This week’s local perspective has to do with getting around Los Angeles. If you are an entertainer or artist of any type living in Southern California you have myriad of opportunity at your fingertips, but this also poses some challenges. Here are some tips to getting around.

1. Get a car.

Whoever said driving is a privilege not a right, never lived in Los Angeles. Now, you don’t need a car to succeed, but we also don’t need our eye sight to live. There are lots of people without sight that live very fulfilling lives, but there are also federal handicap laws in place to help said persons. There is no law that says you have the right to get from Burbank to Downtown at the same time as everyone else. This needs to be on the list of equipment you make when you first decide to pursue an entertainment career in LA. DJ Equipment, Guitars, Paints, Canvas, Camera, Microphone, Car. Whatever your equipment list looks like, car is a necessary bullet point.

I do note that I was without a car for about 4 years of my career. I rode the Metro system like a surfer on a wave. Because of this, I learned to appreciate the value of a car not the Metro.

2. Know the freeway system.

My grandma doesn’t drive the freeways. My grandma never goes further than a 5 mile radius of her house. Chances are you need to drive further than 5 miles to get to a gig, audition, bar, club, school, event. It will behoove you to at least know the main arteries of Southern California freeways. Here’s a brief summary:

The 10. Santa Monica to the I.E. In East LA gets kind of confusing. West goes towards the beach, sunset and Universal Music, Viacom, and other fancy Santa Monica/West LA Startups. East takes you to the San Gabriel Valley. Some of your fans may live here.

 

The 60.Like the 10 but less or more crowded depending on day.

 

The 210. Like the 60 but closer to the mountains.

 

The 405. Hell paved over. Don’t drive between the hours of 7am – 10am & 3pm – 7pm. North will take you to the San Fernando Valley and south will take you to the Airport, South Bay, and Orange County.

 

The 101. Half hipster freeway, Half executive freeway. From Downtown LA to Hollywood will give you random exits that are actually little mazes to hipster hotspots. From Universal Studios to Calabasas, this is the freeway entertainment executives take to go from their corporate offices to their lavish homes.

 

The 5. The main artery of Southern California. 4 parts. North of Burbank is your escape route back to NorCal. Glendale to Downtown LA is the back road to hipsterville. East LA to Orange County: Construction Zone; Do Not Enter. South of Disneyland is your escape route to San Diego.

 

The 710 or 605. Take these instead of the 5 construction zone from Downtown to Orange County.

 

The 110. Southbound cuts through South Central. Northbound goes to Pasadena.

 

The 105. The freeway you take to the airport. Go west.

 

The 90. Not a real freeway, a shortcut to Venice.

 

The 170. Not a real freeway, a shortcut through North Hollywood.

 

The 134. Only necessary when you have a meeting with a radio station, or working on one of the following studio lots: Disney, Warner Brothers, or NBC/Universal.

 

The 15, 215, & 57. IE freeways. Take North to Vegas or South to San Diego

 

The 22. Gets you from one end of Garden Grove to the other end of Garden Grove.

 

The 2. A big fun freeway to speed on with great beautiful views but doesn’t actually go anywhere.

 

The 118. You will never take the 118.

 

The 14. If you have fans in Lancaster, go North once a year to visit them.

 

The 55, 73, 261, 241, 133, 73. Toll or toll-ish roads in Orange County. Don’t worry about these. Ever.

 

The 71. You think its a shortcut somewhere, but the freeway isn’t finished in Corona so it actually takes forever.

 

The 91. At least twice a year for some reason or another you will need to visit Riverside, take this freeway East to get there. That is all.

 

The 1. I count Pacific Coast Highway as a freeway. Whenever you are stressing driving the most, take PCH. You will not get anywhere in time, but you’ll have a blast contemplating life as you bask in the sunset.

3. Download SigAlert app.

I know most smartphone maps give you traffic readings, but this is the system that most news companies rely on for traffic information. It will give you detailed information regarding accidents and closures and not just a red or green line.

4. Know where your closest friends and fans live.

Once you get to West LA, your meeting or audition may only take 10 minutes. Then what do you do? Get back on the road and spend another 2 hours trekking back where you came from? No. You hang out with friends in the area. Your plea on Facebook may not be answered in enough time to beat the lunch crowd to the local eatery, so know who lives in what areas ahead of time and make plans to meet them when you go to that area for business. This also helps when you have an event in a particular city. As opposed to just spamming out a Facebook invite no one will read. You can personally message or text the people you know live around the area to come out and support you.

5. Have a good excuse.

You will be late one day. No one takes traffic as a viable excuse in Los Angeles. Even if there was a 4 car pileup on each freeway and every exit was closed due to construction. This is still not an excuse. Use your time stuck in traffic to think of great excuses. Have at least one good one that you use that you know will at least give some sort of insight in to your humor or your brand. If you are in an emo rock band you could say you got caught up in your own self dispair and were actually about to down an entire bottle of (pick your alcohol, drug, or medicine of choice) but I decided life was worth living and I eventually hit the road to get here, but obviously I was already late because of that. Or if you are a hipster you could say that you were on the road but passed a protest for (pick your favorite Occupy movement) and felt so moved by the cause you had to stop and donate money or time. Traffic is not an excuse, have a good one.