Arcadia is not the problem ....my friend would pick me up at the gold line. It sounds stupid but I have an irrational fear of driving over bridges and anything high like overpasses or even some wide open fwys. From downtown to the Pasadena fwy freaks me out and so does the fwy on to Arcadia. My other option is to take surface streets all the way. As much as a PITA as that is, it might be less of a hassle than public transportation.

I consider myself to be a very confident driver, and the Pasadena freeway freaks me out. No margin for error at all on there. And the on-ramps pretty much demand Tesla acceleration - 50 feet or so to get up to freeway speeds.

Surface streets isn't terrible. I've done it a few times all the way to/from LAX, and bicycled more or less the whole way as well. If there's traffic I almost always take surface streets through DTLA anyway. I think it's hard to avoid driving over at least a few small bridges though.

Biked?? Yikes!!
I have taken surface streets from Redondo to DTLA many times and that's ok. I will figure out how to go on to Arcadia from there---I am guessing that is the bridges part.
And yes, the Pasadena freeway is pure evil.

Yeah, you have to get across the LA River at some point, and they don't really have anyplace where there's a plaza over it so it isn't bridgelike. The shortest way would be to cross at Broadway or Spring and then just take Huntington.

I actually like the Pasadena freeway:). In the uphill direction gravity helps you slow down enough that you never have to think about brakes. But I used to spend a lot of time racing bicycles that have no brakes :D.

You could take 405 to 101/134/210 which is pretty direct for Arcadia. The only bridge which comes to mind is across the Arroyo in Pasadena.

WHAT? Do you have a death wish? No brakes? :eek:
I did mapquest with no freeways and it takes me via Lakewood blvd for the most part.

Yeah, I hate that one.
You are probably thinking that I am crazy to live in LA and not want to drive freeways. I didn't used to be this bad....I have gotten much worse. Years ago I even went to a shrink for the bridge phobia but I couldn't convince her that I had not suffered any trauma while driving over a bridge. It is just this irrational thing about my car is going to go over the side. I sometimes drive way out of my way to avoid a bridge/overpass. Nuts, I know.

Follow the 79 bus and go east on Mission then NE onto Huntington. It’s a pleasant drive with wide divided roadways.

If you leave early morning from Redondo Beach, just take the Commuter Express 438 bus. No need to go all the way to LAX to catch FlyAway. The best part is it is only $2.50. From Union Station, take the Gold line to Acadia... easy.

https://www.ladottransit.com/comexp/routes/438/438.html

If you want to leave in the middle of the day, then FlyAway is better because it runs all day. But also more expensive, plus you have to park your car near LAX so more cost.

this is starting to look like the most simple option....has anyone left their car at Union station for a couple days? Does it seem safe?

Not recently, but the underground east garage has been fine when I've used it in the past. If it's going to be 3 or more days, make sure you fill out the form and drop it in the box or at the parking office. The two west lots don't allow overnight parking, but you wouldn't want to leave your car in them overnight anyway.

Thank you all so much for your help!
It would just be one night so I will do that east garage. I am going the morning of July 4. Hopefully it won't be full.

How did it end up working out?

Funny, I just came on here to post my update...thanks for asking.
I took surface streets to Union Station through some very scary parts of town which I am used to as I worked in DTLA for many years & the Harbor fwy was always a mess. I have a flashy car so am always concerned about being conspicuous. I made it to Union station but had a tough time finding the East parking structure but got some help. It was really big and I thought perfectly safe to leave my car. Hoped on the gold line and easy peasy. The only hard part was finding the machine to pay for parking before I returned to my car. I wandered around that garage for what seemed like forever--they could have better signage. The whole process probably took about an hour and a half. $16 for parking. I am still determined to find an easy public transport that doesn't require me to drive down Broadway, Figueroa, or any of those streets. It was a holiday weekend so the Gold Line was not crowded but there were still some iffy people on there & I actually switched cars at one point on the way back to avoid the maskless guy drinking and acting weird and the curled up sleeping guy with wet pants.
Thanks for your help and everyone else's.

Northbound, my favorite is Hill, but I only take it from Adams. I use the Fastrak lane up to Adams and then skip the stop and go downtown by going up Hill. The part from Adams to around Pico is pretty quiet and not terribly sketchy, then north of there it's various business districts. The couple of blocks is all it takes to keep you from having to go through skid row, and I think you can turn on Cesar Chavez to get to Union Station.

Southbound it depends on where traffic backs up - mornings I would get off wherever it turned into a sea of taillights and take Fig to Pasadena to Broadway to Temple, or if I made it all the way to the Chinatown exit, take Hill to Temple, then Temple to Hope and then sail down Flower to the 28th St. Fastrak-only on ramp.

I don't think there's any good transit route yet though. The Gold Line is good for where it covers, but there will always be a few sketchy people, and there's too many connections to make all-metro work well. Your original idea of Flyaway from LAX to Gold line is probably the best, but you need a convenient way to park and/or get dropped at one of the terminals for the Flyaway to pick you up. The Flyaway is really meant for the parking to happen far from LAX. Once they open ITF-West, it might be reasonable - park in the ITF economy parking, take the bus (and eventually tram) to the terminals, wait for the Flyaway, then Gold Line from Union Station.