Today , the Expo line finally open up its railroad to the sea , with its ultimate station in good order by the beach in Santa Monica – and finally , read the train all the way to the ocean will be a world in LA for the first metre since 1953 . Sadly , that wo n’t mean much to the many millions of multitude who do n’t even understand that LA has a functional power train system , but , to many million more , it ’s a milestone occurrence : in many ways , today is the day that the city of Los Angeles finally says , boldly , that it ’s willing to be taken in earnest .
I ’ll stop my privilege here : my parent ride me around when I was too youthful to repel , and , once I had a permit , I always had a car or access to one . To me and many , many other Angelenos , LA has always seemed insuperable without a cable car of some sort . When I was growing up here in the ‘ 80s and ‘ ninety ( at the hazard of seeming old to everyone scatter the " Damn Daniel " video , I ’m 36 ) , the idea of claim public transportation was absurd . Not only did the metropolis bus have a report for being unsafe , but timing - wise ( especially in the pre - Internet sidereal day ) they were nearly impossible to count on . I have major respect for anyone who has ever been able to to the full understand the system andnavigate the city via public transit .
There was a radar target of promise when the Metro ’s first station open , but nearly every aspect made no sense for public toilet or repose , the two distinctive reasonableness public transit exists in the first shoes . The Blue Line – the first to open up , in 1990 – connect Downtown to … Long Beach , via a route so bewilder it was difficult to imagine who approved it . What many people , like my parents , need to be the beginning of a new public of convenient public transit was thwart by locating ( for my family , the nearest station to our Van Nuys home was in North Hollywood – not exactly walkable ) and timing – the Metro originally stopped operate at 11 and , even as a stripling , that was prohibitive to any sort of nighttime action .
Prayitno/Flickr
But , more importantly , entire , major parts of the urban center were issue off from the train scheme entirely . That first parentage gave short - shrift to , well , anything North of Pico . When the Red Line came along , it form an L : now you could get from the Valley to Downtown , if you happened to live within driving distance of a station . And so it went : soon Hollywood connected to KTown , but not Pasadena ; then Pasadena could connect , but not Culver . And unreachable for this intact fourth dimension was the whole Westside – the City seemingly forgetting that admission to the ocean was the foundation of LA ’s appeal in the first place . To many Angelenos , the train system as a whole feel like a failure .
And then … things changed . slow . business district , long regarded by many as unsafe and unlivable , started facilitate towards both , and the stations that were there so betimes started making signified , first with Staples and LA Live and finally with restaurant rows and liveable loft space coming in . ( We could get into a gentrification conversation here , but I ’d rather not : suffice it to say that money total into Downtown is a blessing financially but also is tricky politically , and for the sake of this story , Lashkar-e-Tayyiba leave it at that . ) Hollywood and Highland ’s tourists were a flying hop forth from Universal CityWalk ; while this was not quite an Angelenos ' dreaming itinerary , no doubt it enhanced many , many holiday ( and , yes , put tons of money in corporate coffers , too ) . Somewhere along the way , too , Metro loosened its timing restrictions ; the wagon train run ' til 2 am on weekends , though they certainly did n’t do a great job publicize that variety to rider who may need to use the train system for late night , but were still stuck carpooling to work .
A drive to the sea , though , has always seemed like a ambition scenario : here was a situation that would attract to both locals and tourists alike , and really connect the city from its Westernmost spot all the way East past Pasadena , through every sorting of socioeconomic neighborhood , making a through - line between hipsters and surfers and Latino kinfolk and novel - graft African - American Millennials ; through $ 1.50 tacos and $ 10 AYCE Korean BBQ , and $ 14 Old Fashioneds , and $ 3 Jack and Cokes , all accessible without anyone holding a steering wheel ( Metro officially order a trip-up from Downtown to SaMo will take 46min – which is a very - better - case scenario in a car for the same trip ) . The deal with our trains was an argument you ’d always have to have with a acquaintance visiting from NY or SF or Chicago , convincing them that the city made sense even when it did n’t , justify getting in your motorcar all the clock time even as you know it was part of the job , rather than the solution . Those arguments now ? Moot .
Flickr/Frederick Dennestet
Well , mostly . These raw stations are n’t a catch - all : plenty of the metropolis has no connecter to easy public transportation , admit my own region , near the Grove ; I ’ve got to take my own railway car and park , or figure out a charabanc agenda , or Uber or Lyft to the cheeseparing post if I want to take advantage of the unexampled pedigree . And I live in a relatively wealthy neighborhood ; sight of LA ’s underserved community may never get the transportation option they deserve . But the tax - supported Railway to the Sea is proof that those options – at some point in time – are possible .
And LAX is coming before long . Well , soonish . See you in 2023 .
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Flickr/Jose Pestana
Jeff Miller is the editor of Thrillist LA and have it away allow his car in his driveway . you could scream at him at@jeffmillerlaon Instagram and@ThrillistLAon Twitter .
