10 December 2007 - 1:02 pm

This last weekend I ran an experiment:

Could I not move my car from Friday night until Monday morning and get where I needed to go?

Could I actually survive in LA without a car?

Well, except for the one thing I had scheduled (sort of) in Manhattan Beach on Saturday and managed to sleep through, the answer was a resounding yes!

Friday night I rushed home, parked the car in an excellent spot that would require no moving until Monday at 7 am, rushed inside my unit, changed my clothes and walked downtown to the movie theatre I had recently found was closest to me. The Golden Compass was what I wanted to see, having read it already. But I was wrong about the showtime, by a half hour, and instead had to wait for the 7:30 show. I wandered downtown, looking for a bite to eat. Mac and cheese sounded really good, but the Koo Koo Roo I found (that I know serves mac and cheese) closed at 5 pm on Fridays. Monday through Thursday, open until 9 pm, but no luck on Friday. Same for the cafe next to it, and an Italian deli with no hours posted at all. Starbucks had nothing I was willing to spend money on to eat, another Starbucks was closed, on and on... Until I found The Green Burrito. The place was like a happy hour bar for the homeless teenager set, and was very lively and noisy, and the eats were cheap and hit the spot. The movie, a bargain at $8.50, their normal price rather than $10 or more on the Westside, and I exclaimed happily about having moved to downtown that I could get cheaper movies. But the movie itself was a disappointment.

Everything that made the book interesting was either removed or watered down. Pivotal plot points were changed. The little things that helped you understand the true characters of the persons involved in the story had been removed, so it was just these people moving through these actions that didn't really make a lot of sense. And having removed some of the backstory, or characters, or why something happened, I have no idea how they intend to follow the stories in books two and three without just making it up. It could have been so good....

To make up for it, I spent Saturday re-reading the book to get the bad taste out of my mouth, and replace the incorrect story with the correct story. It helped a little. Between the two, since I am such a visual person, I could manipulate what I had seen on the screen mentally with the actual plot line, and come up with a mangled mish-mash closer to what I wanted to see. I will leave it at that.

On Sunday I took the Metro subway system and got myself to a concert at the Gibson Amphitheatre up at Universal Citywalk. Only 10 subway stops away from where I live. And no transferring subway lines, just the one line there and back.

I of course had to do it the convoluted way. I had to get money to feed the machine to get my ticket (why don't the Metro machines for tickets take debit or credit cards?), so I walked into downtown where I knew there was a branch of my bank, withdrew some cash, then hopped on the train from downtown to Silverlake, getting off at the Sunset/Vermont stop. I wanted coffee from my favorite coffee shop. It was going to be breakfast and lunch for sure, possibly even dinner. Which it did turn out to be. Yum, coffee dinner!

I walked down Sunset and finally saw where the Tiki Ti building was, which I had been told has wonderful tropical drinks and I must go, but get there early, like six, when they open, because it is so small, it fills up immediately. They are on vacation until December 12th, the sign above the door said. Good to know.

Made it to my coffee spot, and what should my little eyes spy inside at the counter where I normally sit, but Steve Valentine, (and no, I didn't know his name either, I had to look it up) the guy who played one of the sidekicks on the television show Crossing Jordan, the English guy named Nigel. And he was flirting up a storm with this dyed black haired chick, and somehow, neither one of them looked at ease here, as if they were totally conscious of seeing and being seen. He had his face towards the front, but at the corner of the counter for an easy bolt, and she had her back to the doors, and kept swiveling around to look over her shoulder. There were people hovering about near them, over animatedly, and it just looked like everything was staged. But there were no cameras about that I could see. I ordered my coffee and left, not knowing food and drink at any metro station, let alone on a train is punishable by a $250 fine and up to 48 hours of community service. I do now, having read all the signs I could find, because I was looking to see when the last train ran, so I knew I could get back home.

No luck, there was not a single staff person to be found at any of the four platforms I stopped at to ask, and I finally resorted to calling my friend Carol to know the answer. She did. I could go to my concert without fear of being stranded in Universal City. There being no staff people visible meant there actually was no reason to pay, there is no gate or turnstile system like most other cities. There is nothing stopping anyone from getting on a train regardless of having paid or not. Only signs saying you must have a ticket to pass this point. Okay. If the metro system is losing money and people don't feel it is safe in the subway system, perhaps that is because there are no physical attendants to keep an eye on things? People who are employed, people in a position of knowledge or authority always lend a certain air of order to a place. Just a thought, LA metro. And yes, it would cost more money to hire such people, but wouldn't that be worth it for peace of mind for the customers? Or frantic patrons wanting to know the hours of operation, that were not posted anywhere to be seen?

And I was riding on Metro because it was the world famous KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas Night Two, for which I spent several tense moments trying to get tickets, expensive tickets (but for charitable benefit (and by the way, I just called KROQ on my lunch hour, but the cost of the ticket before it got charged by ticketmaster, is entirely tax deductible! spread the news, good thing to know--take a tax deduction wherever you can, ya know?)), and the event sold out in less than a half hour, as it usually does. I was going to see The Shins, Modest Mouse and Muse! Never mind I already saw each of them at one of the music festivals I attended this year, if not more than one. I was going to see them from an assigned seat indoors where it would be warm.

Wrong again. The Gibson, every time I have been there, regardless of whatever name it chooses to go by, is always freaking freezing. I had a long wool winter coat with me for the night trip home, and ended up wearing it for most of the event. Only walking up the hill from the metro stop had warmed me for the first thirty minutes or so. After that, cold.

And I wasn't the only one. Although Feist made fun of us Southern Californians for not having any cold weather she as a Canadian would recognize in December, there were plenty of people in the audience who did think it cold. The number of UGG boots alone I saw was mind boggling.

So, Spoon opened, Feist continued, Silversun Pickups was honored to be included the bill(wondering in fact why they were included), The Shins played, then surprise guest The Killers for a very short set, then Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World and Muse. Phew! Jimmy Eat World is one of those bands that believes blinding the audience is a great light show. I got a headache from it, and I had my eyes closed most of the time, to prevent said blinding.

Then I left, walked down the hill with few others, alongside the numerous cars streaming out of the parking lots, caught the metro, again with few others, got off at my subway spot with some others, and walked the few blocks home. No one who got off when I did looked like they had been at the show.

And that was my weekend. This morning I got in my car and drove to work, knowing my car had taken a rest, and that I can in part get around the city without just walking and without relying solely on the car. Good to know. If only I truly could get rid of the car. But there's the groceries to get, the errands to run, the road trips and visiting friends, the volunteering I do and need to be places at 7 in the morning.... I just want access to a car weeknights and weekends. But where to put it when not needed? And have it be accessible? (And not towed nor racking up tickets!)