The Ghetto Blue is also a moving swap meet, where passengers hustle to sell watches, pairs of white cotton socks, incense, Kool cigarettes, lotions, batteries, tapes, CDs and chocolates. ‘What you want? What you need?’ Bus tokens, which come in bags of 10 for $11, become a form of currency here, like food stamps. People peddle them for a small cash profit. ‘Tokens?’ one woman asks anyone on the train within earshot. A couple of Mexican youths rush over and pull out bags of them. The transaction goes down like a drug deal, both participants looking over their shoulders for authorities as they quickly exchange the goods.
Killing Time on the Ghetto Blue: Life on the rails from Los Angeles to Long Beach by Ben Quiñones. Beautiful.
originally posted by xowie
