Dana Gabbard

Sunday afternoon I finally took in the New Built Los Angeles exhibit at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire at Ogden (one block east of Fairfax). The always thoughtful Christopher Hawthorne of the Los Angeles Times provides a good overview of the exhibit and notes it may hold lessons for a city grappling with new and exciting trends. Seven more pictures from the exhibition can be found at the end of this article.

Due to the Yom Kippur holiday the September meeting of Southern California Transit Advocates is this Saturday, the 21st (normally we meet on the second Saturday). The guest speaker will be a representative of Metro making a presentation on the status of the Wilshire bus lane project. This will start at 2:15 pm at Angelus Plaza, 255 S. Hill St. (4th floor). Extensive transit directions are on our website.

It has been a while since I last wrote about the Pacific Surfliner and the process of it transitioning to local management.

A few months ago I spotted on the bus a new take one multilingual brochure titled "Metro Notice of Civil Rights". Informational placards with the same information also popped up on Metrorail equipment. I recognized this as the latest component of the actions Metro has undertaken to satisfy the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) regarding its obligations under what is known as Title VI when making changes to service or fares.

Thursday at the Metro Board monthly meeting with little fanfare or media attention one of the most important agenda items for the entire year will be dealt with and approved most likely without any discussion or public comment via a single consolidated vote as just one of 27 items being handled as "consent."

My original inspiration to write about favorite places to eat at along Wilshire Blvd. was a recent piece on food destinations along Foothill Transit's route 187 in the March issue of Footnotes.

(Note: Anyone wondering about Dana's adventures on the Coast Starlight can find updates with pictures on Streetsblog LITE. - DN)

I grew up in Central Washington State and when I recently learned my autistic nephew was about to graduate I determined to witness this important family milestone by travelling north. And in the process also experience something I have long been curious about: sleeping car service on Amtrak long distance routes. I have ridden coach on the Coast Starlight (Amtrak's route between Los Angeles and Seattle) previously up the coast for two round trips and have vivid memories of what that was like. It is widely seen as one of the more scenic routes operated by Amtrak.