Go Brown...

I must admit, with some guilt, that the Brown Line is by far my favorite El line.

Why? Well, it's much more convenient than the Red Line for certain stops. Its the only line that services Old Town (home of, among other things, the 24 hour Starbucks, the ever-important Spice House, and Second City) with any semblance of proximity. It's also the only line that serves Diversey (2800 N). The intersection of Diversey and Clark is important for those of us with pretentions, as it holds the famous Creperie, the Landmark Century Cinema (purveyor of many international, independent/artsy, and gay/lesbian-themed films), and a hole-in-the-wall Persian restaurant that I adore.* Its Southport stop also serves the Music Box Theatre more conveniently than Addison does.

But aside from its convenience (which is somewhat offset by the fact that it doesn't run 24 hours) and its interesting seat layout (which makes the cars seem much bigger but sacrifices sitting space), the best part of the Brown Line is really the fact that it seems to be the line that's chock-full of yuppie, well-dressed, and yes, attractive twenty-somethings. I long ago concluded that the Brown Line has by far the empirically most attractive ridership of all the El lines.

I wonder if there's some relationship between the phenomenon that keeps attractive people from attending the U of C, and the phenomenon that makes attractive people ride the Brown Line. Suggestions as to research methods would be greatly appreciated.

*Technically the Purple Line serves both of these stops. But the Purple line never seems to be running.