Originally Posted by
Rick@OCRR
The reasons for not bike-commuting I got from my co-workers (well, really, my direct boss and the owner of the company) was that they didn't trust the neighborhoods I would be riding through (Compton, Watts, etc.) since they feared I would be easy pickings for gang members thereabouts.
So that's why I ride a folder, i.e. I take the Metro Green Line above those areas and haven't had any problems/issues yet with the locals. They do ask me about my folding bike occasionally, while riding on the Metro Line, but its mostly just simple curiosity (I hope!) and not wondering if it would be worth stealing.
I used to live in Sylmar, in the San Fernando Valley, and commuted to Burbank through Pacoima-a similarly notorious area. I never had a problem sticking to the main Blvd. (Glenoaks). If I got caught at work after dark, I would throw the bike on a bus rack.
I would often ride to the North Hollywood Red line and catch the Red line to the Blue line to the Green line (that last connection in the heart of Watts) to catch the San Gabriel River path to Long Beach. Never a problem.