Los Angeles Union Station
As some of you know, I've been working something of a "side gig" since 1996. I work as a casino dealer for a "casino night" company. You've seen those to support fundraisers or for some plain old fun. I plan to write a more in-depth post about this side gig at some point—in fact, I have a post about it in process and I'm trying to tie up a few loose ends before publishing it here. You can bet on that.
For our holiday season, Sean got an opportunity to work a company holiday party at Union Station in the esteemed Concourse Room. When Union Station opened in 1939, this room served as the point of sale for those purchasing tickets to board passenger trains operated by Santa Fe, Southern Pacific, and Union Pacific. (This is how Union Station got its name—the three railroads came together there and formed, essentially, a union of the three.)
Even in its current state, the Concourse Room is very reminiscent of a bank, with lots of room for people to stand and a long counter with windows, behind which employees stood to help customers with ticket purchases, exchanges, etc. You can see that counter in the picture below. I remember going there for the first time when my mom took a Union Pacific train to Arizona back in the late '60s, then getting to board the train with my family to see her off. At one point, there were huge wooden chairs with heavy leather upholstery in that room. Those chairs have been moved out of that room, but there are still many of them along the main concourse leading to the tunnels through which you board your Amtrak or Metrolink train, or continue to the back of the station for the Metro Gold Line light rail station or the entrance to the Metro Red Line subway.
In the mid-'70s, our church youth director took an Amtrak train to Arizona. Our group went to see him off and celebrated with a very unusual cake made by a Russian guy who came to church a few times. This celebration was also in what is now the Concourse Room. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of this room from way back when, but you can find them online if you look for "Los Angeles Union Station."
The party we worked was for Muir-Chase, a big plumbing company in the greater L.A. area. The guests were all very nice and had a great time.
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| Dual roulette table set up to handle the big crowds. |
As I usually do, I worked roulette. That night we used the dual roulette table and I worked with a new guy, who went by his nickname of "D." He did tell me his actual name, but that was DAYS ago and my memory must have a hidden exit in it because stuff keeps slipping out. And, yet, I can still remember my hall and gym locker numbers and combinations from junior high school nearly 50 years ago. Go figure...
Sean had our parking all set up, but the thought of driving into downtown Los Angeles at rush hour on a Friday evening didn't sit well with me. Instead, I parked at the North Hollywood station for the Metro Red Line and took the subway all the way to Union Station. That meant that after helping with teardown when the job was finished, I had to lug my exhausted body back through that long tunnel, down to catch a train and spend a half-hour riding to North Hollywood, then another hour home (normally 45 minutes, but I was starved and wanted to swing through McDonald's for a late, late dinner). For even more fun, the escalator going up to ground level was out of service. I tried to take the elevator, but when it arrived, I was greeted with the smell of someone having used it to leave behind a "number two," along with the sight of the offending substance itself. Well, poop on that. It looks like I'm dragging this worn out body up six or eight stories' worth of stairs.
This party was the first of three I worked that weekend. The others were a party at someone's home and at a venue previously worked. Three parties in a row really wore me out, but I had fun and earned some righteous bucks! And I deserve every penny!
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