More Domestic Bliss - Saturday, June 22

[The Passage Announcements]

No, it's not Completism; it's just...

More Domestic Bliss

Saturday, June 22, 2024

Departing on southbound A Line (Blue) from 7th St./Metro Center Station 

at ~9am

Well, while we're still clinging to the edge when daytime rides remain fun (without having to be out at the crack of dawn), thought I'd squeeze in a route I've been wanting to re-do for a little while now: a relatively recent one, 2019's Passage #490 - Domestic Bliss. Soon it will be too hot — even along the coast — and it would be more like baking than bliss, amirite? Then we'll get back to Friday nights again, which will be warm and glorious. But this week? Saturday, during the day. With a little bit of Metro-ing to get to and from the ride. Sound good?

Here's how I described the ride originally, followed by the details (which you should read closely):

Someone I know from back East once told me that he thought the L.A. area was ugly because "all the houses look the same." And, you know, the only way I can make any sense of this comment is to assume that because homes here don't generally fall into the look familiar in the East — two stories, wood or brick exterior, chimney — that unfamiliarity ended up looking "the same" to him (sort of like cross-race identification difficulties, but for architecture). Because, except in dispersed pockets of relatively recent cookie-cutter housing developments mostly found in the exurban hinterlands, houses here are crazy diverse. 

I mean, sure, there are plenty of squat little stucco numbers. But there are also Craftsmans. And modernist supervillian homes. And various postmodern revivalisms. And bungalows. And houses with really big doors, most likely with really big hedges around them. We've got dingbat apartments. We've got high-rise lofts. We've got Geoffrey Palmer. Didn't say they were all beautiful, but they certainly aren't all the same. Whatever your taste (or lack of taste), you can probably find it here. And if people don't find it, they build it.

And, yeah, on this week's ride we'll pass by a whole lot of it. We'll see beach houses. We'll see mansions on hillsides. There's a house with a lookout tower and a house painted to look vaguely like it is covered in jewels. Around a circle we'll find wedge-shaped houses. And don't worry, there will be plenty of stucco. There are dream houses for a whole mess of different dreams. This is not, however, an "architecture tour." There are no specific landmarks or stops or histories. So, in a way, it isn't really all that different from most of our other rides, which probably typically pass by tons of homes. But we will travel through areas of disparate economic circumstances and therefore visibly disparate housing. And, riding during the day, we'll be able to appreciate the architectural mise-en-scène much more clearly. So join us as we find our bliss rolling residentially.

(~40 miles; a fair amount of climbing, mostly in short bursts; a fair amount of off-roading; a tiny amount of hiking)

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The details:

- As noted above, we will be meeting on SATURDAY this week ON THE A LINE PLATFORM AT 7TH/METRO CENTER STATION. We'll be heading south, toward Long Beach.

- Be there BEFORE 9AM and we will take a train shortly thereafter. Because nothing can be easy, trains are running on a reduced schedule on Saturday, so not sure when exactly the next train after 9AM will be. But, whenever it is, we'll be on it.

- At Willowbrook/Rosa Parks we'll transfer to the C Line (Green), heading West.

- The ride itself will start at the DOUGLAS C/GREEN LINE STATION in El Segundo, hopefully around 10:15am. If you want to drive to the start, there is some parking at Douglas Station and you can ride the Green Line back at the end from Willowbrook/Rosa Parks (we'll pass near it again). Alternatively, you could park at Willowbrook/Rosa Parks Station and ride the Green Line to Douglas in the morning. You have choices.

- Weather forecast for the coastal areas looks to be slightly foggy in the morning, burning off by noon. Highs in low- to mid-70s. Perhaps a bit warmer at the end, as we head inland. 

- We will stop for lunch about midway through, likely at a Trader Joes, though we'll probably take what we purchase to a nearby park to actually eat.

- Because of track work during the original ride, it ended at 103rd/Watts Tower Station. But I think this time we'll probably end at either Compton or Willowbrook Station instead, to cut a couple unnecessary miles off the end. From there we'll take Metro again, north into downtown.

- Since there is no particular schedule we need to follow (unlike other weekend rides, involving Metrolink), we'll get back to the A Line when we get back, and take the next arriving train. I forget how long it took last time, but my original estimate was back to station around 3 or 4pm, returning downtown around 4 or 5-ish? Depends on some trail conditions, how speedy we're feeling on hills, how leisurely a lunch we take, how well I remember the route haha, etc.

- I'm sure you know the drill, but bring all the things that you will need for an all-day bike ride: water, sunscreen, snacks, extra layers of clothing. (Given the time of year, I don't think there is any danger of it getting dark before we're done, but bringing lights is never a bad idea.)

See you Saturday!