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The Blue Line arrives at Pacific Coast Highway Station in Long Beach to take riders toward Los Angeles. Scenes of the downtown area of Los Angeles, California. Dec. 3, 2014.
(Terry Richard/The Oregonian)
Los Angeles without wheels: How to did it
Long Beach: I flew into the Long Beach Airport (on a nonstop flight from Portland on JetBlue), because of its proximity to the Metro train system. Upon landing, I asked at the information counter directions to the Long Beach Transit bus stop. I made the short walk, the bus arrived moments later, I paid a $1.25 cash fare and rode to the Pacific Highway train station on the Blue Line. The hotel I chose, Best Western of Long Beach, was directly across from the train station.
The Metro: L.A. Metro combines trains with rapid bus lines, but I focused on the trains. I purchased a Tap Card at the train vending machine for $20, which was more than enough to cover my four days of travel at $1.75 per ride. The card is plastic and reloadable, making it easy to use once you get familiar. Tap it at the reader, it deducts the fare and shows the remaining value and you're good to go. Trains run frequently, weren't overly crowded and have service about 20 hours a day.
Blue Line: This was L.A. first high-density, frequent service, light-rail train, built above ground in 1990 to connect Long Beach directly north to central Los Angeles. It passes through several neighborhoods, including Compton and Watts, as it makes about 20 stops and takes an hour between the cities (similar for Portland to Hillsboro or Gresham). Just bring something to read in print or online and the time passes quickly.
Other lines: The Expo Line runs above ground to southwest from downtown L.A. to Exposition Park, USC and the Memorial Coliseum. It is being expanded to reach Santa Monica; the Red Line runs underground northwest to Hollywood; the Purple Line runs underground west to Koreatown; the Gold Line makes a U with East Los Angeles on the south and Pasadena on the north (use the Memorial Park station to catch a shuttle bus to/from the Rose Bowl on game days); and the Green Line runs east-west across south Los Angeles, from Norwalk to well inland of Manhattan Beach.
Downtown: The train lines have some downtown connection issues, but upgrades under way are designed to alleviate that. Downtown has four underground stations, with south connections at Metro Center and north at Union Station.
Union Station: This is the busiest train station in the West. Besides its long-distance Amtrak trains and connections to inter-city light rail lines, it has frequent MetroLink heavy commuter trains to Orange County (all the way to Oceanside, actually, in San Diego County), San Bernardino, Riverside, Ventura and Lancaster. San Diego County picks up at Oceanside, with about 10 runs more per day to San Diego. Service is available seven days a week throughout the system (on most lines), though reduced on weekends.
LAX: What about arriving at Los Angles International Airport? The busiest West Coast airport does not have passenger train service, but does have a dedicated bus line to the nearest Green Line station. Also, I once rode the city bus from LAX, during a five-hour layover, to the nearby beach at Venice, but that's another story.
Info: Call 800-371-5465 or 323-466-3876, or look for more information at metrolinktrains.com, metro.net and gonctd.com for San Diego County. The websites offer trip planner searches much like TriMet in Portland to help plan point-to-point travel.
(Part of a series about visiting Los Angeles.)
-- Terry Richard