Skip to Content
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Streetsblog Los Angeles home
Log In
Boyle Heights

Mexico Meets Eastside: Ruminations on Buses, Metro, Bicycles and Swap Meets

Metro would never go for this Guatemalan styled bus, but it would sure turn heads. Kris Fortin/LAStreetsblog

It's a copout to compare my travels in Mexico and Guatemala to anything on the Eastside. But, I can't help it. It's one of the biggest things on my mind the entire time.

Every time I saw a bicycle in Mexico City selling flowers, or taking water canisters to businesses, I would think of the mobile bike vendors with chips and junk food I saw once riding down First Street a block from the Pico Aliso Gold Line Station. Every tiangus, or marketplace, whether the size of a small neighborhood or an outpost outside of a metro station, I recalled stories of the Breed Street market.

So, here's what I saw, the similarities, and the things I think could help the Eastside:

How many ways can you say bicycle

Metro

Bus

Now in Theaters: La Camioneta, The Journey of One American Schoolbus

Parklet

Others

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Los Angeles

Councilmember Raman Cuts Ribbon on New Franklin/Harvard Signalized Crosswalk

"Improvements like these are not only critical for making Los Angeles more accessible, they quite literally save lives."

October 24, 2025

Metro Board Approves Union Station Run-Through Tracks Project

Construction of the initial phase of "Link US" Union Station upgrades - including a new rail bridge over the 101 Freeway - is expected to get underway in 2026

October 23, 2025
See all posts