Metro is looking into connecting the three light rail lines that hit downtown -- Gold, Blue and the soon-to-be Expo -- so that one day, a commuter may be able to travel from Long Beach to Pasadena or from East LA to Culver City -- all without transferring. Eric Richardon from blogdowntown reports that the two alternatives that Metro is currently looking into differ in cost by only $150 million. That's surprising considering one is......

Photo by tobo via Flickr Which side of the Gold Line tracks do you live on? Southsiders (below the 10) better be representing because Northsiders are fighting hard for their piece of the cake too. Metro's Gold Line currently goes from Union Station in downtown to Sierra Madre, east of Pasadena. Metro is currently extending the Gold Line from Union Station southeast through Little Tokyo into East LA and is slated to open in......

Students these days are so lazy...Instead of taking it to the streets like their parents' generation and brandishing signs and making noise they're opting to stay inside, chained to their computers. Except sometimes they discover that the medium is what makes the message, and in the SGV right now students who want the Gold Line extended to Montclair have found that their campaign is positively viral. Students have created a website called I Will Ride......

HISTORY It's happening right now until 4 p.m. today, so check out some of the over 200 Los Angeles area focused historical organizations over at Heritage Sqaure (right off the Gold Line). More info at an earlier LAist post. 12-4:00 p.m. // Heritage Square // 3800 Homer Street, LA, California 90031 // $10 FILM Walk Cheerfully screens tonight in the Cinefamily Asian Sunday series. Directed by Yasujiro Ozu, the 1930 film blends multiple genres and......

Don't try this at home -- or at the Civic Center Metro Station. / Photo by puck90 via LAist's flickr pool. TRANSIT TALK Metro is studying alternatives for connecting the Gold, Blue and Expo lines through downtown Los Angeles. This study will examine linking the future Metro Gold Line Eastside Extension (near the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station) and the 7th Street/Metro Center Station. Tonight Metro will update the public on the project and allow......

Averaging more than one incident a week so far in 2008, there have been nine incidents between people/cars, or in one case, a fire hydrant, and mainly Metro busses, except for one incident involving a Big Blue Bus, Santa Monica's transit agency and another with an unknown transit agency at this time. According to Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) records, there have been a total of forty-three injuries, ranging from minor to critical (some......

It could be a better day for Metro. The second Metro incident within the city limits of Los Angeles of the day occurred at 8:50 p.m. tonight when a Gold Line train crashed into a vehicle near the Highland Park station. The motorist, a 30-year-old male, was transported to an area hospital with non-life threatening injuries, reported Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department. Two Gold Line vs. car crashes occurred in September......

A lawsuit filed yesterday by the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) against multiple contractors, including Kiewit, Washington Infrastructure Services, Inc., Parsons Corp., and more, who worked on the design and building of the Gold Line alleges that the work done was substandard and did not meet the obligations stipulated in their contracts. According to KNBC.com, the lawsuit asks for "at least $25 million in damages and a court order requiring the contractors to fix the......

Photo by Salaam Allah West Coast Transitphotography KING! via the LAist Featured Photos pool It sounds really boring: California Health and Safety Code Sections 43845. However, within that state code is a something pretty neat: if your place of work has 50 persons or more employed for them and subsidizes leased parking for your and your fellow employees, then they must participate in the Parking Cash-Out program offering you a cash allowance in lieu......

If it's a day with the folks tomorrow, you might want to head out to Heritage Square Museum as anyone over 65 gets in free ($10 if your a youngin'). And if they know something about Los Angeles in the 1940s or before, they may participate in an oral history project too. "Old-Timers" Day aims to bring together true Los Angeles veterans from 12 to 4:00 p.m. at the museum located in Highland Park (if......

The Metro's Gold Line Expansion project is causing the First Street Bridge near Downtown to close down for about a month while construction on the light-rail line moves forward. The bridge will be closed to all vehicle traffic starting at around 7:00 Sunday night, but will be open to pedestrian traffic on the south side. The First Street Bridge is between Mission Road and Vignes Street. KTLA reports the detours as follows:Westbound traffic on First......

Pasadena ARTS Bus/Gold Line Map We are not all drivers, we are not all cyclists, we are not all transit riders, but we are all pedestrians. Every trip we take starts and ends with a walking trip. And no matter what part of the Los Angeles area you're in, walking can be, well, no walk in the park. There's always something: a bad sidewalk, ditzy drivers, driveways, the lack of a sidewalk, zero street......

The BBQ & Hibachi Marching Grill Team are taking part in the mischief of the Doo Dah Parade, as they did above in '05 Forget the pageantry and regal demeanor of the Rose Parade, the 31st Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade is the ultimate antidote. Billed as being the loud and irreverent twister sister of the aforementioned annual march down Colorado Boulevard, the parade promises to "send up a woolly range of mischiefs, grounded superheroes,......

Last week, four men targeted a house on Avenue 54 in in Highland Park near the Gold Line. It was early evening - 8, 8:30 - and the team of robbers broke into the house, only to find its resident inside. The home's occupant was pissed. And had a gun. One of the four -- a 21-year-old -- was shot multiple times. By the time his buddies got him to Glendale Memorial Hospital, he......

As reported earlier this week, on New Year's Eve, there will be all night Metro rail service. As one commenter pointed out, the news was actually broken in a press release where it was buried with not much detail given:“The Tournament of Roses parade and game is the biggest venue for Metro Gold Line service all year, with upwards of 60,000 train boardings on a single day,” said Pam O’Connor, Santa Monica City Council member......

Last week Monday, Metro released a series of service enhancements and additions including the new Gold Line schedule. In the additions bucket came two new Metro Rapid lines, both starting in Downtown. The 728 runs between Downtown and Century City, mostly along Olympic Blvd. A ride review by Wad at MetroRiderLA finds that the busy thoroughfare "has a cross-cultural crosstown aspect" as it runs through Central American community of Pico-Union, Koreatown, Little Ethiopia, South Carthay......

Earlier this month, Metro announced the usual free rides on Christmas and New Year's Eve special that they do every year. Tonight, we received a short and brief, but extremely exciting e-mail: "On New Year's Eve Monday, December 31 (into Tuesday, January 1), all Metro Rail lines will run all night, every 20 minutes." Yes, that's all it said. No further details were mentioned (we're sure they are forthcoming, we are curious what "all night"......

Starting Sunday, Metro is changing up the Gold Line schedule a little. No, unfortunately, there will not be trains running later at night. No, no earlier trains in the morning either. This change affects those who travel during peak hours giving those commuters 7-8 minute headways instead of 10 minute ones. But there is a trade for this few minute increase in waiting time between trains and that comes in form of the discontinuation......

FARMERS MARKET: Downtown’s latest farmers market takes place in the Fashion District. So hit up some holiday shopping then treat yourself to some of the freshest foods around. 4-7 pm // Fashion District // 716 S. Los Angeles St., Downtown // Free. ART: Diego Cardoso is the Executive Officer of Transportation Development and Implementation for the MTA who headed the East Side Gold Line project. He's also on the city planning commission. But his......

Simon Pastucha is the kind of city government employee Los Angeles needs more of. Why? He walks the talk and the Daily News tagged along for a day of his car-free, public transportation life. The Pasadena resident is an urban designer and planner at the Urban Design Studio, a two-person office charged with making the city a more community oriented, walkable and people friendly one. With his salary, Pastucha used to lease a Mercedes......

Here are a few events for people who like to leave the house before sundown. A few of them are even family-friendly and some involve dogs wearing costumes. Historical Society of Long Beach Annual Cemetery Tour Saturday, October 27, 2007 Sunnyside and Long Beach Municipal Cemeteries, 1095 E. Willow St., Long Beach The dead come to life to tell you about the lives they lived and the way they died at the neighboring Long Beach......

Saturday, October 20th The Ghastly Ones at the Talking Board Art Show COPRO NASON GALLERY 2525 Michigan Ave. T5, Santa Monica, Ca 90404 310.829.2156 Artist Chet Zar has assembled over 30 artists to create their own version of the Ouija Board. The opening reception at the CoproNason gallery will also be a Halloween party, so come in costume! There will also be a live, spooky, surfy musical performance by The Ghastly Ones! Free. 8pm-......

Yesterday, I was talking to a friend, who lives in the NoHo Arts District, about bars in proximity to the Red Line and she mentioned a dream that many share: "You know it was also be sweet if the subway was extended to 1 a.m. or later. We could bar hop into Hollywood and back!" Little known to many, the red line actually has one train that travels beyond 1 a.m. I explained this......

Let's start over, shall we? Disney is investing $1.1 billion into California (Mis)adventure, the ghost town of an amusement park next to Disneyland. The Rose Queen for the Pasadena Rose Parade was announced this morning and her name is Dusty. We just love that name for a girl. Staring now, there is no excuse for anyone of any age to ever go "I don't get blogging." The world's oldest blogger celebrated her birthday this......

Too many train crashes! Today saw the second Gold Line crash this month, this one being the worse of the two. The Blue Line was involved in a crash earlier this week as well as a Metrolink train yesterday. Tennie Pierce, the city firefighter who claims co-workers fed him dog food-laced spaghetti settled with city council today for $1.43 million dollars. Will it be a cozy night indoors as it rains outside? Yep. Pretty......

Best headline, as found at the California Progress Report: "Scientific Study Reveals That Conservatives Lack Brain Power – Unable To Break Bad Habits, Correct Mistakes." Yesterday's tentative ruling on an Echo Park apartment rent control lawsuit has "implications for about 26,000 people who live in rent-controlled buildings and receive federal subsidies." So far, the people are protected. The only major event for the Los Angeles Fire Department was a morning crash between a Gold......

Monday Mark Danielewski presents Only Revolutions 7pm @ Vroman's Ellen Sandler presents The TV Writer's Workbook 7pm @ Borders, Sherman Oaks Nell Freudenberger & Jennifer Gilmore discuss their work with Bernadette Murphy 7pm @ Central Library Sy Safransky discusses his work and The Sun 7:30pm @ Beverly Hills Public Library Tuesday James Ellroy discusses his work 7pm @ Central Library Diana Gabaldon presents Lord John & the Brotherhood of the Blade 7pm @ Vroman's......

There is arguably no other neighborhood that encapsulates LA’s history, its tectonic demographic changes, its reinvention, its promise and potential as does Boyle Heights. Juan Devis wants to document its continued change through “Departures,” a Web digital mural that takes advantage of the neighborhood's subtle beauty to take visitors on an online tour of the people and places in this community. With the upcoming Gold Line extension and the changes occurring in many of......

If you're not really the Guitar Hero type, here's another (drunker) option for your Saturday: the vegetarian-biking-cooking-podcasting team Hot Knivez will be leading their first biking tour of Los Angeles's best beer stores on August 11th, starting at around 10am: we plan on traversing L.A. side streets to collect a wide array of bombers and six packs with the express purpose of throwing a tasting/swigging/gulping/retching party at the finish line. We’ll be starting at......

... another budget hearing for City Council. Did you know that $6 million a year is spent on printing and binding city reports? Daily News does. ... National Memo Day. Or how about National Waiters and Waitresses Day? Take your pick. ... "Cloudy with patchy fog and drizzle in the morning then clearing. Highs in the mid 60s to lower 70s. Southwest winds around 15 mph in the afternoon." (LA Times) ... Construction of......