How I used the light rail over the weekend

Posted on 20. Apr, 2009 by Tony Arranaga in Uncategorized

UPDATE: LINK TO PHOENIX IMPROV

I had THE BEST weekend, and the light rail played a huge role in all the fun and helping me get around Phoenix.

Starting Friday night.  I took the train to the Herberger Theater and made a pit stop to see Her Secret is Patience at ASU‘s Downtown Campus.

Her Secret is Patience

This is the first time I’ve seen the sculpture (Janet Echelman) up close at night.  I love how you can see (below) all the people gathering to take a closer look at the new centerpiece of Downtown Phoenix.  The lights from the Westward Ho in the background almost make the piece look like an U.F.O.

Taking a look around at all the people made me feel so proud of our city and how far it has come in recent months.  The urban core has this really cool energy right now, and people are starting to see what downtown has to offer – restaurants, retail, and culture.

My next stop was the Herberger Theater where the 8th Annual Phoenix Improv Festival was keeping people laughing all night long.  If you’ve never been to an improv event, the players on stage take hints from the audience to create a half hour show of comedic free flowing dialogue where the actors thrive on spontaneity.

The two guys above are ToySoup from Salt Lake City, UT – they had the audience in stitches.  The two are full of energy and have the amazing ability to imitate everyday motions and sounds.  I also got to see Mail Order Bride, a group of Phoenix women who are HILARIOUS. I had to leave to catch the train home but there were other performers that night as well – Coldtowne from Austin, TX and COG from Hollywood, CA.

I can’t wait to check out the other groups that perform.  For more information, click here.

The fun continued Saturday night at Portland’s Restaurant with some friends who were in town for the Pride Festival at Steele Indian School Park.  However, the tanned and toned bodies at the park had some competition from curves of steel.  Take a look at this:

Now, I’m not a huge classic car buff, but I gotta admit I was kinda caught up in all the classic car show action that was going on at Park Central!  There was one car that had flames shooting out the exhaust pipes on the hood of the engine!  Dozens of people lined up along Central near Osborn, and then hundreds of people gathered to check out the cars at the main event at Park Central.

I made my way to Portland’s and met up with some friends who introduced me to Amanda and Barry who were visiting from Portland, Oregon.  In case you didn’t know, Portland the city is the place many cities around the country look to for inspiration when it comes to designing transit.  Portland is also known for it’s huge bicycling community.  People use bikes to get everywhere in Portland.

Both Amanda and Barry agreed our light rail is “impressive” – Barry saw our system while it was under construction and liked the finished product, especially our bike stations inside the cars.  Barry says in Portland, the bike hooks run throughout the entire car.  Amanda and Barry each purchased a three day pass, and at $7.50, Barry says the fare is reasonable.  Amanda says our light rail system should catapult the city to the next level.  Yay, Phoenix!

Ok, back to me.  We finished at Portland’s (the restaurant) and then made our way over to Carly’s on Roosevelt.  We ended the night around 12:30 a.m. and I still needed to get home.  As you may or may not know, the trains have to be back at the yard at midnight.  Guess who hoofed it home.  I didn’t want to wait for a taxi, so I walked from the Arts District station ALL THE WAY TO OSBORN AND CENTRAL.  I’ve heard some  buzz about possible uses for advertising revenue, and I’m hoping those funds are earmarked for late running trains on the weekend.  (Pretty please!)

On Sunday, I made my way to Red Hot Robot with my friend Jeff.  The store (Central and Camelback next to Stinkweeds) was having a Mini Munny Mobile giveaway.

The item is a hit with kids and adults.  Red Hot Robot gave away the kits to the first 50 customers on Sunday.

My weekend ended with a fun pool party on the rooftop of the contemporary style condos on 3rd Ave and Portland.  The view from the deck is spectacular!  To the north is Midtown Phoenix, and to the south is Downtown.  As Barbara Walters says, take a little time to enjoy the view.

And the view to the south looking toward Downtown Phoenix and Her Secret is Patience at the ASU downtown campus.

Tags: Improv, Patience, Portland