LUMBERYARD LOGS: Trolley drivers are the heroes of summer

I wasn’t too pleased about having to ride the trolley back and forth to the ACT V parking lot this summer, but that’s the way it worked out. My parking permit for the downtown parking lot (the “former city employees’ lot”) was only valid at the ACT V lot during festival season.

So I started pulling in at the Laguna Canyon Road parking lot every morning, and pretty soon I found out there was a perk to the inconvenience — a pleasant “Good morning” greeting from a trolley driver. I’m usually the only passenger on this run, which starts early for those with season permits.

The trolley drivers are local heroes around here, especially for those who rely on them for daily transportation. Some of the other morning riders have gotten so friendly with “their” drivers that the drivers get concerned when they don’t show up.

A few times in July I parked elsewhere (I still had some days left on my old business parking permit, which overlapped with the other permit and allowed me to park downtown) and “my” driver asked what happened to me. It was nice, and very unexpected, to be missed!

This week, “my” driver was worried about how I would get downtown after he was no longer there, so I explained that I would be able to park very close to the office after the summer season. That relieved his mind.

The morning run on the trolley is one thing — pleasant conversation and a quick trip down the canyon to the bus depot. The afternoon run is quite another matter. That’s “prime time” for the many visitors to Laguna Beach, almost all of whom seem to relish a ride on the trolley as much as a ride at Disneyland. And best of all in these tough economic times — it’s free.

I would say that almost half the riders who clamor aboard at the bus depot or at one of the other stops on the route stay on for the return trip.

One fun thing about riding the trolley is that it gives you a worm’s eye view of the city. After riding twice a day for nearly two months, I have a lot of “trolley tales.”

There was the woman who, on my very first trolley ride, hailed the driver at a stop on the canyon road. She was wrapped in a blanket, had grass in her hair, but otherwise was nicely dressed, hair up, toenails painted, carrying a purse. I thought she must have partied a little too hard over the weekend and was sleeping it off in the great outdoors. It turned out she was a homeless person whose name showed up in the police logs a few times, until she apparently blew out of town.

On Tuesday, a woman entered the trolley on the afternoon run and said she just wanted to take a ride up the canyon on a lark. Then we pulled over at the Art-a-Fair, and she got inspired and stepped off.

Most trolley riders, I’ve found, are headed to the Sawdust Festival, which gets the lion’s share of incoming and outgoing trolley traffic.

A group of jolly ladies, who had evidently been partying, got on last week at the bus depot. They were heading eventually to the Pageant of the Masters, by way of the Sawdust. They started singing camp songs like “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” as others joined in. You had to wonder what condition they’d be in when the Pageant started that evening.

Then there was the young guy with “tats” and a mohawk who jumped on the trolley while it was stopped in traffic. He had a drink in his hand; it could have been a beer. He talked about what a night he had and asked if the trolley went to Mission Viejo. The trolley driver, with a full house to handle, didn’t seem to want to hassle with the inebriated fellow by demanding he step off. The guy finally jumped out — into traffic, nearly getting hit. We all gasped.

Later, I saw him hitch-hiking, apparently still trying to get to Mission Viejo.

On Monday, several groups of beach-goers got onboard at the bus depot, carrying boogie boards, coolers, umbrellas, everything you’d take to the beach.

For tourists, the trolleys are really the best way to see Laguna Beach. Apparently the north-south run up and down Coast Highway from North Laguna to South Laguna has become exceedingly popular. Entire families get onboard — many with foreign accents or Western twangs that indicate they aren’t from around here.

The trolley drivers, most of whom work as school bus drivers during the rest of the year in other cities, act as tour guides for the throngs of visitors, answering the same questions over and over. One driver keeps up a rolling rap reminiscent of a Universal City bus tour. They have to be very patient and tolerant to deal with some of the characters who board their buses.

They are the city’s ambassadors during the hectic summer season, and when they are gone, they will be missed. They are not only friendly and pleasant, they are extremely hard-working.

Some of the drivers will be working double shifts during this peak time to keep up with demand, and most will have little or no time off before they start their school bus driving jobs.

If you haven’t ridden a trolley yet, it’s not too late. They’ll be running daily through Sunday, Aug. 31, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. Join the party!

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She can be contacted at (949) 494-2087 or cindy.frazier@latimes.com.