Lost in LA

My plan for LA was to arrive at Union Station, in the morning. Collect a map of the city and a map of the bus routes, go site seeing, visit muscle beach, then take the bus to my uncle’s place in Glendale or call him to come get me.

That’s not how it worked out. When I arrived at Union Station, he was there waiting for me. So we drove around downtown a little. I got to glimpse of the department of transportation building, then we headed out to Glendale.

What does one do in Glendale? So I took a much needed shower. It had been about two days since my last shower in Flagstaff. The train had stopped for a few hours in Albuquerque. The engine had been giving trouble and had to be changed. It was hot, and there was no electricity or air on the train during this time. I was pretty ripe at this point.

After showering, I did a load of laundry, and again wondered, what does one do in Glendale. I decided to find out. So I started walking. Next thing I knew, I was on a bus bound for Hollywood! I asked the driver to drop me off at the Walk of Fame.

Since I don’t pay attention to movie stars and their accomplishments, I didn’t know that the walk of fame went on for many many blocks. I got bored after two blocks and wandered off. I found myself on a bus to West Hollywood.

Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood, surely there will be some excitement here. Maybe at night, but not in the afternoon. So I hopped on a bus to downtown LA. At first, I had to stand because the bus was full, but when we arrived in LA, there was only 4 of us including the woman who was throwing up in a paper bag.

This route takes a very long time. So, it was dark, and I had no map of the city, no map of the bus routes. I didn’t know where anything was, and I didn’t know how to get back to Glendale. It seemed the logical thing to do was to go to Union Station and pick up the maps I should have gotten when I first arrived.

So, I asked the two remaining guys on the bus, how to get to Union Station. They gave me conflicting directions. Maybe they were both correct. I got off and took the subway to Union Station. Strangely enough, I just walked on. No one asked me for money or to show a ticket. I guess the subway is free in LA!

It turns out that going to Union Station was not a good idea. At the information kiosk, they had no maps of the city, no maps of the bus routes, nothing about getting around LA, nothing about things to do in LA. All they had was Amtrak information.

So, there I was at Union Station, but I didn’t know where Union Station was in relation to anything. And I still didn’t know what bus to take to get to Glendale or where I could catch that bus. And it was dark.

If it was daytime, I would have been ok. I have no problem exploring, even the worst areas of a city, by foot, as long as I can see. But it was dark around every corner, so I was scared to leave the block in front of Union Station.

The plan then, was to wait there for the #40 bus and ask the bus driver how to get to Glendale. But the bus didn’t come. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and it was getting cold. So, I walked to the end of the block, crossed the street and asked the gas station attendant for directions. Of course she didn’t know how to get to Glendale.

You know how when ever you are visiting somewhere and ask for directions, the person you ask never knows the area? I saw a group of four police officers. I approached them, hoping they wouldn’t do something LAPD is famous for, like beat me up or something. Well, they were nice, but while they didn’t claim not to be from the area, they knew nothing about the bus system and suggested that I try asking for directions at Union Station or the gas station. As I was talking with them, bus #40 passed by. There was no way I could run the length of the block in time. It would be another hour before bus #40 comes again.

I walked around the corner to another bus stop and asked a woman, who was waiting, how to get to Glendale. She told me in half English half Spanish, to go two blocks and turn left by the iglesia and take bus numero noventa y quatro. I looked in the direction of those two blocks. It was dark, and there were people sleeping on the sidewalks and in shopping carts.

I put on my meanest look and headed off into the dark. I found the church, and people shouting on the sidewalk, but no bus stop for bus #94. I started walking as fast as I could. The tall buildings in the distance seemed like the safest place to be, so I headed toward them.

Now, I could have called my uncle from Union Station, but I didn’t want to for 2 reasons. First, I had a day pass for the bus, and needed to ride it one more time to get my money’s worth. Second, I needed to learn how to handle myself in situations like this.

I found myself back at about the same place where I took the subway to Union Station. I jumped onto the first bus that came. As luck would have it, that bus went to Glendale.

The next day, I was going to take the bus into town and back, but I still didn’t have a map. And because I had a plane to catch that night, I couldn’t afford to get lost again, so I did nothing in Glendale all day. I‘ll have to come back to LA another time and hopefully get to see it.