My Little Tokyo Meetup VI - Into Dorkness

'kay, so if you guys get lost and need assistance ranging from the locational to the existential, call the meetup number, (760) 913-7069 (P0NY)

putting this up here to see how much interest gloms on. if interest gloms on, i'll add more information later. it would be the same format as all the previous Little Tokyo meets.

also this would totally be the weekend after i graduate from college so y'know just sayin'.

EDIT: interest get!

more or less this should work the same as last time. 12pm to whenever you want to leave, in which case you leave. i will once again suggest that we meet up in front of/under this thing (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Little_Tokyo_Watchtower.jpg), the Watchtower, at the northern end of the Little Tokyo Village, across the street from the Japanese American National Museum. this time i'll even try not to be late to my own friggin' meetup! c:

getting here should work the same as it did last time. here (http://elittletokyo.com/En/parking.htm) is a list and map of parking lots relative to Little Tokyo, although i'm not sure which are paid and which are free. if you're driving here, you want to get on the 101 and get off at Alameda. if you're on the 101 South, turn right; if you're on the 101 North, turn left. where you go from there depends on which parking lot you want to go to. the one i usually use is as follows:

-from the 101, go South on Alameda. turn right on 1st street. then turn left onto Central Ave. there's a parking structure on the right hand side. you pay as you leave. be warned, it's really narrow in there.

have a carpool spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArQcpz9HBF0pdGRUUkVHNndUT1M1SGlzczkzTFp0Ync&usp=sharing)

if you want to save the Earth like Fluttershy and take public transit, there are a buttload of options. basically, any train that gets you to LA Union Station gets you ridiculously close to Little Tokyo. from there, all you have to do is get on the Metro Gold Line southbound, towards Atlantic. from Union Station, the very next stop is Little Tokyo/Arts District. get off there, follow 1st Street west, and within a few hundred feet you'll see the Watchtower and Little Tokyo Village. also, try not to get run over by the train on your way out. fare is $1.50 one way. if you want to take the bus, the LADOT DASH Downtown A stops right in front of Little Tokyo Village, so you can be totally cool and take a bus called "Dash" to a brony meetup.

on the other hand, do be aware that public transit agencies usually have reduced service on the weekends. i picked Saturday because they tend to have more service on Saturday than on Sunday, and also more shops should be open. also, do be aware that the recession has kind of ravaged Little Tokyo and while there's still shops and restaurants and such around, there aren't as many as there used to be. also also, be aware that restaurants charge gratuities for large parties, so if you show up with like twenty people to one restaurant, well, yeah.

still, there is stuff to do! there's shops in Little Tokyo Village, there's ramen, there's sushi, there's a place that sells really good fried rice (and, like, burgers and Mexican food and whatever if you want to be one of those people who goes to Little Tokyo and gets a cheeseburger), there's ice cream, there's a bakery, and a few minutes' walk south is the Little Tokyo Shopping Center, which has a karaoke bar and an arcade, among other things. the Shopping Center is on 3rd and Central. start at the Japanese-American Museum, head south down Central, turn left on 3rd, bam.

i'm not going to be all anal about schedules and whatever like Twilight Sparkle. the idea is to show up and hang out and shop or karaoke or draw or hit up the arcade or spread friendship all over everything or whatever and meet people, so i'm not going to demand that we all set schedules or whatever. so go forth, shop, eat, spread the magic of friendship, crusade for your cutie marks, and all that.

i have my cell phone number in the carpool spreadsheet, and i'll have my number on the Google Voice thingy too. my phone is not a smartphone, so if you need to contact me, i would prefer you do it through text messages, because i won't be able to see comments here and i don't have unlimited calling minutes.