Metro bus No. 2 connects some of the city's richest zip codes to some of its poorest. 92 percent of riders are people of color. Columnist frankshyong rode it for a week.
Byron Wade Taylor waits for the No. 2 Metro bus in downtown L.A. on Friday to get to his job at Gwen restaurant in Hollywood. The route connects some of the city's richest ZIP Codes to some of its poorest.
The bus helped me let go of the fantasy of sunshine and palm trees that I and so many other transplants arrive with. The windows put the beauty and inequality of the city on a single roll of film, walls of greenery hiding palatial homes giving way to pastel pink, yellow and gray stucco marked with graffiti. At night, the view became a Technicolor neon smear.
I met Danetta and Angela Bates, a pair of black women wearing matching white T-shirts and jeans, who happened to be twins. Danetta, 60, had restaurant recommendations, and encouraged me to take my mother to the $20 all-you-can-eat seafood buffet at King Buffet on Western.On every bus I rode, there were Latina women in practical outfits and comfortable shoes, headed to jobs cleaning houses and hotel rooms on the Westside. Many seemed to know one another.
On another westbound ride with the green walls of Beverly Hills rushing by, Jonath Acosta, his mom, Valentina, and I are the only people left on the bus. I can’t help but recoil when they tell me they’re coming from Rowland Heights, about 50 miles away. They nod emphatically. We commiserate about the traffic on the 60 Freeway for a while, once rated the fifth most congested stretch of road in the state.Jonath, 19, is tall and gangly with dyed blond hair that falls past his ears.
The route spurs reminiscing. On Broadway, Paulina points out Valeria’s Bridal, where she bought her wedding dress. At the Los Angeles Theatre, Paul watched “Super Fly,” the original starring Ron O’Neal, with the Curtis Mayfield soundtrack. We pass the old Herald-Examiner building, where Paulina used to work security, and Paul used to deliver papers. They didn’t know each other then — the couple met at a party 11 years ago, they tell me.
As we pass a new apartment complex Paul tells me how they’re back on their feet now and staying in a room at a friend’s house. They’re applying for Section 8 housing, but even if they get it, he doesn’t know if they’ll be able to find a place in Los Angeles.Heading east that same day, I meet Byron Wade Taylor, a 35-year-old supervisor at Gwen, a restaurant in Hollywood.
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