A Random Bus Ride In Hollywood

Tonight’s bus ride was very interesting. I had to take the 217, which runs west on Hollywood Blvd., turning south at Fairfax, and continuing straight down to Washington Ave., which, if you are unfamiliar with the territory, would not want to be at on a lark.

First bus experience are the two Spanish speaking guys that have bus maps and obviously have no clue where they are. I eyeballed them a couple of times, with a look I learned in New York from others that stared at me when I had maps on the subways. Finally, one made eye contact, moved over to my seat, and in broken English asked me to tell him, on the map, where he was. I stifled a laugh, and showed him, and they thought they were going in the totally opposite direction. Through my simple Spanish and his simple English, it turns out the two (older) guys were on vacation from Mexico City, which tripped me out, and were staying in Hollywood, and they had a rental car. They just hopped on the bus for the heck of it to see what to see, thinking they were heading toward downtown Los Angeles. Fortunately, for them, I indicated they should stop off at Farmer’s Market on Third and Fairfax, and hit the Grove for some entertainment and shopping (they had inquired about Rodeo Drive). I took a picture of them, for them, and the one guy proceeded to show me pix of their vacation, and some pictures of his family at home.

Second bus experience that happened concurrently with the Mexican experience, was some dumb ass, older white guy, homeless looking but can’t be sure of that, just out and out baiting the black people on the bus about "Obama ain’t gonna be president" and using the "N" word a lot. I was surprised at how cool most people were, well, cool in that no one pulled a gun and popped the guy, or took him on physically. Most just laughed at him, white and black, and a few shouted him down with comments like "there are women here" and "watch your language." When he finally got off the bus, still yelling his garbage, the whole bus erupted into laughter. It was like, "dude, Obama’s got it in the bag, why you got to show your ugly self in public?"

L.A., a truly integrated city. As some would say, and I quote, "I Love L.A."