I remember hearing about the Metro a few years before it was built, but I also remember neither thinking much, nor caring very much, for how it might affect my life. Nonetheless, I did ride the train the first day that it
opened in my neighborhood, and have been a regular user since.
Still, just a few short years ago, public transportation in Southern California was an afterthought in my head – if even that. Now I take the Gold Line to Union Station, hop on an Amtrak to San Diego, and take a trolley to a friend’s house. Who needs a car? Where am I, Europe?
Ok. I’m going way overboard. Of course I still need a car.
Yet, the other day I had to meet a client in Pasadena, just below Colorado on Lake St – a good little walk from the Metro Station. As I regularly take the train to this area, I did that day as well. But as I stepped off the train – in the middle of the 210 freeway – I quickly longed for AC on such a smoggy, triple-digit afternoon.
As disheveled as a drown rat, I arrived at the pub, and ordered an Iced Tea on the way to the restroom. Fortunately, I did arrive early.
About half an hour after the meeting was supposed to start, I ordered my first drink. David, the bartender at the Crocodile Café, kept filling my mug with Craftsman IPA, a local Pasadena beer, and I didn’t try to stop him, as I blabbered on and on about my client missing the meeting.
After several IPAs, which by-the-way, have a higher alcohol content than regular beer, it was obvious that my client was not coming. Finally, I bid master bartender, David, farewell and cruised down Lake Street to the Metro Station, obsessed with why my client hadn’t shown up. As the train stopped at Memorial Station, I thought of getting off to catch a quick beer in Old Towne Pasadena, but I suddenly realized that I was already drunk.
Had I been in my car, it would have been too late. Instead, I sat back in my train seat and smiled. Suddenly, I realized that I had stopped thinking about my client as I marveled at how great public transportation in Southern California is becoming.