting around and people-watching, but it felt busy and…read moreunremarkable during my visit. There wasn't much that stood out compared to other nearby areas.

Sweet!!! The right turn from Westwood onto Santa Monica is no longer a deathtrap (for drivers or…read morepedestrians). How badass is that? I'm pretty sure some dying underprivileged kid in Los Angeles County was denied healthcare in order to fund this five year long median-addition and resurfacing project.

Who knew this place was historic, quaint, full of fabulous restaurants, bars, near the beautiful…read moreCalifornia coast, around the corner from LAX and as an added bonus, "not" in the take off/arrival flight pattern???! NOT ME! Take the scenic route along the beach for an uplifting drive to Main Street. It might take a few minutes longer but believe me, it's worth it! Plenty of FREE parking in the City of El Segundo. Park and do a little bar hopping. A variety of restaurants to choose from. They also have the best gelato here and The Old Town Music Hall features weekend showings of "silent movies" accompanied by live organ music and sound effects. They also show classic "talkies!" A great date night. Grab your partner and head over. (www.oldtownmusichall.org) There is also ESMOA an art gallery that features local and foreign artists. Check schedule at www.ESMoA.org My personal favs to stop by: *Rock & Brews *Tapizon *Brewport Tap House *Metro Cafe

Everyone I bring here or tell them to head to this small town America, they as myself enjoy what it…read morehas to offer both in atmosphere and food options. I used to work in ES and sometimes after work I would head over to Main Street to enjoy dinner with coworkers.

The 2016 Yelp 500 - Review #166:…read more DISCLAIMER: I will post this with each freeway review before getting personal with it: The only way a freeway gets a bad rap from me is if the traffic is horrendous EVERY time I use it. Thus far I have been fortunate with most freeways being driven on outside of the obvious rush hour times and, for many instances, I am doing what I call the Reverse Commute ("RM"). This means I am going in the opposite direction of the main flow of traffic. This goes for all freeways so, it is understanding that there is nothing surprising about that. My greatest tip would be that if circumstance dictates that you can do an "RM"... Then by all means, do it. PERSONALLY: I use the 105 Freeway to get from the 605 to places like Watts Towers Art Center, LAX, El Segundo or places just off the 405. I have used this freeway a handful of times in the past month and I will say that I have not experienced any serious delays due to accidents or construction. Alternate to LAX ? You might consider (from the 605) taking the 91 west to the 110 freeway south to the 405 north. I seriously rely on traffic apps to help me navigate this busy world. I can only hope that others have the luck I have been blessed with.

"Come on, ride the train, hey, ride it..."…read more To the 2nd to last stop on the Metro A (Blue) Line toward Downtown Long Beach. The Pacific Avenue stations is very similar to the 5th street stop just before with a long onsides platform as unlike other Metro Lines the A actually loops around after it's last stop at Downtown Long Beach station rather than reversing in the direction it came like the B (Red), E (Gold) Expo, D (Purple) or numerous others. The Pacific Avenue Station is extremely close to Ocean Blvd, The Pike Outlets, Beach, Shoreline and the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific where I had my high school prom ages ago. This station itself was built in late 1990 and has been remodeled and updated several times. Like many stations closer to the water and DTLB... there is no direct parking lot for riders after Wardlow Station and Pacific Coast Hwy Station. You can purchase a reload tap card metro fare at either end of the platform for Pacific Avenue and also connect with city busses for Long Beach as well as the Passport Shuttle Bus, AquaLink or AquaBus water taxis. You can take the train from this station all the way back to 7th & Metro Station or even as far as Azusa, APU and through San Gabriel Valley. Definitely recommend this as a great station being even more central if not just as much as the final station for the Metro A. "...Come on, it's the choo, choo!"

Northbound Blue Line Station, serving downtown Long Beach…read more This is the station that we take when wanting to go North on the Blue Line (to either LAX or DTLA). It is right across from the Burger King, and unlike other stations, there are a lot of empty storefronts in the area. There is no dedicated parking for commuters. It is the 2nd station going North, and such, is a nice place to enter the train to pretty much be assured a seat (it's a long ride to DTLA and preferable to seat vs standing). It gets a lot more crowded (standing room only sometimes) as the line continues to pick up passengers. The big news in June 2023, has been the merging of parts of the old Gold Line into the Blue Line. Now, Pasadena and Long Beach are connected directly and can be traveled without going through any connections (whereas before it was 2 transfers). This also means that Union Station is now served directly by the Blue Line (along with two stations that we enjoy visiting: Little Tokyo and Chinatown). Traveling today, it was a bit surreal to not be forced to get off on the 7th St/Metro Center. Instead we took it 3 more stops to the brand new Little Tokyo station. We could have continued to go directly to Union Station and beyond to Pasadena. It's crazy to think that you can go directly to Union Station from here, and then from there, take Amtrak to get to Chicago or beyond by rail. LA Metro continues to enhance the Light Rail/Subway system in LA County, and it's great that the line that serves Long Beach is an important part of that.

Definitely not a fan. Any time I have to get onto the 605, I'm usually not going anywhere fun. 3…read morestars because there's not a ton of traffic right here, but it helps when people know what lane they need! Connects you from the beach area of the 22 onto the 605, which takes you to the more inland areas.