Tap That Pass

Only slightly thicker than a credit card, the TAP is the daily, monthly and weekly pass - Los Angeles' RFID answer to NYC's Metro Card.

What they do:

• Give you a satisfying beep every time you board a bus or train (note: it makes the same noise in the train station, but not on the busses, whether or not you have a balance on your card)


• Pay your fare without taking your card out. Just wave your wallet or purse over the TAP station - like magic!


• Stand up to the wear and tear of daily (ab)use, month after month (mine is over a year old)


• Save you from paying for transfers within MTA (because, well, you have to buy an unlimited pass)


• Let you reload your pass online

What they don't do:

• Give you the chance to buy or reload a pass from your bus driver -- train stations are the easiest place to buy passes


• Let you load up the cards with a set amount; you get unlimited passes only good for the day/week/month


• Make life easier for Grammar Girl (people have a tendency to say "TAP Pass" just like "ATM Machine")


• Give you your TAP card for free ($2 please)


• Convince people to pay their subway fare


• Keep monthly riders from getting citations

It is better than the paper passes in many ways. It makes more sense, and is easier to access. But it is unnerving that MTA requires tapping the card, even for in-station train transfers, and threatens citations if you do not. It is faster than swiping a card the way they do in New York City, but slower than flashing a paper pass.

Oo-oo I look just like Buddy Holly

Clovis, NM

The home of the Clovis Man, the Clovis culture, and the Clovis sound: Clovis, NM is a little big town with people who enjoy naming things after their city.

If you go a few miles west, you’ll be in Texas. A few miles south, and you’ll reach Roswell. In between are miles and miles of desert.

While you might not be able to travel through space, you can certainly take a trip through time in Clovis. At Blackwater Draw you can view the famous (and recently controversial) evidence of what is generally accepted as the earliest culture in North America. If you aren’t ready to travel that far back, take a look at the 7th street studios, where Buddy Holly recorded “Peggy Sue” to take a trip through Rock ‘n Roll history.

If you’re traveling, you might want to take the bus. The Clovis Area Transit System (CATS) where you can pay 50¢ to have a bus pick you up and drop you off (curb to curb). Kids can even buy a $25 summer pass to travel to and from any location while school is out.

That’s right, the stops are where you make them. Their new transit home will eventually become the center of a standard fixed route service. But for now, it is quite convenient to be shuttled door to door when you need it.

Just make sure you make your reservations at least a day in advance.

Rust and Lace

Big Blue Bus, Line 5 – 26th Street

Gallery hopping can be draining. Especially gallery hopping at Bergamot Station.

Once the final stop for the red line trolley (started in 1875 by the Pacific Electric Rail system), which ran from Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier, Bergamot Station is now an eight acre art gallery complex.

Although it appears the public transportation link will be reborn with an Expo Line station at or around Olympic and Cloverfield, the most striking feature of Bergamot Station is the parking lot. People walk around the complex, or to their cars, but they don’t walk here (yes, I realize I mentioned this earlier).

One by one, the thirty-odd galleries become a blur of large-scale abstracts and watercolor sketches; black and white photography and ceramic lavaflows.

But at the end of the line, one gallery stands out. The (now formerly known as) Patricia Faure Gallery is currently host to the eye-catching work of artist Cal Lane.

Steel lace. Delicate strength. Refined, rusted car parts are arranged in one room: a filigree car bombing. The crumpled remains appear frozen in time, reworked as fragile veils.

Further into the exhibit hang silent, nudging cartographies etched into oil drums. The etched maps recall the age of discoveries, medieval wars, ancient explorations. And always, the border of the oil drum itself, the spigot poised just over the North Pole.

Lane uses the pieces we throw away, carves them with plasma torches, and delivers them reborn as reminders of the consequences of what we use today.

Finally is the piece that can’t be bought or held. A delicate lace of dirt fills the final room.

The roped-off display feels almost sacred. The one creation more ephemeral than lace.

Go. Visit. Try to ignore the irony radiating from all of the Jaguars in the parking lot.

It is worth the trip.

Arbor Ardor

Big Blue Bus, Line 5 – 26th Street

Some people drive cars. Some people plant trees. Some people make art.

This car, formerly known as a Mercedes, is now decorating the entrance to the Santa Monica Museum of Art at Bergamot Station. It is one of four “Junker Garden” cars created by Farmlab, the thinktank/performance venue/art group which evolved out of the Not a Cornfield project.

The this junker garden was the center of today's Cause for Creativity: Arbor Ardor event.

Inspired by the 2006 eviction of the South Central Farmers from their community garden, the Junker Gardens evolved as a way to bring the garden back to the city. Farmlab realized that constructing mobile or container gardens would cost a fraction of the $16.3 million demanded (and, subsequently, refused) by Ralph Horowitz to repurchase the 14 acres in South Central that once constituted one of the nation’s largest urban gardens.

With a car, some space, some soil, and a few days, Farmlab explained how to build your own self-contained car garden. Although you can’t exactly drive it, it can still be towed, pushed, or dragged from place to place.

Volunteers from TreePeople were on hand, showing kids and parents the essentials of tree planting, but, unfortunately, not planting any actual trees.

Together they created art trees with colored scraps, potted two-by-fours, and staple guns. The colorful garden grew throughout the afternoon with the help of children's hands.

The objective was to expose the groups of children to art, the process of creation, and the idea of growth. The hope was to inspire the kids to look at nature, see what can be created, and plant the seeds of art and arbor ardor (too much alliteration?) in them.

While fun, I still prefer actual trees. It would have been exciting to gut, decorate and plant old toy cars with real plants that the kids could take home.

As a young squirrel, I once visited TreePeople and planted little pine tree seedlings in old milk cartons. That day I learned that even little me could create and be responsible for something living. Something that could very well out-live me.

TreePeople is still doing plantings like this at their Coldwater Canyon nursery. One day I will try to venture up the canyon to join them again (it’s a long walk).

At the end of the day, the City of Santa Monica Environmental Programs Division spread the word about the green living and business workshops they offer, and offered printed copies of the City of Santa Monica Environmental Directory for all attendees.

It was a sunny, colorful day filled with art and laughter and thoughts. Although I was the only one leaving Bergamot Station without a car.

Frank 'N Hank's

Metro Bus 207 - Western Ave/5th Street

Tucked away behind the classic Cocktails sign on Western Blvd. is a little dive bar where the drinks are cold, the people are friendly, and the lights are dark. Local watering holes should all be like this.

Cheap beer and drinks?
Check.

Kitschy drink glasses?
Check.

Christmas lights?
Check.

Red vinyl?
Check.

Regulars playing pool in the back?
Check.

Flashy dart board in the middle of the action?
Check

Jukebox with everything from Jimmy Buffet, to Abba¹, to No Doubt?
Check.

Bus stops nearby² so that you don't have to worry about parking or a DUI?
Check and check.

A big screen TV in the corner plays sports when there is a game on and Jeopardy when there is nothing else to watch. Frank 'n Hank's bartender, Snow, will remember your favorite drink (and pour it strong), help you find something to eat (no bar food here, not even peanuts), warn you about parking in the lot next door (not a problem when you take the bus), and walk out for a cigarette break with the rest of the regulars.

There isn’t a theme to the bar or the customers. Come in your work clothes or wearing jeans and a t-shirt. You can walk in with twenty bucks and walk out a few drinks and a few hours happier. There aren't many places in LA where you can do that.

¹If you select Dancing Queen, prepare to be teased mercilessly by the regulars.

²Local busses stop right at the corner, or walk a few blocks south to Wilshire/Western for the subway or the rapid 720

Nat’l Park

Metro Rapid 704 – Bundy Drive

So, you ask me, how does it feel to be a national hero, to have your home transformed into a National Park and people worshipping the sidewalks you walk down?

Good, I say. It feels pretty darn good.

That’s right. My home, or at least the adjacent traffic triangle, has been declared an official Islands of LA Nat’l Park.

But, you might ask, what is an Islands of LA Nat’l Park?

Well, according to the art project, Islands of LA, little traffic islands have been declared National Parks as "a symbol of the treasure of everyday urbanism in our unique democracy". Their artistic antics are designed to, like most urban art, provide the inspiration for discussion and an examination of how we use the materials – or, in this case, public spaces – and encourage interaction. The Islands of LA designation was announced with the placement of commemorative signs, such as the one gracing my park, at 200 different traffic islands across LA.

Alongside their Islands of LA project, they have also participated in Newtown’s Hugely Tiny Festival with a little traffic island float, placed signs encouraging art and passed out mini-postcards of Traffic Island.

The oddities surrounding my little park (fenced in to keep out you pesky humans!) have been the subject of other public art stunts in the past, including Heavy Trash’s Stair to Park project.

I’m just glad to finally get the recognition I so clearly deserve.

Next stop, commemorative coins.

Nooner + Boss + Co-worker + Large Organ + Church = Classic

Metro Local 18 - 6th/Commonwealth

Every Thursday at noon the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles opens its doors for a free (can't beat that), non-denominational concert played on the largest church pipe organ in the world.

The concert lasts about 45 minutes, which is just enough time to waste your entire lunch break. I can't say I know many people who would voluntarily spend their lunch break at church. But this was worth it.

Today's concert was comprised of uplifting, patriotic tunes, played by the very animated (and limber) Organist-in-Residence, S. Wayne Foster. The pews shook. The tin trumpets blew. The air was wonderfully cool despite the ninety-degree weather outside.

All-in-all, it was a testament to the little wonders hidden within LA. A bit of culture. A bit of history. A bit of damage to our ear drums.

Candace, one of my co-workers, was the one who discovered this little trip away from ordinary. So that is how I came to have a nooner with the largest organ in the world while sitting next to my boss and co-worker in Church.

Needless to say, I was the youngest one in the room.

Boots!

Metro Local 304 – Santa Monica Blvd/Purdue

Boots are made for walking, not driving!

Well, except for the Quality Shoe Service boots. There are actually two driving boots (that I'm aware of).

This red one is a new phenomenon. They’re better known for their large black cowboy boot.

Although I’ve never seen either of them driving. They’re always parked.

Maybe it’s true. Maybe they can only walk!

Good Will

Metro Local 304 – Santa Monica Blvd/Barrington Ave

This is the best Goodwill ever.

No, really, I’m serious.

They have brand new, brand-name clothes. They have Ikea furniture. I have even seen real furs, runway clothes, and genuine Swarovski crystals.

Best of all, they have talking raccoons.

He says: Wendy – Please take me home. I love you. Feed me.

I even met Wendy (you can almost see her and her friend in the background of this picture).


It turns out she hates raccoons. They steal her cat’s food.

Go figure.