Echo Park to Tarzana

I took a trip to Long Beach for school and while I was there I visited and took pictures of Pedestrian and Bicycle infrastructure along the 101.  I borrowed a bike from my friend Michael and had beers with friends and played a new game called Cards Against Humanity.  After I finished my school stuff I rode my borrowed bike to the Blue Line and caught a train Downtown LA.

The first leg of my journey took me up Fig to Glendale to Laveta Terrace.  The most striking element of this PUC is the 1950 written above both of the regularly painted entrance.  However, I also noticed that there actually is graffiti in some places, the gates on the freeway are falling apart and that the tunnel is dimly lighted.  On the far side I found a ramp, which essentially sits at the foot of Angelino Heights.  This entrance has an at grade view of the freeway and is less prominent.  There is also a grill protecting it from traffic.  The location is a bus stop and there were a lot of people using the location.

I returned to the other side and rode Temple to the Belmont POC and took the time to explore the nearby hospital which used to be connected to the crossing.  Though the crossing on this side has graffiti on the ground the walls of the crossing are mostly free of it.  It starts at the freeway off ramp and rises to a prominently written 1950 where the span begins.  There is ivy growing all over that side.  There are palms on the other side of the span, which is an at-grade cul-de-sac and also features a year.  I saw people using the span and the nearby access to Echo Park proper.

I then rode through the hills of Silver Lake across Alvarado before getting to Sunset.  At Griffith Park Bl I took Santa Monica to Heliotrope.  This is an interesting area which I readily got lost in.  Eventually I crossed Normandie and finally found the Kingsly PUC.  I noticed that this part of East Hollywood is poor in quality.  There were a few people with work trucks standing around and a lot of people passed through.  The crossing seems like it is older than the freeway above it.  There is a 1950 written above this one as well and neither side is very distinct.  There is a park on the south side and many people use the crossing for recreational reasons.  I passed a large group of laughing girls inside on the way back.  When I was done I took the wacky Red Train to Flower and returned to Long Beach where I was staying.  I saw friends and watched karaoke.

The next day, after breakfast, I once again boarded the Blue- and Red- Lines to North Hollywood.  I had a little trouble getting the bike onto the Orange Line but made it to Balboa Park easily enough.  From there I crossed the LA River and braved Burbank to find the Amestoy Crossing.  It is above grade and zig-zags away from Burbank Bl.  It isn’t much different from the Belmont crossing.  The other side is a switch back with a wall.

From here I rode Killion to the Encino Crossing, which is mostly clean of graffiti and is above grade with two large spiral ramps.  The south side looks like a jungle but the other doesn’t.  There is a post in the middle of the entrance and on the crossing you can see the Amestoy crossing.

I then took Burbank to the Etiwanda PUC, which is nest to a culvert.  It has a post similar to Encino but the square above the entrance is missing a year.  There was a lot of trash and the walls inside had a lot of graffiti and there were lights inside.

I passed a hospital and a medical office building near Etiwanda and found the Yolanda Crossing, which is nearly identical to Etiwanda with its entrances, center post and culvert.  However, there were more people and less trash.  From there I rode to the Orange Line at Balboa and transferred to the Redline at NoHo bound for Long Beach and home the next day.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.