Trip the Light Rail: The Gold Line, Remastered
by Tony Chavira
Something about riding the Gold Line through East Los Angeles feels anti-climactic. I’m not sure if it’s because the stops along the line look unsurprisingly the same as they do when you drive past them in a car, or if it’s because somewhere deep inside I just assumed that including a light rail line through East L.A. would miraculously solve a ton of city planning problems at once. Fortunately and unfortunately, both of these are part of my reality and relationship with the Gold Line extension from Union Station (close) to Atlantic Square in Monterey Park. Each stop has its transit-oriented development (TOD) highlights as well as its potential for TOD highlights. Some have more of column A than column B, but that will change in time.
As I jumped onto the line on a cool Wednesday afternoon at Union Station, I decided that this article would be a bit more evenhanded and ethnographic in nature than some of the bitter, one-sided rants I tend to put up on FourStory about the political-economic development system here in Los Angeles. That said, the first stop in Little Tokyo was fantastic both in placement and ease of accessibility. It’s a five to ten minute walk to just about anything in the area, whether you want to walk down Alameda for drinks at Blue Dahlia in the Arts District or stroll down First right into Little Tokyo for some tasty ramen at Daikokuya. I cannot recommend this stop enough, especially if you already near a transit stop anywhere along any of the lines. Do it, the power of booze and ramen compels you!
One of my favorites, the second stop at Pico/Aliso is a fantastic addition that I’m very glad was put in place. You have to understand, the Pueblo Del Sol HOPE VI project at the Pico/Aliso stop is a fantastic example of joint, integrated efforts by government agencies and private partners. What was once an area in deplorable condition, riddled with gang violence and a consistently high murder rate, has been completely revitalized and revamped. It was only able to happen because of a strategic injection of funds from the federal government, smart project management, cooperation with the LAUSD, an integrative plan developed by the CRA, and the promise and planning of a Gold Line stop right at its door on First Street. Now there are a few restaurants, a beautiful school with amazing soccer and basketball facilities, a clean and green walkway, well-paved and maintained streets, and a great community feeling that only comes from drastically improved living conditions. It’s simply a success in community revitalization, if I may be allowed to make a statement so bold. So get off the train there and get a snack at Purgatory Pizza and maybe play some basketball whenever you get the time.
Mariachi Plaza
The third stop at Mariachi Plaza is where the uninformed should henceforth consider the beginning of true East L.A. Mariachi Plaza is basically a place where, for a few bucks, you can actually hire a mariachi or five and take them to your birthday, graduation, retirement, bar/bat mitzvah, or whatever to perform all the hits (though you should be warned that, although they’re just hanging out there in the square, hiring them on the spot can get pretty pricey). As the Gold Line exits right into the plaza’s center, you can inadvertently walk right into a gallery opening, a protest, a festival, or a speech by a politician trying to boost his or her East L.A. Latino cred. At the very least, there’s plenty to do and eat as you walk toward the I-5 freeway toward Homeboy Industries. One of my favorites (and, honestly, one of the best Mexican restaurants in L.A.) is La Serenata De Garibaldi, and if you haven’t been there before you must be living in a city that is not Los Angeles. Long story short: great station stop. Five hundred thumbs up.
Soto’s the next stop on the line, and although there’s cool stuff like Mi Ranchito and (very importantly) buses that will take you through the neighborhood from this point, Soto is the first location that I feel can really benefit from the existence of a Gold Line stop. Regardless of what people may think, there’s not “nothing” at Soto. What Soto has is potential, and there are already signs of that potential with developments planned literally across the street from the station stop, as well as a 2010 funding commitment to improvements involving the CRA’s First Street Action Plan (but more on that later).
The next stop at Indiana, I feel, has the most potential of all the stops for amazing development efforts. The area is wide and open with lots and streets that allow for access to all transit corridors of the East L.A. area, flanked on all sides with walking and biking spaces, public areas and parks, and amenities like grocery stores. Not a bad thing, there are also many quiet suburban homes in the Indiana stop’s neighborhood, and I’m sure the strategic development of a TOD community would do wonders to home prices in the area. Someone’s just got to shut up and do it already.
Pico-Aliso
Here’s where I kind of have a qualm with the line: there’s a ton of space with no stops between the Indiana and Maravilla stations. What’s worse though is that the train corridor is literally sandwiched between cemeteries (the Mausoleum of the Golden West and the Serbian Cemetery) and the 60 freeway from one station to the other. I have nothing against dead people, and I wish them the best of luck in the afterlife, but they’re a) not going to be taking the train and b) not going to be using the space they’re lying in for anything other than being dead. Possibly even less conducive to life than a cemetery, there’s no chance the 60 freeway is going to start sprouting mom-and-pop shops, taco stands, condos, or pan dulce bakeries anytime soon. In fact, the chances that you’ll get a housing project anywhere in the area are already slim to none. And yet, the Metro planning gods decided to very literally focus on the dead instead of the living. Doesn’t Gage and 3rd even deserve a stop? No? Figures.
On the other hand, by the time you get to the station at Maravilla, the East L.A. Civic Center (and Belvedere Park) and the station at the corner of Atlantic and Beverly come at you rapid fire. Planners could have just as easily put two stops there, but I suppose that wouldn’t look as nice on out-of-proportion maps.
Since the Metro fulfilled its promise to extend a line into East L.A., the CRA First Street Action Plan (and likewise, the Whitter Boulevard and Avenida de Cesar Chavez Action Plan) is the new shining beacon plan for this area of town. The action plans focus on taking these street corridors and cleaning them up to accommodate for more commerce: re-pave and maintain the streets, improve access to bus stops, re-landscape some corridors, plant more trees, clean up more façades, and even provide more street furniture. Now that I’ve taken the Gold Line from start to stop, I think that the CRA should maybe consider adding the Indiana North-South corridor and Third Street to the Action Plan shortlist. Wouldn’t want to waste their potential; they do have Metro stops now.
So jump on the line and cruise through East Los Angeles already. Soak up the culture, the art, the murals and the amazing public spaces. Or—just as importantly—go for the food.
www.racaia.com | tony@fourstory.org
Comments
thanks for a wonderful trip on the Gold Line. i saw everything along the way. wish i were in LA so i could take a real, not imaginary, ride on this train.
lovely.
2009-12-10 by florence