Black, White & Brown On The Blue Line

It would have been impossible to predict a Blue Line in Los Angeles, Watts, 107th and Avalon Avenue, California when I came to live there, back in 1966. In Los Angeles County, many of us, pressed by circumstances, have suffered distances that would make a camel thirsty. Or cause a new car to need an oil change. There were people talking about putting trains on city tracks, no doubt. But I never heard their talk; I was too busy trying to force my raggedy ol’ car to run a few more miles. Or trying to figure out how I could walk from Belgium to Holland without peeing on myself. (Once upon a time, stranded beside a road to Eternity, down there in Orange County, someone told me that the property I was standing in front of was as large as Luxembourg. And I had walked across most of Austria to get there). Gotta admit it, I didn't have the vision to assume that there would ever be a railed transportation system, like our hard heeled CTA in Chicago. Certainly, nothing that would ever come close to that monstrosity that connects various tentacles of New York with itself. The Blue Line 21st Century,(and it’s crossing arms, the Green and Red Lines) is unique. It doesn't go very far; surely there's more railway at Disneyland, but it does take you to different places, if your mind is open. From the Metro station, 7th Street, Downtown Los Angeles, to 1st Street, Downtown Long Beach. From the end of one world to the end of another world.