The new line rocks! I went down there with my Brompton on the earlier side of things, this morning. I took the Red Line and changed seamlessly to the Expo Line at Metro/7th, and it was an excellent ride. I really do think (as I said in the previous post) that this is part of a major transformation for the city. This is a transformation with regards things like energy usage, congestion, community, air quality and all those wonderful things public transport helps with.
Of course, at the outset there is something truly right, to my mind, about being able to easily connect from downtown to Exposition Park and the Science and Natural History Museums, the African American Museum, and of course USC – All major Los Angeles institutions clustered together and now connected back to the newly beating heart of it all. From USC, I can now easily connect to the music center, LA Live, MOCA, any number of my favourite restaurants, bars, cafes, and other places I love downtown, and then float on home on the Red Line, or off to Pasadena or Boyle Heights on the Gold Line. This is so exciting to see come to pass. I’ve been dreaming of trains running along Exposition Boulevard between USC and the Museums and the Rose Garden for many years now, and it is now a reality. Stepping off the train today at the Expo Park/USC stop was just magical.
I recorded some footage of my travels on it today for you and edited it all together into a ten minute film. You can see it in the embed below. Consider it an invitation to come and explore, if you have not already come down. It’s downtown to USC and the Rose Garden and back again. (The sound is poor partly because I was trying to cover the microphone to shut out this one guy who would not stop talking… incessantly, and loudly.)
Here’s to the future, which includes (after phase 2 is done) the fact that I’ll be able to step onto the train 5 minutes outside my office and head all the way to the beach!
-cvj
Hi Mike…
Thanks for sharing that memory…. it is certainly a good feeling of progress, however incremental, that is in the air now, at least for a while.
Cheers,
-cvj
Late to the party, but..
In the summer of 1959, following my graduation from San Gabriel High School in Alhambra, I made a daily trek to participate in an honors radio and television workshop at USC.
I walked two blocks from our home to Valley Boulevard, where I got on the “MTA” 63V line, heading to downtown. There I transferred to the “J Car” (for “Jefferson”) streetcar and sailed quickly to the ‘SC campus.
Nice to see that all these years later, we are enjoying a “new” experience. Sad that our politicians failed to see the need for such transportation. They waited years and years, guaranteeing the the cost of the project would skyrocket, which it did.
Happy to see we have now moved “forward” to 1959!
Hi Ben
Enjoy!
-cvj
Sweet! I’ll have to check out this new line over the summer, maybe it can save me on parking costs come this fall.
Excellent article. This line is long overdue, and I expect it will soon become one of Metro’s most popular. Can’t wait to take it to see my beloved Trojans this fall.
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