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Old 07-30-2010, 11:24 AM
 
Location: West LA
2,318 posts, read 7,816,510 times
Reputation: 1125

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Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
It's a bit ironic that some people automatically think that traveling through or walking in poor neighborhoods means they will be robbed. Fear of others who happen to be a different color is unfortunate. When is the last time anyone heard of someone being robbed or beat up on any train in LA? Or tourists being chased out of Watts?
That's a great point... and I'm unfortunately at least a little bit guilty of this. Must be my upbringing in homogenous Central Ohio.
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Old 07-30-2010, 11:38 PM
 
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 22,949,801 times
Reputation: 36026
I've ridden all of the Metro rail lines and as a Caucasian female in my mid thirties, I have never felt unsafe. I've even rode the Green line several times from one end to the other at night and all I've encountered were mainly working folks going home.
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Old 07-31-2010, 12:37 AM
 
Location: Mt Washington: NELA
1,162 posts, read 3,226,096 times
Reputation: 642
Yeah, I noticed the Green Line carries alot of tired commuters, not unlike the Blue Line. I've said it before but its still true today: the Green and Blue Lines move the most diverse group of people I have ever seen, and they do it without conflict or incident (by and large). It's really amazing. All this talk about how Angelenos are too different to get along, love their cars too much, bla bla bla. The light rail lines tell a much different story, at least in my experience.
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Old 04-06-2015, 03:10 AM
 
1 posts, read 1,734 times
Reputation: 10
I just rode the red line from Universal to 7th st in downtown. This was my first time using the metro despite living in the city for 9 months. About 2 stops from 7th a man(possibly homeless) approached me and began to introduce himself. In the middle of his sentence he reached back and slapped me across the face very hard. My friend started to get up to help but I motioned him to sit down and not get involved. I quietly waited for the train to reach my stop as he continued to talk **** to me. I got up to leave once the train stopped and the man came from behind me and slapped me on the back of head. Not sure why I was singled out. I'm a 26 year old white male. He was probably in his 30s and black.
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:01 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,301,626 times
Reputation: 12313
Sorry to hear that , was nearly just assaulted like that in Santa Monica by a homeless just a few days ago ... A lot of these homeless people would be in jail if they weren't homeless ... City lets them get away with too much because , " hey what are we supposed to do the poor guy is homeless "

There are some panic buttons I believe on the trains where you could summon police , sorry to hear about your experience must of been super scary .
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Pasadena, CA
10,084 posts, read 15,771,765 times
Reputation: 4049
Quote:
Originally Posted by poikpoik View Post
I just rode the red line from Universal to 7th st in downtown. This was my first time using the metro despite living in the city for 9 months. About 2 stops from 7th a man(possibly homeless) approached me and began to introduce himself. In the middle of his sentence he reached back and slapped me across the face very hard. My friend started to get up to help but I motioned him to sit down and not get involved. I quietly waited for the train to reach my stop as he continued to talk **** to me. I got up to leave once the train stopped and the man came from behind me and slapped me on the back of head. Not sure why I was singled out. I'm a 26 year old white male. He was probably in his 30s and black.
That really sucks.

The buses in LA are 100 times scarier than the Metro lines, but I have definitely seen stuff like this on the Red and even Gold Line.

One time I was taking the Gold Line into DTLA on a Saturday and so there were a ton of old, white USC fans that drove into Pas and took the train the rest of the way. At Highland Park, a couple enters the train with a pretty scared look on their face and then proceed to move through the train to the back; it was as if they were trying to evade someone.

A couple seconds later, the person they were trying to escape stumbled onto the train - some wannabe-Mexican gangster who was absolutely loaded, stumbling around the train and talking about how he was a "man" now (so pathetic, I think it was this d-bags 18th birthday). Anyways he singles out this old white dude who probably never takes the trains, and starts harassing him about his USC attire. He keeps yammering on about how this is "Dodger Town" and he needs to get that Angels **** out of here. Of course, the guy is not wearing Angels stuff, it is clearly USC clothing. This goes on for the entire 20 minutes it takes to get from HP to Union Station. I wish I remembered more about the confrontation and what he said, I was pretty baked.

In between harassing this guy, the drunk hits on a couple chicks, punches the train's windows, and harasses this younger kid with a skateboard. I really thought he was going to punch this older USC fan, and I was trying to find the Sheriff's number to report it but it was not printed anywhere on the train I was sitting in (I certainly was not going to confront this lunatic and get stabbed). The worst part was, I ended up on the same Red Line train as the older guy, and as we are sitting there at Union Station waiting to depart, guess who stumbles into our car? The sheer terror in the old white guy's eyes when drunky fell into the Red Line car was kind of amazing. Luckily he stumbled his way back out of the car and into another one.

Anyways that is the craziest thing I have ever seen on an LA Metro train. About 1/5 as scary/bizarre as some of the stuff I've seen on the buses.

There is also this old Hispanic lady that mutters Spanish encantations at people on the trains and sometimes shouts at them. There is a video on Youtube of her starting a fight between two guys on the Red Line, and I have seen her really **** off some other riders too. I bet hipcat would recognize this lady, he seems to ride the PT here in LA enough to have encountered her. One time, she blessed my daughter when we were walking through the Union Station tunnels from the Gold Line to the Red Line.
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:09 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles (Native)
25,303 posts, read 21,301,626 times
Reputation: 12313
Wow .. And I was almost about to consider taking the bus in LA... But I don't think its a great idea now .

I believe that people do what they know they can get away with . The drunk want to be gangster wouldn't pull the same stunt at some upscale boutique for example .

Why can't there be a policy of refusing service to people that are clearly intoxicated or a public threat?

I don't think it should be someone's right to terrorize others .

People don't want to ride public transit specifically because these types of things do happen and the city doesn't seem to take a serious stance against it .
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:19 PM
 
Location: Pasadena, CA
10,084 posts, read 15,771,765 times
Reputation: 4049
Quote:
Originally Posted by jm1982 View Post
Wow .. And I was almost about to consider taking the bus in LA... But I don't think its a great idea now .

I believe that people do what they know they can get away with . The drunk want to be gangster wouldn't pull the same stunt at some upscale boutique for example .

Why can't there be a policy of refusing service to people that are clearly intoxicated or a public threat?

I don't think it should be someone's right to terrorize others .

People don't want to ride public transit specifically because these types of things do happen and the city doesn't seem to take a serious stance against it .
The worst part was him giving the guy a hard time about his jacket, saying something to the effect that it's not "LA enough" because it was an Anaheim Angels jacket. I really wanted to stand up and say "IT'S A F***** USC JACKET!" I'd say USC is probably more LA than the Dodgers.

JM - if you are looking for some creative inspiration, by all means take the bus! I do have to say that only about 1/3 of the time or less do I encounter crazies. But when they are crazy, they really take it to the next level.
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:30 PM
 
367 posts, read 668,822 times
Reputation: 404
I have seen homeless people do some wild **** on the 7 Big Blue Bus in the last couple years of riding it frequently.

One time a homeless guy, without provocation, punched a frail teenage kid in the nose three or four times... claret was just pouring out of his nose for what seemed like 15 minutes. What was even weirder was the homeless dude didn't even react... after he did it he just stood in a catatonic state until he was arrested.

Then I had a homeless woman sit next to me and scream some kind of quasi-Beat poem about how she was raped by the "f_ggot Tom Cruise" and how some miscellaneous celebrities I can't remember were Satan spawn. She frequently hangs around Pico/Robertson

Now I ride rail much less frequently but I guess I've only seen a couple incidents, mostly on the Blue/Expo line with some hoodrats having a tiff or some teenage bangers confronting each other.

So yeah, rail is generally safer than buses, but even on buses the shenanigans are usually a mild inconvenience at worst.
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Old 04-06-2015, 12:39 PM
 
Location: Sacramento, Ca.
2,441 posts, read 3,416,472 times
Reputation: 2629
Quote:
Originally Posted by californio sur View Post
It's a bit ironic that some people automatically think that traveling through or walking in poor neighborhoods means they will be robbed. Fear of others who happen to be a different color is unfortunate. When is the last time anyone heard of someone being robbed or beat up on any train in LA? Or tourists being chased out of Watts?
Quote:
Originally Posted by LASam View Post
That's a great point... and I'm unfortunately at least a little bit guilty of this. Must be my upbringing in homogenous Central Ohio.
Or like others who believe anything they encounter through the media. Unfortunately, danger can occur anywhere and South L.A. is not unique in this. But then some people enjoy massaging their egos by denouncing anywhere outside of their own neighborhood. You did right by consulting the people who ride or live near the area you might travel through instead.
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