A number of news items in today’s lunchtime news reading address transportation in some form:
- Hidden Successes. Saturday, the Orange Line extension opens in the San Fernando Valley; this extension extends the line from the current terminus at Warner Center to the Chatsworth station. The LA Times has a nice article about the Orange Line as one of the hidden successes of transit in Los Angeles. I have yet to try the line because I’ve been worried about the time, but I might just try it one day to go riding my bike in some interesting place.
- A Token Effort. In Boston, they are getting rid of transit tokens. Actually, they got rid of them long ago, but they are becoming worthless soon. BostInno has an interesting article on all the unused tokens.
- Flying Secrets. Mental Floss has an interesting article with information about things flight attendents don’t tell you. They call it “shocking”; I didn’t find it that shocking.
- Control Tower. SF Gate has an interesting article on the new control tower being constructed at SFO. This new tower had to fit into a very narrow ground footprint, which led to its interesting shape.
Lastly, a PS to my post of the other day on new musicals: Work is being done on a Broadway-bound update to Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, featuring a new book by Douglas Carter Beane. Tony nominee Beane (Xanadu, Lysistrata Jones, The Little Dog Laughed), who also delivered a fresh book for the Broadway production of Sister Act, recharted the journey of the classic tale in a new way: Retaining all classic elements of the fairytale, it will now be Cinderella’s turn to rescue the Prince. Beane’s treatment will incorporate songs from the Rodgers and Hammerstein catalogue, as well as songs from the original television version, including “In My Own Little Corner,” “Impossible/It’s Possible,” “Ten Minutes Ago” and “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful?” The casting, which is for a workshop, also looks interesting.
