Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Current Affairs, Food & Drink, Memories & History, Pleasures, Travel

What I learned from taking a train across the US

Here’s how US train travel went from excellent to mediocre.

By Dean Peterson, Jul 18, 2023, 11:15am EDT

Added via YouTube

If you’ve taken the Amtrak recently, you might have no idea that the United States used to have the largest and wealthiest rail system in the world. How did the US go from having luxurious, widely used passenger trains to the Amtrak system we have today?

Video producer Dean Peterson makes a 72-hour journey on Amtrak from LA to NYC to show its current state of operation. From getting kicked in the head by his sleeping seatmate to taking in sweeping views of the desert at sunset, Dean shows the highs and lows of being stuck on Amtrak for days on end.

Along the way, he explains the history of passenger rail in the US — starting in the problematic robber baron era to the US government’s takeover of passenger rail. Will the United States ever catch up to the rest of the world when it comes to train travel, or are Americans stuck with an underfunded, inefficient rail network forever? Join Dean on his journey as he sets out to find the answers to these questions and more.

https://www.vox.com/videos/2023/7/18/23798910/travel-train-amtrak-coast-to-coast

Current Affairs, Food & Drink, Memories & History, Pleasures, Travel

The Coast Starlight is a cruise on rails, and the food’s pretty good | San Francisco Chronicle

By Carl Nolte, June 18, 2022, Updated: June 18, 2022 10:40 a.m.

The northbound Coast Starlight arrives at Santa Barbara for the travelers’ return trip to Emeryville. Carl Nolte / The Chronicle

The long vacation trip to Europe fell through. Too complicated. So now this season’s vacation plan calls for something different: short getaway trips around the West.

And the best so far has been a quick trip to Santa Barbara by train. Something different.

It was the Sailor Girl’s idea. She’s my companion and the navigator on small adventures. “We’ll go first class,” she said, “in one of those little rooms. It’ll be fun.” She didn’t have to say it twice. I’m a believer in the gospel according to Edna St. Vincent Millay: “There isn’t a train I wouldn’t take, no matter where it’s going.”

from article…

We rode Amtrak’s Coast Starlight, down to Santa Barbara on Friday and back again on Sunday. The Starlight is a long-distance train and runs 1,377 miles every day down the West Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles. So we just did a portion of the run, enough to get a good feel. It’s not our first time on the Starlight, and every trip is a bit different.

Source: The Coast Starlight is a cruise on rails, and the food’s pretty good

Books & Reading, Pleasures, Travel

The Function of Train Travel in Books | Book Riot

By Neha Patel, Jan 14, 2022

From article…

I grew up in Los Angeles, which is not exactly known for its public transportation.

My first time on a train wasn’t very romantic, but what it lacked in romance it more than made up for in adventure. The first time I was on a train was in my motherland: India.

And yes, everything you’ve heard about Indian trains being hectic, confusing, and overcrowded is absolutely correct. I honestly don’t even remember how my family found our cabins or even got all of our luggage on before the train screeched to a start.

It was a funny conversation with my classmates once I got back to California. Their eyes were wide and amazed. You were on a train?

Apparently it wasn’t cool to read about the Hogwarts Express, but it was cool to sleep on a train cot in India watching the countryside whiz past and eating chaat handed to me through the window by a vendor while headed to Rajasthan (actually, it was cool).

Source: The Function of Train Travel in Books | Book Riot

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Memories & History, Music

The Superstars Align for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ Opening Gala | Vanity Fair

A set by Lady Gaga, toasts by Tom Hanks and Nicole Kidman, and more make for a night to remember in L.A

By Britt Hennemuth, Photography by Greg Williams, September 26, 2021

Lady Gaga, Photograph by Greg Williams / courtesy Academy Museum Foundation.

After nearly a decade of anticipation, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open on Thursday, September 30, in Los Angeles.

To toast the occasion on Saturday night, a room of Covid-compliant Oscar winners, history-makers, and hopefuls took a trip down the green carpet, a right past Dorothy’s ruby slippers, and a left under a massive fiberglass shark from Jaws, before crossing over the Barbra Streisand bridge to the top floor of the Renzo Piano-designed glass dome for the Opening Night Gala.

Creative director Lisa Love and Artistic Director Raul Ávila transformed the 360 degree vista into a modern Cocoanut Grove complete with 30 palm trees, a band stand, and a fleet of horns.

The evening recalled the Golden Age of Hollywood, and included toasts by Tom Hanks, Laura Dern, Bob Iger, Annette Bening, Ava DuVernay, Nicole Kidman, and Ted Sarandos. Admission (seats sold for upwards of $50,000) raised money for the museum’s access, education, and programming initiatives, and honored the Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima and Italian supernova Sophia Loren, with help from co-chairs DuVernay, Jason Blum, and Ryan Murphy.

The host committee included industry titans Spike Lee, Brian Lourd, Ralph Lauren, Barry Diller, Diane Von Furstenberg, and Vanity Fair’s own Radhika Jones, as well as the museum’s director, Bill Kramer, and its Chief Artistic and Programming officer, Jacqueline Stewart.

Source: The Superstars Align for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ Opening Gala | Vanity Fair

Arts & Humanities, Current Affairs, Film & Movies, Libraries, Memories & History, Pleasures, Travel

Academy Museum: Movie Exhibit Highlights – Sunset Magazine

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, set to open Sept. 30 in Los Angeles, offers much more than those famous ruby slippers.

By Jennifer Konerman  – September 13, 2021

Photo by Josh White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation
Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Saban Building. Photo by Josh White, JWPictures/©Academy Museum Foundation

Just as the 2022 Oscars season is beginning (in earnest) for awards-hopefuls, the long-awaited Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is set to open in Los Angeles.

The museum, first announced more than eight years ago, opens its doors at 6067 Wilshire Boulevard on Sept. 30 with several exhibitions and screening programs in store.

The collections vary from technology and the history of cinema to behind-the-scenes props from famous moments in film (like matte paintings that you probably thought were real life).

On display (so far) will include The Wizard of Oz‘s famous ruby slippers, a Cinerama camera from 1954, Nightmare Before Christmas‘ original expressive heads of Jack Skellington, Shirley Temple’s tap shoes, an annotated script of To Kill a Mockingbird, and the head from Alien.

Source: Academy Museum: Movie Exhibit Highlights – Sunset Magazine

Libraries, Memories & History

Rodney King Beating Was 30 Years Ago Today; Courtroom Sketches Now at Library | Library of Congress Blog

Rodney King on the witness stand. Artist: Mary Chaney. Prints and Photographs Division.

The Library [of Congress] recently acquired courtroom artist Mary Chaney’s sketches from the trials of Rodney King in Los Angeles from 1992-1994.

The Black motorist was beaten viciously by white police officers after a high-speed chase in 1991. The acquittal of the officers in state court set off days of deadly riots and became a touchstone in American society.

Source: Rodney King Beating Was 30 Years Ago Today; Courtroom Sketches Now at Library | Library of Congress Blog