One-day Excursion to Hollywood Via Train & Subway

Sunday, August 18, 2024

I woke up early and got ready for the LA meetup excursion. I decided to go early to see who will show up at the Irvine Metrolink train station. I drove out around eight, and drove on quiet and peaceful streets. I know the area because I am always going to the Spectrum Center for something. Although there is a parking garage, I decided to park outside. I waited outside, looking for someone familiar from the group. A couple of familiar people started coming around fifteen minutes before nine. We were all confused about what to do or where to go, but we ended up asking others around us about how to work things and where to go. It was confusing to figure out which train track to take. But it was interesting. I have been to the Fullerton train station a couple of times, mostly to go to the LA garment district for fun, during the nineties. But the Irvine train station is a new and more modern version. It was a little different.

The train arrived on time, and it stopped at other stations to pick up more people, some of them in our group. It was a one-hour ride. As the train moved, we checked out graffiti on walls along the way as well as some homeless people living by the train tracks, I am not sure why. We met all 23 people at a specific area in the Union Station, before we started walking around through Hollywood. Certain streets were closed today because it was Cicla event, where many people on bicycles, scooters, go-carts, and other pedestrian modes of transportation were allowed to freely roam the streets. Other people walked on sidewalks. it was very crowded. It was similar to the CicloIrvine. In some areas, there was a stage with a musical performance, as well as many booths and street food. We checked out different Hollywood landmarks that I haven’t seen in a long time, maybe during the eighties and nineties. Hollywood looks different now because I haven’t seen some places before. We saw a huge record store, which also had CDs. These stores are now extinct in Orange County. I notice that only big cities, LA and NYC, seem to have them. We went to Pershing Square to eat at a large indoor food court. I bought Vegged Out sandwich and a tall can of Peach Tea at Ghost Sando Shop. It was good. I drank my cold can of peach-flavored tea fast because I was thirsty. But the sandwich was big, and I ate half of it. I thought I could finish the whole sandwich because it was tasty, but it was also filling. I decided to save the other half for dinner. We walked more until we reached the Metrolink line, which is similar to subway station, LA-style. At 4:30PM, we took the Metrolink line to the Union Station. It was very crowded. Many people had to stand up in the train. While standing there and holding a pole, it reminded me of the subways in NYC. We got off at the Union Station. We had thirty minutes until our train comes to go back to our OC town. There was a Mexican event going on outside, but we didn’t have time to go check it out. So, we decided to hang out at the station, walking around and checking things out inside. At 4:15PM, we noticed our train was there, and we were able to enter and sit. It was mostly empty, and we got good seats. It made its usual stops until different people got off at their town’s train station. I noticed from my iPhone that I walked 5.8 miles, 8 floors, 14,242 steps today.

I drove straight home on quiet streets. I drank more water. I decided to eat the other half of my sandwich for my dinner. I also made my own version of MUD drink. I decided to relax this evening after my long day.