(no subject)
tonight i rode 6 miles to the metro station, and took a train to the corner of western and wiltern. I was supposed to meet up for LA Critical Mass, which is like bike night in SLO on an LA scale. The train took forever so I got there 15 minutes late, and they were no where to be found. I headed downtown, passing Westlake/MacArthur Park (which i read was super bad area in a book about LA, but really it seemed pretty rad; a vibrant latin neighborhood. Maybe the author meant its sketchy if your a 50 year old from the great lakes region or something) rode around downtown, border of skid row, i wouldve liked to go deeper, maybe nxt time, towards japan town, the border is like a line, it goes from bums doubling as zombies to japanese neatness within a couple streets. Ate at a sushi restauraunt, 1.50 kirin(!!), and half off sushi rolls. HIt the streets, rode over towards olovera street. Rode back towards south central, started to get sketchy as i passed the 10, but luckily the street i need which would take me most of the way back came up before it got really bad. I was starting to get a litte sketched out, especially after seeing a fight starting to take place (big black dude punched a mexican guy in the face and then tweaked his arm into uncomfortable looking position). Turned on Washinginton, which seems like typical south/west of dtla. I like it. Rode fast and straight for many miles, went through downtown culver city, which is really nice, nice looking restaurants, movie studios, nicely paved roads, then, back into lower income area. Sketchy road in the sense that there were no lights or bike path, and it was curvy, for a few minutes, then back to playa del rey, then back the same old bike path along the beach. 32 miles, plus 5 miles to the train station from my house. DTLA was still 83 degrees at night! This tied together los angeles as a city for me. i think i have been to all of the places that i have read not to go to, except for the deep south-central, which i have no need to go to (ALthough id like to, maybe in a car first). Good food, good excercise, good sight seeing.