Question About Leaving From LA On Friday Night

[wgraessle]

hello...long time lurker of these boards here...

i've been to coachella the past 4 years but this year i can't get friday off work, (sucks)

which forces me to leave the LA area (specifically Redondo Beach) after 5pm on friday. My hope is that I will still make it to coachella to catch the closers from friday night, or hopefully some of the bands even before the closers. specifically I really want to catch The Raconteurs..

so, has ANYONE here drove late on friday last year and can give me a traffic analysis and also when they arrived?!!!!

HELP ME HOMIES! thanks, bill

[JustSteve]

really gonna suck, not only normal rush hour traffic, but all of the traffic heading out to the desert/river for weekend dirtbiking, boating, etc.

maybe start looking at traffic sites now every friday to see what things look like leading up to coachella weekend...

[Mockingbird73]

That is going to suck, man! Last year was the pits...we left North Hollywood at 3:00pm. I shit you not it took us 6 fuckin' hours to get there. The last 3 hours of which I had to listen to my boyfriend bitch about the fact that we were going to miss The Jesus and Mary Chain.

When I finally told him that I didn't want to hear it anymore, he started calling everybody we knew to tell them that we were going to miss The Jesus and Mary Chain. Hello, Jackass...I can still hear you! I almost dropped him off on the side of the 10 freeway to find his own damn way. I also cursed him...I told him that if he didn't stop being so pessimistic, he would be sitting in line waiting to park, and have to listen to their last song from the car.

Guess what?...That's exactly what happened. I would have preferred to miss them entirely. Fortunately, the rest of the weekend went off without a hitch.

This year I got the whole day off, and if he's smart he will too, otherwise I see a repeat of the same situation with The Verve and The Raconteurs. Only this year it will be ME bitching the whole time!

[wgraessle]

anyone leave around noon on friday and still run into traffic? now i'm thinking about leaving at lunch time so i can at least put in half a day of work. will i make it there before sunset????

[Blinken]

I did that last year. I don't really remember it being that bad at noon, i missed a couple acts because we were setting up the RV, i think we got in around 4 or 5.

[meyouseek]

quit your job, get *cough* sick, talk to your boss again

if you leave the south bay after 5 you'll possibly catch the last set or two of the night.

[Pixiessp]

stay off the 10 as long as possible. first year I went(2004) made the mistake of taking the 10 for the majority of the commute. took over 6 hours from Palmdale area. it was grueling.

[MassiveChemicalPunk]

I have a question!:
Im planning on leaving to the festival on Friday morning. I want to be inside the polo grounds at 1:00pm TOPS.

At what time do you recommend leaving LA so I can manage getting there, park, pass security and being in there at 1? Thanks for the help in advance.

[Blinken]

That was my plan last year but my ride was a dick and got my house late.

[Blinken]

i think if you leave in the morning around 9 you should be ok.

[MassiveChemicalPunk]

Thanks Blinken.

I was planning on leaving at that time. Just a little bit worried cause I've heard how traffic is a bitch when you're close to the festival and how people get stuck 2 hours in traffic and shit. Oh, and I have to go by my hotel also. But i don't think I'll be able to check in at 12 or 12.30. So I'll leave my bags there with the concierge or whatever.

[Blinken]

The problem is any earlier and you hit morning rush hour traffic. It is a catch-22.

[Blinken]

Even at 9 the 405 and 10 will be horrid.

[amyzzz]

I'm so glad I'm coming from Phoenix.

[airguitarvet]

leave thursday. thats a smart choice!

[BROKENDOLL]

There really isn't a long line first thing on any of the days...It's around 2pm that it starts to build up on Monroe St. I know that quite afew arrive on Thursday Nite, throughout the nite. (I leave my window open so I can listen to the sound of impending fun...)