What to do in LA without a car?

[soccerjock624]

Hey boys, I am in LA and its been alot of fun thus far, but sadly my friend left for a few days on a ski trip, so im stuck alone here in LA without a car. Thus far, this doesnt seem like the ideal place to be carless but who knows, I can walk to stabucks in Weho so thats good enough right? lol Anyway if you have suggestions or want to hire or cheaffur me around that would be fun also .

 

 

Brett M.

407-670-9022

http://www.rentboy.com/soccerjock6242

[seaboy4hire]

I go to LA all the time without a car. If I drove down there the roads would be a bloody mess. It really isn't that hard to get around without a car. Melrose is near by as is Hollywood Blvd, Century City, Beverly Hills and the Promonade (sp). Just remember if you take the bus say you are going north you can't use the transfer on another north bound bus or a south bound bus. I know stupid rules but that's the way it is.

 

Hugs,

Greg

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

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I get 90 mpg! You?

[+ Charlie]

Why not rent a bike, or even buy a clunker to use and then sell back? You're young and healthy, and you can show off your soccer legs while getting some good exercise.

[jeddinger]

Or rent a Segway....or have those been outlawed on LA streets? Or hire a hot tour guide to show you the "sights". :-)

[raulgmanzo]

Los Angeles is really not bad without a car. Although I occasionally use a car in L.A. I most often use the Metro, Metrolink, buses, a bicycle or walk when I visit.

 

Of course trying to get around the far out suburbs can be challenging and I sometimes pickup a car and drive. But for anyplace in central L.A. or west side places like West Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City or even south all the way to Long Beach it is actually quite easy car-free.

 

I'm convinced that I have such an incredibly good time in Los Angeles because I spend so much time NOT in a car. And walking and bicycling while exploring is a usually more fun than a treadmill in a gym.

 

There are dozens of interesting neighborhoods which are walkable between you in West Hollywood and in and around downtown.

 

Check out http://mta.net for info on Trains, subways, and buses.

 

The Los Angeles County Bike coalition (http://labikecoalition.org) has good maps and more.

The Bicycle Kitchen (bicycyclekitchen.com) is on Heliotrope street just off Melrose (walking distance from the Santa Monica / Vermont metro). The Bicycle kitchen is a community oriented space that has bicycles, tools, workstands, and classes that one can use/have for almost free.

 

Raul

Visiting Los Angeles Jan 19th through 22nd

[Karl-G]

Public Transportation in L.A.

 

I agree completely. Public transportation in L.A. is easy, fast, and cheap, by bus or metro. Although locals assured me that getting from downtown L.A. to Pasadena by public transportation was impossible or would take take two days, after I checked the mta site listed above, I caught a bus two blocks from my hotel and in 35 minutes I was at the Huntington in Pasadena, after a very pleasant ride. I came back on the metro, which was even faster. Even going all the way out to the Getty was easy. Buy a day pass when you first get on something in the morning and you can ride as much as you want, anyplace, on any bus or metro, all day long. There are "local" buses and "expresses." The locals stop every couple of blocks; the expresses stop once every mile or so.

[Karl-G]

MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffe, you can ride all over L.A. all day.

 

"Buy your Day Pass on board any Metro Bus or at any Metro Rail station. You’ll get all of LA for 3 bucks a day!" says their website.

 

You don't have to go to an office or a subway station or wherever. Just get on any mta vehicle and pay $3 for a day pass. (Drivers don't have change, so have three singles handy to put in the machine. Then you get your pass and you just flash it and get on any bus or subway/metro/lrt all day long. Really easy and convenient.)( The metro seems to run on a sort of honor system. When I was there recently no one was in attendance and all the gates were open at all stations. People just walked on. In theory an inspector could ask you for a ticket at any time and you would be fined if you did not have one. New, clean, air conditioned.)

[swallows22]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

I suggest you get off your dead arse. I am almost 70 and have stayed at the Chamberlain/nee Summerfield Suites, which is just a block from the Starbucks-Thanks Hagen. Almost six years now. Never had a car. Has not stopped me from going anywhere-the Getty,

Rodeo Drive-on and on.

Where is your initiative?

[seaboy4hire]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

>I suggest you get off your dead arse. I am almost 70 and have

>stayed at the Chamberlain/nee Summerfield Suites, which is

>just a block from the Starbucks-Thanks Hagen. Almost six years

>now. Never had a car. Has not stopped me from going

>anywhere-the Getty,

>Rodeo Drive-on and on.

>Where is your initiative?

>

Thank you swallows for telling it like it is! *Sigh* Kids these days. Pull your head out your ass and think with the proper nob.

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

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I get 90 mpg! You?

[Epigonos]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

As a native Southern Californian I must say I find this thread fasciniating. I never dreamed one could do some of the things you guys have done without a car. You are a far better source of information for visitors than natives like myself. We tend to be wedded to our cars. Great to find out that it isn't necessary

[Guest Jocoluver]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

Like Epigonos, I am stunned (shock & awe) at these responses. I have lived in LA 45 years, (Pasadena area) and am completely paralyzed without my car. I doubt I have taken public transportation (there IS public transportation in LA????, nah, you're joking!!!!) even 6 times in all these years.

 

Maybe I should try the new Gold line train from Pasadena to somewhere . . . . But I'd have to drive from home to the train parking lot and then walk 1/2mile (uphill both ways!) to the train stop . . . . nah, I'll just surf the net. }(

[+ deej]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

<chuckle> Angelinos are definitely wedded to their cars. My neighbors look at me funny when I (gasp!) walk to the grocery store around the corner.

 

You'll see the same phenomenon in most cities but LA makes it an art form. I traveled on business almost full time for 10 years. Locals ALWAYS told me there was no public transportation, airport shuttle service, etc., in each destination. It just isn't true.

 

People don't even notice the buses (usually half-empty) in their midst.

 

Where it breaks down quite a bit, though, is the flung suburbs. Still, there are options. For the first 8 months I lived here, I rode a bicycle to work every day. You wouldn't get away with it in the frozen north, but it's completely do-able in SoCal.

[seaboy4hire]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

>Like Epigonos, I am stunned (shock & awe) at these responses.

> I have lived in LA 45 years, (Pasadena area) and am

>completely paralyzed without my car. I doubt I have taken

>public transportation (there IS public transportation in

>LA????, nah, you're joking!!!!) even 6 times in all these

>years.

>

>Maybe I should try the new Gold line train from Pasadena to

>somewhere . . . . But I'd have to drive from home to the train

>parking lot and then walk 1/2mile (uphill both ways!) to the

>train stop . . . . nah, I'll just surf the net. }(

 

Yes Virginia there really is public transportation in Los Angeles

 

Hugs,

Greg

 

[email protected]

http://seaboy4hire.tripod.com New page for reveiws http://www.daddysreviews.com/newest.php?who=greg_seattle

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I get 90 mpg! You?

[Guest PWIT]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

>I suggest you get off your dead arse. I am almost 70 and have

>stayed at the Chamberlain/nee Summerfield Suites, which is

>just a block from the Starbucks-Thanks Hagen. Almost six years

>now. Never had a car. Has not stopped me from going

>anywhere-the Getty,

>Rodeo Drive-on and on.

>Where is your initiative?

>

 

ummm.....did you read initial post? He was asking for advice for getting about. Asking for advice doesn't show a lack of initiative does it? Maybe you could 'get off your dead arse' and advise him things you found useful for getting around w/o a car rather than being critical. Just a thought....

[Karl-G]

"Half Empty Buses"

 

"People don't even notice the buses (usually half-empty) in their midst."

 

Sorry, but this was never my experience, and I took lots of buses. I certainly would not deny that a bus might be less than full sometimes, but the impressive part is that most buses are full all day long. And I did not travel during rush hours. On a typical stretch-bus (two buses strung together), I counted as many as 80 people. Of those, two were Caucasian. The Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans fill the buses. They all have monthly passes, so the fare is particularly reasonable, and they get all over very quickly: people going to work, students going to school, women going shopping, people going to doctors' appointments, European tourists going to museums. (I enjoyed chatting with my seatmates.)

 

On the ride into town from LAX in a shuttle, I chatted with the two businessmen who were also in the van. One had lived in L.A. for 39 years, the other for 35 years. Neither had ever ridden public transportation. One did not know that it existed at all; the other "thought" L.A. had a metro, but wasn't sure and did not know where it would go if it existed.

 

But obviously a great many people do know, and they use it. It appears the city of L.A. is getting a great deal for subsidizing public transportation. The vehicles are very heavily used. I also found the drivers invariably courteous and knowledgeable. "Where do I change to get the bus to the Getty?" "Where is the Hammer Museum?" "Where do I get off to see the Sculpture Garden at UCLA?"

 

One might also note that all buses and metros are handicap accessible, and people on wheel chairs are very aware of it and use them frequently. A seat folds up at front to allow the wheelchair to be safely anchored out of the way. The bus lowers hydraulically and then has a special ramp to admit wheelchairs. Every bus. It is very efficient and quick. There are elevators to get wheelchairs to the metro level. Paris, London, Montreal, Chicago, etc. do not have this. L.A. should be commended. In Montreal, for example, if you have bad knees (as a single example) or any other mobility problem, the metro is a lost cause. There are some escalators, but ALWAYS flights of steps to manage getting in or out. There are no elevators.

[Funseeker 22]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

>I suggest you get off your dead arse. I am almost 70 and have

>stayed at the Chamberlain/nee Summerfield Suites, which is

>just a block from the Starbucks-Thanks Hagen. Almost six years

>now. Never had a car. Has not stopped me from going

>anywhere-the Getty,

>Rodeo Drive-on and on.

>Where is your initiative?

>

Hey Crusty,

Time for your prune juice. wink*

Give the kid a break. :9

[seattlebottom]

This is great information!! I'm going to LA later this year and I've been dreading the prospect of renting a car.

[Guest Jocoluver]

See, I didn't even remember the name Metro and called them "trains";(

[soccerjock624]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

LOL while i appreciate the people defending me and such, its ok, I asked for advice and expected to get some criticism and some actual advice. Its expected to have some of both, what i find useful I remember and everything else i brush off. But thank you to everyone who has helped, i have actually found that walking is the best way for me to get around at this point as there is enough to do in the WEHO area, for a few days while I wait for my friend to return home with the car. But I must say, escorting wise LA seems to be dead, do all of the clients already have regulars that they stick to or am I just not the typical LA clients type? I have found that in general, I tend to dress and act the part of the east coast boy, much more than the west coast type of guy ( before this trip I had never realized there was even a difference).

[Guest EWC]

Just to take the contrarian point of view, I too have been an Angelino for over 50 years, and on occasion have taken the bus. Once a friend of mine and I decided to see how the metro worked. We planned to grab the line in El Segundo, go downtown, check out the Hollywood station then go out to the Valley to see the last station in North Hollywood. We then were going to go back to downtown, catch the Long Beach line and have lunch at the Queen Mary then go back to El Segundo. Driving, this would have taken no more than 3-4 hours including lunch and the morning traffic by following the freeways along the various lines. We left at 8 in the morning, and what with the waiting for the various transfers missing connections, etc., we didn't get to the Valley until after noon. We finally got back to the green line (having decided to blow off the Queen Mary and Long Beach trip) and then to El Segundo by 3:30, a full 7 1/2 hours after we had left. The good part was that there was no one to collect any fares, so the adventure was free. I will also note that most of the cars were clean, comfortable and mostly empty.

In my experience on the bus I have observed that if you can take one bus directly to where you want to go, it can be timely and comfortable. If you have to make any transfers at all, it becomes very non productive timewise. I'm all for "it's pleasant to sit back and let someone else deal with the traffic", however, if you are trying to get somewhere like work everyday it usually adds a considerable amount of time to your commute.

Also, if you don't drive, you miss the rush of adrenaline, attendant to the near misses of metal on metal, the thrill of exchanging fire with your fellow drivers, and the many hours wandering through strange neighborhoods when you accidentally get on the wrong freeway then get off to turn around. Also, while you can get to the major tourist destinations, many of the charming little things to do and see like the Venice or Napels Canals, Watts Towers, fruit and vegetable markets, many of the neat little diners and restaurants all around the city that aren't part of some chain, the stilt houses in Beverly Glen, views from the top of the mountains, etc., are totally off the public transport path.

If you're going to visit LA, don't try to make it Paris.

[Luv2play]

RE: "Half Empty Buses"

 

You're quite right about Montreal's subway system not being wheelchair-friendly. Even for people with limited mobility, the stairs in many stations would be daunting, if not impossible. Of course, it was built 40 years ago when these issues were not even considered.

 

I may be wrong but I think most Canadian cities have got around this by instituting a para-transpo system, which uses specially equipped buses or vans to transport handicapped people around town.

[rmh625]

Brett,

 

You're lucky that you're staying in WeHo, probably the most central of all neighborhoods in L.A. Aside from the great suggestions for places you can take public transportation to, here's some places that you can walk to (though some would be long-ish walks): for window shopping and people watching, the Beverly Center at Beverly/La Cienega and the Grove at Third/Fairfax; for a great museum, the L.A. County Museum, near Wilshire/Fairfax (and don't miss David Hockney's "Mulholland Drive" if you go; next to the museum are the famous La Brea Tar Pits; a different kind of museum, but worth some time if you have it, is the Museum of TV & Radio in Beverly Hills, which seems to have copies of almost every tv show ever produced; Rodeo Drive (and the nearby streets), also in Beverly Hills, again for more window shopping; Paramount Pictures, near Melrose/Vine, has public tours of the lot, which can be very interesting (I think they cost $10); the Sunset Strip, which is that part of Sunset Boulevard between Crescent Heights and Doheny. Someone's already mentioned Melrose (mainly the part between Fairfax and La Brea), where there's lots of hip and funkier stores -- probably the closest L.A. comes to a Haight/Ashbury feeling. I'm sure there's more, but those are some that come to mind now.

 

One other suggestion I'd make that would require public transportation but would be a simple trip is to take the #4 bus to Santa Monica, where you can walk down to the beach, go to the 3rd St. Promenade (already mentioned), etc. The bus takes Santa Monica Blvd. all the way from WeHo to the ocean.

 

As for people not hiring you, I can't imagine why -- you're adorable. If I was in a position to do so, I would! Anyway, have fun here in L.A.!

 

Rob

[buckguy]

RE: MTA Day Pass is $3.00

 

There's definitely an LA way to dress, even for work. Although it can be semi-cold & dreary now, I'd imagine that climate has something to with it. There's yet another style in San Francisco, with a variant in the Pacific NW, and its partly about climates that change every 3 blocks and frequent rain. Wearing black--typical in cities from NY to DC is very un-LA. The funny part is that if you walk into a national chain store, they seem to have most of the same stuff they'd sell in some terminally bland Eastern city like Atlanta (I used to live there; hated it). They even sell winter coats in LA. I had friends in grad school from LA who swore they never saw winter clothing in LA, but subsequently I learned that you just had to go to any mall; somebody must be buying that stuff.

 

Too bad you won't be in LA there next month--I'd be able to hire you.

[Guest]

Sorry to chime in late (I just got back from vacation). I'm going to give some advice not related to public transportation, but on something you hinted on in a later post regarding your difficulty getting someone to hire you. I looked at your ad on the link you provided, then compared your prices to those of other escorts on the same website in LA. I'm not sure if you did such a comparison yourself, but your prices were not in line with those of escorts of a similar caliber. The few ads with prices at or higher than yours were from A-list escorts and/or those with close to flawless chiseled bods & faces.

While I need to say that you're cute and attractive, I would also suggest taking the time for a reading on the law of supply and demand. LA has a large supply of attractive escorts going for $200 or thereabouts (some even less). I'm suspecting you have an alternate source of income, and keep your prices high because you don't need the income from escorting that often.

If I were personally going through the LA ads, and I saw yours, I would stop (based on your nice looks), then, when I saw your price, move on to other ads. If your price were $200, however, I would write down your number and attempt to make a contact. Again, I don't mean to imply you're not attractive, but you're just not a "10" or someone people have been fantasizing about for years because of your porn work.

[Louis]

I can understand what you are saying about guys with chiseled looks..but keeping that in mind, not all of those guys will have the same warm personality that Brett does. I think too that the pictures that Brett uses convey a certain type of person....very warm, and outgoing, and I get the sense that he is very devious in bed. (I know I am reading a lot into pictures...but that's just my impression. Plus whe have an idea about Brett's personality from his posts.)

I was once with an escort that was "WOW", when it came to looks...but there was not even a little "wow" when he was in bed.

I really think that as Brett gets more an more reviews, his demand is going to increase dramatically.

So maybe being a new guy in LA, Brett might consider being a bit more conservative with his fees...but then again...if business is good, why lower the fee?