Redondo Beach, CA

On Friday I took a very long trip by public transportation to Redondo Beach, CA.

I'm not exactly sure why I decided to go just as far as I possibly could by LA Metro. I probably wouldn't have if I'd looked at a map ahead of time and seen that once I got to the Redondo Beach station, it would take about 40 minutes by bus to actually get to the beach.

I left Mission at 11:16am on the Gold line. Switched to the Red line at 11:46. Then to the Blue line at 11:54. And, finally, at 12:20, the Green line. When I arrived at the Redondo Beach station, I expected it to be clear which way to walk to get to the beach. But it wasn't. And the other three people around seemed to be waiting for a shuttle. I quickly mapped it on my iPhone and realized that the walk would take a very long time and probably wouldn't be all that interesting.

This is what I saw when I got off the train:


So I waited for the bus, which I learned was the BCT - Beach Cities Transit - and cost $1 each way. I got on it, managed to pull together the change, and hoped that it would, in fact, get me to a beach.



40 minutes later, I arrived at my destination.

I'm not sure what I expected, but this wasn't it. I was tired and hungry and felt strange pulling out my camera. After a little bit of a walk, I decided to go into Ruby's for a burger and fries.



It was just what I needed to get the energy to snap a few shots before making the long trip back to where I began.

Here are a few of the photos...











My impression of Redondo Beach? Well...if I had gone to go swimming and be away from touristy spots, this might have been a good location. The beach was nice, seemingly clean, and not over-crowded.

There are a lot of marinas, a few overpriced restaurants, plenty of places to buy fish and crabs, fishing poles for rent, and a man-made swimming hole/pool where lots of kids/families were hanging out.

But it wasn't especially pretty and seemed somewhat rundown overall.

It was a long trip to get to a place that then didn't have anything all that appealing to me. But that was fine. For me, it was more about the journey - knowing I *could* navigate my way. And becoming even more familiar with public transportation, neighborhoods, and people of Los Angeles.

See the rest of the day's photos here.