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It’s a simple idea: Connect the jobs-rich and traffic-choked Westside of Los Angeles County to downtown L.A., the heart of the region’s economy and public transit network. Yet, as of this moment, I can’t hop on the subway in Westwood and make it to downtown in about 25 minutes — [continue reading]
Bus rapid transit in Los Angeles began with the El Monte Busway, which broke ground 40 years ago this week. Today BRT in L.A. has expanded to several other transportation corridors, but this is the original, the grand-daddy of them all: The first multi-modal system in California and the first [continue reading]
Plans for a Westside subway go back — way back. On January 12, 1962, ground test drilling for the subway portion of the proposed Backbone Route between downtown and yet-to-be-built Century City got underway. Governor Pat Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty and Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ernest E. [continue reading]
Transit users in the San Fernando Valley probably didn’t notice anything different last Friday when the second century of public transportation in the area got underway. December 16, 1911, was the first day of rail service from Los Angeles to Van Nuys, a development which quickly transformed the Valley from outlying area to commutable [continue reading]
Since last week’s “fun with maps” seemed to spur a robust discussion among readers, I wanted to post another of my favorites: this Los Angeles transit map from 1928. Click the image for a high resolution scan by the David Rumsey Map Collection. Be warned, the file weighs in at [continue reading]
The notion of “complete streets” has spread nationwide over the last several years, with policies enacted to accomodate all users: motorists, bicyclists, transit vehicles and their riders and pedestrians. Safe street design for those using roads and sidewalks sounds rather “pedestrian” today, but it wasn’t always that way — including in Los Angeles. In [continue reading]
In the summer of 1990 I was 9 years old and nothing mattered more to me than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That’s why these early videos promoting the opening of the Metro Blue Line featuring none other than the Ninja Turtles are just so radical to me. Hat tip [continue reading]
Recently we asked readers to choose their favorite color name for the Expo Line. While Aqua received the bulk of the votes, many readers suggested that maybe it was time to move away from color names to a naming convention that used numbers or letters instead. It’s a logical suggestion, [continue reading]
Cars and streetcars peacefully sharing limited street space in downtown L.A. in December, 1930. Of course, road rage as an accepted behavior had not yet reached maturity. (Like the people who succumb?) Photo taken looking north at Broadway and Third Street. Remove the vehicles and the street looks surprisingly similar [continue reading]
Thousands of visual reminders of history are stored on the Metro Library Flickr site. Tucked among the historic photos is a shot of a few weekly passes from the 1930s, showing that many Los Angeles Railway tickets were small works of art. Some simply reminded riders not to forget Mother’s Day. [continue reading]
