Observer Reporter Takes a Ride
Wednesday was the Summer Solstice. Kids were out of school, jacarandas were in bloom, diners flocked to the downtown cafes. Wednesday was also the opening day for the long-awaited Culver City Expo Line station that completes Phase One of the Expo Line project and connects Culver City with the USC campus and downtown Los Angeles.
Culver City’s Number 1 and 7 buses were free for the day, serving as shuttles to the station at the intersection of Washington and National Boulevards. Metro officials in blue shirts were at the station to offer information and travel tips.
A celebratory ribbon-cutting was held at 9 a.m. with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Culver City Mayor Andrew Weissman both in attendance. Also attending were Culver City council members Meghan Sahli-Wells, Jim Clarke, and Mehaul O’ Leary, Los Angeles County Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yaroslavsky, and Los Angeles City Council member Paul Koretz.
“Today I want to thank my colleagues on the City Council-both past and present, the Metro Board, The Exposition Light Rail Construction Authority, staff and the construction team for their leadership and hard work in constructing the Culver City Station,” said Weissman.
“We are proud to have Culver City be a destination on the Expo Line, and we look forward to the station serving thousands of passengers in the years to come.”
Beginning at noon, riders were offered one free round trip ride apiece on the Expo Line. For many riders, it was their first time experiencing the full length of the line, which, in addition to celebrating the opening of the Culver City station, was also marking the opening day for the Farmdale station between La Brea and Crenshaw stations.
Farmdale Station was not ready to open when the Expo Line made its much-publicized debut on April 27. The station had been the subject of some controversy, with activists demanding that safety precautions be added because of the station’s proximity to Dorsey High.
Trains bypassed the Farmdale Station adjacent to Dorsey High, going only as far as the station at La Cienega and Jefferson. With Wednesday’s opening of the Farmdale Station, students attending Dorsey will have an additional transportation alternative.
How is the ride? This reporter took a ride from Culver City station to Exposition/Vermont (the first of the three stops that serve the USC area).
The station is elevated and offers access with stairs and an elevator. The stairs were a bit steep but the view of the Los Angeles basin was spectacular.
The tracks eventually slope downward to street grade, running in the center of Exposition Boulevard. At Farmdale, traffic lights and a bell provide safety, signaling the arrival of trains.
As with other Metro stations, art work decorates each station, from Tom LaDuke’s “Unknowable Origins,” a series of panels with soft painted views of the city, to Daniel Gonzalez’s “Engraved in Memory,” black and white carved linoleum prints illustrating the history of Ballona Creek.
“How much does it cost to ride?” asked a woman from Santa Monica, who was trying out the Expo Line with her husband and grandson.
A Metro official explained that the regular fare is $1.50 for adults. She suggested the woman buy a Senior Day Pass.
“I just want to get used to it,” the woman observed. “It seems so easy.”
Erik Paesel of Culver City was riding with his three-year old son Kiran.
“I love it,” he said. “I’m getting it later to go to LA Live,” (the entertainment complex downtown).
Kiran seemed a bit shy to comment to the Observer but his dad said “he loves trains. He was even acting as an ambassador. At the last station, he was waving at people.”
Kiran waved his little green toy Culver City bus, an example of the souvenirs given out at stations for riders.
Lynn Gonzalez lives in Los Angeles but her son lives in Culver City and she visits him frequently, using her bike as well as public transportation.
“This is going to be really good. All I have to do now is go down Washington Boulevard [after getting off the train]. That’s much closer than before.”
All in all, it was a festive day. Kids and adults were able to enjoy free gifts at Culver City station, including Metro cardboard assemble-it-yourself trains, cloth tote bags, yellow plastic bracelets bearing a safety message, train crossing bookmarks, and, courtesy of the nonprofit children’s writing program 826LA, a book called “In the Morning and In the Night Too,” with stories about each of the Expo Line stations, researched and written by children.
Phase II of the Metro Expo Line, a $1.5 billion 6.6-mile extension from Culver City to Santa Monica, is funded under the Measure R half-cent sale tax initiative approved by the voters in 2008.
Phase II will have seven stations serving West Los Angeles/Santa Monica and is expected to be completed in 2016.
Both Phase I and II of the Metro Expo Line are being built by the Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority. Once completed, they will be turned over to Metro to operate. For more information about the new Metro Expo Line, visit metro.net/expo or buildexpo.org.
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