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Ride the Metrolink to downtown Los Angeles.
 New Yorkers are used to sardine subways, but it takes a little extra to
coax Angelinos out of their cars. The Metrolink system—only a dozen
years old—whisks suburbanites downtown aboard modern, double-decker
trains.
The Claremont station is only a few blocks from campus. Choose a seat on
the top deck and you can look down—literally and figuratively—on all
those commuters stuck in traffic. It takes less than an hour to reach
Union Station in downtown L.A.
From the train, you’ll get a view of Southern California to burst all
your la-la land illusions. The scene is more gritty than pretty as you
whiz past a world of corrugated metal roofs and humble post-war tract
homes. Arriving at Union Station, however, may revive your California
fantasies. Sociology Professor Emeritus Robert Herman notes that train
stations in other U.S. cities mimicked government buildings or royal
palaces, to evoke the importance of the railroads.
“In contrast, L.A.’s Union Station with its lavish color, soft light and
beautiful flower garden waiting areas, represents Southern California
rather than the railroads serving it,” he writes in his book, Downtown
Los Angeles: A Walking Guide. “Spanish tiles, great rounded arches,
richly patterned floors and wood-toned interiors suggest a warm welcome
for the arriving passenger and the promise of a new beginning—a new
life.”
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