On a Saturday I take the 720 rapid down Wilshire from Westwood into the heart of Downtown.

I think there is no better way to learn the city and its varied spaces and people than to ride the bus. You are among the people and out of the comfort bubble of the car. The 720 goes by so many interesting places: Beverly Hills, The La Brea Tar Pits, the LACMA, Mid-Town, Koreatown, MacArthur Park, and then across the freeway and down the hill into the skyscrapers of Downtown L.A. All the while different people are getting on the bus and off the bus and you can watch the scenery change.

To know a city you have to circulate in it, among the people. (more) In L.A. I think you can only do this by riding the bus, and then getting off and walking around. I usually get off the 720 on Broadway and 6th, and walk up and down among the old buildings, investigating moments or objects of history.

In such an immense place, I’ve barely gone anywhere at all, barely branched out into other routes, other veins through the city.
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