Melissa Prather adventures on the Metro (Paige Parker/Annenberg Media)

Dressed as if she had just been hanging out in the VIP tent at Coachella, Melissa Prather descends the escalator of the Metro Red Line at the Studio City stop with her companion Omar Heyward. Sporting a floppy black hat, an army green and black-striped t-shirt dress, loose waves and sandals, 30-year-old Prather looks dressed for Sunday Brunch and looks every bit the California native. Originally from San Diego, Prather has lived in Los Angeles for a year and a half and admits this is only her second experience riding the Metro.

Normally, Prather prefers to drive herself around L.A. since she owns a car, but today she and her colleague have decided to be adventurous and make an exception:“we never ride [the Metro], so thought we would give it a shot,” she says.

Coming from the Universal Studios lot where Prather and Heyward work as stunt performers, the two were out exploring Los Angeles in search of new restaurants and headed to Hollywood and Vine. “We have been trying new areas for lunch and decided to venture out today,” says Prather. 

Omar Heyward & Melissa Prather (Paige Parker/Annenberg Media)

Since the newly established Angeleno lives close to Universal, it would be less convenient for her to use the Metro than to drive to work. Prather acknowledges that she would use the Metro more if she could. “I would use it more. I should use it more. But we work at Universal Studios, it’s literally a 5 minute drive and we get free parking, so there’s really no reason.”

After opening up about her commute, Prather indicated that she would be more keen on taking the Metro if it were more accessible and easy to navigate. “I started working in the city, like Hollywood and Beverly Hills, and I had to drive,” she says. It was really frustrating, and I had a lot of stress and anxiety from it. I would’ve loved to take the train, but I was a gymnastics coach and we were always having to haul mats and such, so I couldn’t take it. But it would take me like an hour or an hour and a half to get home. And without traffic it was 20 minutes and there is nothing I could do about it.” 

Despite only their second time using L.A.’s public transit, the duo said the craziest thing they’ve seen on the Metro line is the “No Pants Subway Ride”, an annual event on Hollywood and Highland lead by the Guerilla Los Angeles Improv Group where everyone rides the Metro with their pants off. Although the duo has never participated in the event, they said it is one thing that caught their attention about LA’s public transit system.

Having traveled a lot, the two expressed that they like taking public transportation in other cities around the world. They think the systems in place in Asia are the strongest, and would like to see L.A.’s infrastructure improve and become more convenient. 

(Brian Bencomo / Annenberg Media)

Contact Contributor Paige Parker here.