The L Train

Justin: Oh man, the L. Back when we lived in the Sunset on Taraval, this was the main artery that Chels and I both had to follow to get to our Downtown jobs. What can I say? My biggest enemy? My savior? I can't really think of a line of public transportation that I have cursed and praised so passionately. Taraval (or as some call the neighborhood, Parkside) is a little known part of town that no one ever bothers to go to unless they live out there. It's got some decent bars, some absolutely terrible bars, a few choice little restaurants and whatnot. This is the Irish part of town, which is to say that the Chinese population is only about 75%. The L is the way to get to our favorite little hillside perch on Ocean Beach, where we had a nice little outing yesterday. It was a pleasant little nostalgic trip, and is the reason behind this review. Also, the L will take you from Embarcadero to the Zoo, which is free on the first Wednesday of the month. You can't go wrong with that.

Chels:Can a person genuinely miss a public transit line? Is one line really that much better than the next? First, boom. There's some light reading while you're riding the L. I have literally been witness to every single action or situation described on that list. The most disgusting is "nail clipping lady", she is the absolute bane of my MUNI riding existence. I'll take the smelly homeless man or awkward older gentleman who has mastered the 'arm boob brush' whilst entering or exiting the car. This lady will cut her finger nails AND toe nails while sitting right next to you. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've been on an L train that turned into a M or K train somewhere between Castro and West Portal. Of course I only figure this out once we don't make the turn out of the tunnel, thanks a lot shitastic L train MUNI drivers. And yes, the drivers frequently run out of the train at a stop sign. But I've never seen one come back with lotto tickets, no, usually just sandwiches or KFC, or sometimes they come back with donuts (but never enough for all of us), this one particular MUNI driver would stop every morning at The Copper Kettle to get a croissant and an espresso, he was one of the those rare classy MUNI drivers. While being ridiculous and unbelievably unreliable, the L train definitely had its great moments. I met some fascinating people when I was commuting daily between The Sunset and Embarcadero, the majority of whom I will never see again, but for a few minutes there we were comrades of the commute. But when all is said and done, the L train is by far the most efficient of all the MUNI lines. Its the City's only direct public transit link between Downtown (tourism $$) and the SF Zoo. So even during MUNI line cut backs/slashes and transfer hikes, the L service was left fairly unscathed because the City couldn't afford to not have trains shuttling people down to the Zoo. When Justin and I recently went to Sushi Zen for Valentine's Day I was slightly taken aback by the strong reunion sensation I had when I stepped aboard the L train at Civic Center. It felt like I had actually missed this train. But then we got on the train heading home and "nail clipping lady" was sitting two rows up and to the right of us. So no, L Train, I don't miss you at all.