Riding the Red Car and Elsa Mora

My husband has been wanting to ride on the Red Car for the longest time (the old electric trolley that had run for many years throughout the greater Los Angeles area), so it was on our list of things to do this summer vacation. We did our research online - they said it only runs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and also the hours were from eleven in the morning until four. So we arrive there in San Pedro at about 11:20 and find out that the hours have changed - it doesn't start running until noon. WAH! California budget cuts strike again (or I'm thinking that must be the culprit???)

So we flipped our route and went on down to Long Beach and a visit to MOLAA - Museum of Latin American Art. We hadn't been in at least two years and were so surprised when we drove up and the museum was now three times it's former size! WOW, it had grown.

We first saw the exhibit from the permanent collection. We were nearly done when I saw a painting with the caption stating the artist was Elsa Mora. Yes! The oh so wonderful Elsa Mora!

I went to her blog this morning and it gets even more wonderful - she's going to have an exhibit in Hollywood. Woohoo! Cannot wait. I'm so excited.

After lunch at the cafe at the museum (veggie tamales and chile rellenos), we drove back to San Pedro to ride the Red Car. We just had to wait a few moments and the trolley car arrived. It was a bit anti-climatic - it only goes a few blocks and then they flip the seats to face the opposite direction and it returns back the other way the few blocks. But it was fun and hubby seemed to really delight in it and that's what counts.

It's so sad and sobering to think that once there was a rapid transit system in L.A. that served us well and it was all but dismantled and we need one so badly.