Ridin' on the Expo Line
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| Platform at La Cienega / Jefferson Expo Line Station |
Whenever I ride Los Angeles' Metro train, I always think of Steve Delgado singing his song, "Ridin' on the Blue Line," with his band, the Delgado Brothers. Click on the link, it's a great tune that makes me happy.
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| Click to see larger |
I was even happier today when I was able to take my first ride on the Expo Line to my office in Santa Monica! I thought that the 5-level parking structure on La Cienega and Jefferson might be filled, but there were plenty of spaces on the top two levels, even at 9 a.m. I loaded up my tap card, climbed the stairs to the platform and waited with other office workers and students about 10 minutes for the train to arrive.
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| La Cienega / Jefferson Station, L.A. |
The ride to Bergamot Station / 26th Street in Santa Monica was about 20 minutes. It was another 10 minutes to walk up the street to my office at Broadway and 26th. Total time, about 45 minutes. Not bad for a carefree ride without road rage!
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| Bergamot / 26th St. Station, S.M. |
It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes to drive the 8 miles to work in the morning. Driving back to Mid-City L.A. from Santa Monica at 6 pm is the WORST. Often I'm in the car for over an hour, many times longer. Last night (Wednesday) it took me one hour and 15 minutes to get home, so that's why I decided to take the train today. Wednesday and Thursday are traditionally bad traffic days in Los Angeles, especially on the Santa Monica Freeway.
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| A Red Car traveling on the Santa Monica Air Line, crossing Motor Avenue before 1956. Photo by Alan Weeks, courtesy of the Metro Transportation Library and Archive |
I must say, it was a thrill for me to travel the old Red Car tracks and bridges this morning, especially the bridge that crosses Motor Avenue in Palms. I've seen this bridge all my life, but was never on it! It must have been wonderful to take the trains all over Los Angeles in the old days!
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| 1912 map of Pacific Electric inter-urban rail system. The Santa Monica Air Line is blue. Courtesy of the Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA. |
See you tonight on the train!
Labels: Architecture, Los Angeles, Travel, Vintage Photos
posted by Ellen Bloom @ 12:31 PM
4 Comments:
How was the trip home. Will you do this again?
Hi Joan!
The trip home from Santa Monica at 6pm was CROWDED, however, it shaved off about 20 minutes of my usual ride home. Total worth it! I plan to ride the train on heavy traffic days, usually Wednesday and Thursday.
Metro says they'll be adding more cars starting in June, and hopefully before too much longer we'll be getting trains every 6 minutes instead of every 12. It can only get better from here!
GOOD NEWS!
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