Looking for suggestions about public transportation to Rose Bowl concert next Thursday - I have taken a public bus before from a remote parking lot, but it's been many years - does anyone have specifics to offer? uber/lyft is last resort as is on-site parking

Where would you be coming from?

For Rose Bowl games, we have parked at Union Station in DTLA and taken the Gold Line light rail to the Memorial Park Station. From there you can walk to the Rose Bowl (2 miles) or you can catch a free shuttle from the surface parking lot adjacent to the Parsons Complex on South Pasadena Avenue.

good point - we'll be staying with friends in Calabasas

Ugh. Traffic eastbound from Calabasas is pretty terrible from 3pm to 7:30pm every day.

From Pasadena there is a bowl shuttle ($5 round trip if purchased in advance) that takes you from Raymond/Walnut intersection to the bowl and back. It runs constantly there are several buses. So I would probably head to Pasadena around 2pm and plan on having a late lunch/ early dinner around 3:30 and then hop the shuttle around 5pm to the Bowl. Note that the weather is expected to be quite hot that afternoon, and the Bowl suggests allowing an hour to get through security etc. And you might then be sitting in the sun from 6pm to 7:30 pm depending on where your seats are.

If you parked in Glendale, there is express bus service to Pasadena so that you don't have to drive the last 30 mins of bad traffic...but there is no express bus back to Glendale after the concert so you would be looking at Uber/Lyft with surge pricing, or a "regular" bus which is about a 35 minute ride.

So, how was the concert? The clips on the news showed them all performing well, esp. Mick, but man do they look old...

A neighbor of mine didn't text a word about the concert but said that though the concert ended at 11pm, it took them until 1:05am to get back to the car �.95 minutes of which was just waiting in line for the "parking lots shuttle" from the Rose Bowl to Parsons. (It would have been a 35 minute walk).

We never wait for the return shuttle. We just walk, but it is mostly uphill and, if you don't know the right way to go, some of the blocks are super dark.

Sorry I missed this post. There’s probably a lot I could say about what some call the world’s greatest rock n roll band, the Rolling Stones, and what was dissatisfying over the performance. But when it comes down to it, the performance was brilliant and to suggest that they are no longer their peak, with Mick Jagger parading around at 76 like he was a teenager, would be untrue.
My biggest issue was the venue, the damned lines, and the lack of clear instructions concerning just about everything from parking to getting there. Oh, and the very early run out (i.e. before I even got there) of their “wine selection”. And I use that term loosely: the only selection was “white” . . . with no description of what type of white it was. Which I guess doesn’t matter, since after waiting in a long line to get it, they didn’t have it.The lines: As a Bruin who has been to more than my share of football games at the Rose Bowl, I didn’t want to pay the $40 to sit in a line going up to the Rose Bowl, park a � mile away from the venue and walk like cattle. So I opted for what I felt was the better choice at Parson’s in Pasadena and take in the shuttle, that the email we received said was going to cost us $5/piece. For the shuttle, not the parking. I knew that, because on game day, we usually pay $10-$15 to park at Parson’s and take a free shuttle to the game. Wrong on all counts. Parking was $25. Shuttle, per person was $5 EACH WAY, so another $30 for 3 people (and then they didn’t even look at the tickets). So, $55 to wait in egregiously long lines even before setting foot at the venue. The email also didn’t say if you have prepaid shuttle, you can get in the short line that gets you right on the bus, but if you paid at the door, so to speak, you had to wait first in one long line to buy the shuttle tickets, then wait in a much longer line to get on the shuttle. All in all, it took well over an hour from the time we stood in the first line in the parking lot to the second line to get on the shuttle to get to the Rose Bowl.

Once there, there was another 30 minute line to actually get into the Rose Bowl. Having recently been to Disneyland on a Saturday in summer, I learned how to handle the lines without getting totally annoyed. I realized if I tried using the "senior card" to jump the lines, because most of the crowd were slightly more in the senior category than me.

Then the lines for food and drink. Then the lines to get in and to one's seat. And just how packed in the Rose Bowl is in terms of seating . . . meaning the space between one's seat and the seat in front meant if you're over 5'6" or have long legs, your knees were touching the back of the person in front of you. And if someone wanted to get to their seat in your row, it meant having to stand each time so they could get by.

I always check out the website that describes a band's set list for other venues. That way I can tell somewhat when a band will be playing what song, and what the encores will be. That way I can decide when it's time to get up and get out. It's always a bit difficult with the Stones, because they change their song line up each night with certain variations. I did know, that they generally ended their first set (before the encore) with Start Me Up, followed by Brown Sugar. And the two encores have been Gimme Shelter and Satisfaction. So, when they started into Start Me Up, I said to my fellow concert goers, Start Us Out! And we got to the shuttle just as the Stones were well into Gimme Shelter, and were able to avoid the historically long shuttle bus lines, and get out of the venue and back to our car, avoiding traffic, by 11:15. Very good call. And, no, I didn't miss the Stones doing this . . . KLOS was playing Stones music all day and all night, and considering I've been to over 20 Stones concerts, where they always play that song, I was good.

One more thing . . . when we got to Parsons from WLA, we all had to use the loo. So we stopped over at Santorini's Caf� a block away, and stayed for a drink. The food looked great . . . we're going to have to go back for the food next time!

As a Bruin who attends football games, you should already know that the Rose Bowl is just about the worst stadium in the universe. We once missed the entire first quarter of a game trying to get from just outside the tunnel to our (uncomfortable, overpriced) seats. Running out of specific food items is SOP. And heaven help you if you have to go to the restroom during the event because you might not get back to your seat until it's over.

FWIW, we take the train to Pasadena and then the Parsons shuttle to the stadium, but we always walk back to Old Town.

Surfergirl, We have ben to Cafe Santorini many times through the years. Always good meals. Get a spot on the patio. but not too early because it can be hot.

Jean, I hear you! Actually worse is (or was, haven't been since the reno) the Coliseum. Where I also saw the Stones in '81, but at an age where I enjoyed being pushed up to the front of the stage on the field. For Bruin games, I only go if someone gives me club seats or way high up and use of the Blue Moon Club so I can grab a drink and use the toilets. My seats up in Berkeley at the renovated Memorial Stadium are fantastic, lots of space and aisle seating. And season ticket pricing a whole lot better.

And, yes, we always take the Gold line, much easier. But this time I couldn't for 2 reasons: the Expo line was still down so I couldn't go Expo to red/purple to gold. And I had to pick up my sister in Sherman Oaks . . . took Riverside most of the way there, so it was really fast getting there.

Tom, I thought you'd chime in on the restaurant! Thanks!

The Expo line is down?

At least the Eagle Rock fire wasn't the same day/night. That would have been a cartastrophe.

Expo line is back up, but it stopped at trade tech for two months (ended Friday night), so you had to get on a shuttle bus to 7th Street station. Blue line is still in partial closure. We took it last Friday because we were off to that miserable Dodger v Yankee catastrophe and we take the shuttle from Union Station. The shuttle TO 7th Street was a pain because of traffic, so the bus driver suggested we get off a block before and walk as that would be faster. On the way back, the shuttle from 7th Street TO the start of the Expo line is on Hope, two blocks away, with minimal signs showing where to pick it up. Glad it's back up and running all the way now!

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-24/two-expo-line-stops-in-downtown-los-angeles-reopened-saturday