Favorite Station Poll

[antonio]

Well I figured since we had a poll for this on the Red and Blue line sections we should have one for our most scenic line, which has some of the prettiest stations in the system plus some nice TODs. My guess is there is going to be a lot of support for Memorial Park and that's who my vote is for, though Southwest and Lake are close seconds.

[James Fujita]

call me crazy, but I voted for Chinatown.

the design wouldn't work anyplace else..... (I wouldn't want it at Little Tokyo - too kitschy), but it works for Chinatown. it's one of the few station designs that really looks like it fits the neighborhood.

[bluelineshawn]

I like Chinatown and Memorial okay, but I voted for Del Mar. Mainly because of the way the TOD built next to the station is so well incorporated into the station.

[jejozwik]

chinatown. i love me some elevated rail

[antonio]

I wish there was more of that integration into plaza spaces next to light rail stops. I especially like how the housing bridges over the tracks. I think the Del Mar station is what Expo planners have in mind when they say "Gateway Stations". I believe we will see a lot of nice integration on the Foothill Gold Line. The renderings for Monrovia and Azusas TODs that I've seen are very integrated.

[James Fujita]

I couldn't agree more, Antonio. as somebody who has experienced transit in many different cities, I can say with certainty that Los Angeles is on the low end of the mass transit integration yardstick.

partially it is because we are still a relatively young system, and it may take time for apartments, stores and businesses to make that seemless transition to transit;

but partially there may be a cultural or systemic bias at work, that it seems to me that the MTA has, until recently, too often been in the mindset of building "transit plazas" and other structures to set off transit from the community, rather than allowing it to "mingle." even when you have a Hollywood/Highland type development, the subway entrance still ends up as a side-entrance to the development rather than in the middle of it.

hopefully, in the future, we will begin to see more true TODs at our stations. for example, the Chinatown station development that I've heard so much about....

[bobdavis]

I voted for Sierra Madre Villa, mainly because it's the one I use most, and because during the construction, I drove by one night on the 210 and saw the lights on for the first time. It was a sign that electric railway service really was returning to the San Gabriel Valley after over 50 years of absence. My only quibble is the name--it seems to imply (to some folks at least) that the line goes to the town of Sierra Madre. I think "East Pasadena" would be more accurate, or even "Lamanda Park", although Lamanda Park on the Pacific Electric and the Santa Fe was a mile or two west.
I will agree that Chinatown is the most distinctive, and I was there at the dedication--enough firecrackers to send all the evil spirits heading over Cajon Pass at warp speed. Highland Park gets a nod for its "Craftsman" inspired design (I have a daughter who's into this architectural period). Now if we can just round up the money, and give Metro a two-by-four upside the head to agree to run it, I'd like to be able to comment on Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte and Azusa.

[metroman]

Mission is my favorite. It's in South Pasadena and has that small-town feeling. A very attractive area, as well. Every Thursday they have a town fair next to the station. Kind of reminds me of Mayberry. Hey, is that Andy and Barny I see!

[James Fujita]

metroman said:

Mission is my favorite. It's in South Pasadena and has that small-town feeling. A very attractive area, as well. Every Thursday they have a town fair next to the station. Kind of reminds me of Mayberry. Hey, is that Andy and Barny I see!

heh. I'm not a regular rider of the Gold Line, but I know what you mean about that "small town" feel.

of course, ironically, it was that small town feeling that ultimately led South Pas. to be such paranoid NIMBY jerks about the Gold Line in the first place

[antonio]

Hey not everyone from South Pas is a NIMBY. I grew up in South Pas when the line was on hiatus and couldn't wait for it to open. I wish it were part of the City of LA and not its own independent city because I would love to live in that small-town atmosphere AND be next to a rail line. Besides, South Pas is a small town built, like the majority of other small towns in the Western US, by and around the railroad that runs through it.

[bluelineshawn]

I agree about the small town feel of the Mission station although theoretically that's not the most desirable quality for a rail station. The Lincoln and Del Mar stations are probably more like what Metro had in mind.

[metroman]

Mission might not be the best location for a station, but during rush hour there are a lot of people using it.

I'm a big supporter of the Gold line, but I do understand the concerns of the NIMBY folks. Heck, the train runs through neighborhoods. Ever see how close the train is to backyards?
Yes, I know, the tracks were there first. Still, I feel for some of those homeowners.

[darrell]

I especially like how the Gold Line fits into the setting of old town South Pasadena, and have been trying to see how to best photograph that. Here are two new images from this afternoon.

[metrocenter]

Beautiful shots, a perfect day. Looks almost like a model train diorama.

[bobdavis]

I have refrigerator magnet photo of Santa Fe 3751 (4-8-4 steam locomotive, for those not into main-line railroading) going through the same crossing. Someone should have photos of Amtrak #3 or a Santa Fe freight at this spot.

[darrell]

Continuing my quest for good photos of LA light rail with TOD, here are four from yesterday of the Pasadena Gold Line at Del Mar.









Note the two workers walking the tracks in the last one.

[rajacobs]

I love the Mission station because South Pasadena is a nice, quiet place to walk around, but Sierra Madre Villa offers access to the foothills, the opportunity for a long walk into Sierra Madre, some great food there and a long walk back to the train.

I'm really hooked on the access it provides to the Sierra Madre and the foothills. I anticipate that Monrovia will be more of the same and I am waiting with baited breath for the sequel to this slowly unfolding saga.

[spokker]

Mission Station is the best. It's such a nice area. It I could afford it I'd live around there.

The TOD at Del Mar and Memorial Park look cool but I read that they get some really bad apartment reviews. Even worse that you have to pay out the nose for them.

[wad]

Apr 23, 2010 20:29:43 GMT -8 spokker said:

The TOD at Del Mar and Memorial Park look cool but I read that they get some really bad apartment reviews. Even worse that you have to pay out the nose for them.

It's not worth it just to live directly over a train. If you're willing to walk 1-3 blocks, you have the same neighborhoods and a discount on the rent.

[James Fujita]

Looking at those pictures of the Gold Line, I was trying to think of other places where a subway or light rail train passes straight through a building like that. I actually was able to come up with a couple of other examples, but none of them are apartment or condo buildings.

Korakuen Station in Tokyo is an office building/ shopping center with a subway station in the middle; but to my knowledge, nobody lives there. it's just that this is Tokyo and there's this combination of architectural coolness/ craziness and space-efficient necessity which makes a building like this possible. It's next door to Tokyo Dome and an amusement park, so noise isn't really an issue.

The only other examples I can think of are down in San Diego. There's American Plaza (not sure if it really counts because it doesn't actually go through the skyscraper part, but between that building and a smaller one) and that civic center building which bridges over the tracks. And the Trolley's own office tower at Imperial/12th. What does San Diego have about trolleys and buildings? But none of those are apartment buildings.

Oh, and then there's Elwood's apartment in "The Blues Brothers" ;D Of course, the El goes right past the building and not actually through it. And even that was exaggerated for comic effect.

That said, I don't see why they had to build the apartment building quite like that.

I love the way they do things in Japan, and I've long been a proponent of having mixed office/ retail space next door to train stations and subway stations, or even shops inside subway stations.
But the Pasadena example wasn't really necessary. If I remember correctly, the station isn't even underneath the building but a little ways down the block, so living above the tracks doesn't mean you get to the station any faster.

It's an interesting design, and they get an 'A' for effort, but what was the point, really?

[tobias087]

I think it's an efficient use of available space, and quite visually appealing. A few more of those, although not so many as to completely box the ROW in, would make the line even more scenic.

[darrell]

Apr 25, 2010 15:12:52 GMT -8 James Fujita said:

Looking at those pictures of the Gold Line, I was trying to think of other places where a subway or light rail train passes straight through a building like that. ...

Of course, there is also the Holly Street Apartments that the Memorial Park station was built beneath, here shown on opening weekend in 2003:

[James Fujita]

the irony is, I'm not entirely happy with Memorial Park Station, either!

the station looks nice enough. it is certainly visually appealling. however, the design could be so much more than it is.

while the Gold Line does go directly underneath Holly Street Village, there is no evidence that the two projects are in any way related. there are no connections (either physical or mental), no flow, no sense that the giant apartment structure on top has anything to do with the station below.

I'm sure that residents can and do use the train station, but there is nothing in the design of the project which would encourage transit use. there is no reason why the two couldn't have been better integrated together - an escalator, elevator, staircase or sidewalk leading from the building's lobby to the train station, perhaps. portals instead of walls.

Memorial Park Station is not the only example of this, and its not necessarily the MTA's fault, either. Los Angeles was built with this extreme sense of "separateness" which infects everything from Bunker Hill to Dodger Stadium.

our subway system could be the cure to this, but what I've seen so far has not inspired confidence.

[wad]

Apr 25, 2010 15:12:52 GMT -8 James Fujita said:

Looking at those pictures of the Gold Line, I was trying to think of other places where a subway or light rail train passes straight through a building like that.

I think in Charlotte, the LYNX light rail passes through its convention center. There's an elevated station and it runs across the complex.

[darrell]

Apr 26, 2010 4:11:10 GMT -8 wad said:

I think in Charlotte, the LYNX light rail passes through its convention center. There's an elevated station and it runs across the complex.

Here are two of Jon Bell's photos of LYNX at each end of the convention center.



"A southbound train crosses 2nd Street, just before entering the tunnel through the convention center (January 2008)."



"A northbound train enters the tunnel, in a view from the Stonewall station which is just to the south. (January 2008)"

[darrell]

Here are three interesting new photos of the Pasadena Gold Line...



A 24mm wide-angle looks a bit like the murals in Metro's lobby.



A Siemens car with a McDonalds wrap.



Lined up with the Gold Line's L.A. River bridge, plus nice views of historic bridges, the Cornfields park, and distant hills.

[James Fujita]

although it's just a McDonald's ad, the wrap really pops out. partially it's just the color but it is extremely effective.

I haven't seen one of the full-wrap cars yet, but that photo really shows the difference.