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Post by James Fujita on May 29, 2010 16:49:15 GMT -8
Okay, so maybe this is old news as I'm often the last person to hear about something but.... I was at Los Angeles Union Station today and I noticed a couple of odd little construction areas in the back near the tunnel.The one was near the restrooms and near the Amtrak ticketing area and one was near the entrance to the Red Line, near the rental car area. Both areas were covered up so you couldn't see anything, but both had signs on them saying Subway Sandwiches (yawn) and Famima!! (OMGWTFBYOB) Now, maybe this is because I'm half-Japanese, but I'm really excited about Famima!! coming to Union Station. In addition to being just a really nice convenience store, Famima!! (the American branch of the Japanese "konbini" FamilyMart) has an unusually large selection of Japanese food weirdness, which is exactly the sort of snack/ junk food that I gravitate towards I think back at all the times I've been stuck at Union Station, waiting for a train or an Amtrak connector bus and Union Bagel just hasn't called to me... Seriously, though.. I'm glad to see a little more retail in Union Station, and I think the location is such that it doesn't detract from the historic nature of the place. And the entrance to the tunnel is a logical point for such a thing. Anybody know anything more about this?
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Post by LAofAnaheim on May 29, 2010 17:21:01 GMT -8
I volunteer at Union Station and we found out a while back about construction, however, it didn't commence until a month ago. The expected completion is July, however, some of us don't expect it to be really done until August/September.
In addition to Famima!! and Subway, there's also Wetzel's Pretzels and Peet's coffee planned. Word of warning: it appeared today that the Peet's coffee symbol was somehow crossed out and maybe they won't be coming?? Will try to find out more on the Peet's coffee situation.
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Post by tobias087 on May 29, 2010 18:43:49 GMT -8
There's never a bad time for Union Bagel ;D
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Post by James Fujita on May 29, 2010 20:01:42 GMT -8
Tobias: I don't doubt that Union Bagel is good. The problem is, in a multicultural city such as Los Angeles, we really ought to have more food options at our major transportation hubs, and I think that Famima!! will provide an Asian alternative. I'm more likely to buy Pocky sticks or a bento box to go than one of Union Bagel's creations.
LAofAnaheim: Thanks for the info. It would be awesome if Famima!! opened in July, but we'll see. I'm not sure why Peet's pulled out. They certainly have experience with BART stations, but they may have been concerned about too much competition in Union Station. Hard to believe that there could be room for Peet's, Wetzel's, Subway and Famima!! in that space, and maybe the removal of Peet's will give more room to the other vendors.
This is still very exciting news to me! ^_^
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Post by tobias087 on May 29, 2010 20:52:31 GMT -8
Oh, I completely agree. I've also thought that, even without regards to our city's demographics, 2 little vendors for such a large station left it pretty bare and unappealing. Believe me, I'm as excited as you are. And as long as the Union Bagel folks don't catch me sneaking a Subway sandwich, I can keep claiming loyalty
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 30, 2010 17:06:33 GMT -8
This is great news! I haven't been to LAUS in a month so this is the first that I'm hearing of it. Thanks for posting it.
Famima isn't one of my favorites. I've been to a few, but never bought anything as the food looks odd to me. No offense. But the Subway is great news. I've heard people in the station complaining about the lack of food options and now they triple. I'm not a fan of Union Bagel either. If I'm in the station and need a bite I normally walk across the street to Olvera Street.
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Post by James Fujita on May 30, 2010 20:21:54 GMT -8
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Post by erict on May 31, 2010 7:15:18 GMT -8
It look great to me, choice is good. I love Subway on the subway...well not eating on the Subway at least, or some spicy tuna rolls.
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Post by trackman on May 31, 2010 9:29:10 GMT -8
I'll be looking for ward to Peet's ... and ONLY Peet's. There is no substitute!
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Post by James Fujita on May 31, 2010 11:39:39 GMT -8
I'll be looking for ward to Peet's ... and ONLY Peet's. There is no substitute! heh. okay, wow. I'm not sure if you mean you're "only looking forward" to Peet's, meaning you don't care about the others, or you're looking forward to "only Peet's", meaning you wish the others would go away. I hope you mean the first. In either case, Peet's is the only one in the group which appears to have pulled out. Whether Peet's changed its mind or if Catellus did something to drive them out, I don't know... If you're that serious about your coffee, you ought to get a campaign started... although if that campaign includes replacing Famima!! with Peet's, expect to see a fight from me
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Post by spokker on May 31, 2010 13:14:10 GMT -8
I hope the Subway has reasonable prices and not "theme park" prices just because it's in the station.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 31, 2010 13:53:39 GMT -8
Thanks for the updated photos James. I was there today and was surprised because I had the impression from your earlier post that they were only on one side of the tunnel when they are - as seen in your new photos - on both sides of the pedestrian tunnel. The south side construction is on what used to be restrooms next to Amtrak ticketing. Yuch!
It looks to me like Peet's has indeed pulled out as their name is covered with white tape on all of the signs. I wonder on which side each store will open? To me it would make sense for the Subway to be on the north side as there is room over there to put in seating while there wouldn't be any room on the south side.
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Post by James Fujita on May 31, 2010 14:47:15 GMT -8
Interesting question from Spokker about the prices. LAX has somewhat inflated prices, but that's public property, owned by LAWA, and LAWA might have some restrictions. Bottled water is the same price everywhere, and it seems like the same packaged salad is everywhere.
Union Station is owned by Catellus, and according to the signs, this is definitely a Catellus project. So the prices could be affected somewhat, depending on the rent that Catellus charges.
I talked to an Amtrak representative at the station and he seemed to think that Famima!! would be on the south side near the restrooms and that Wetzels and Subway would be on the north side, closer to the Red Line station entrance.
The south side construction is actually a lot bigger than it looks, it extends from the ticketing area over to the pedestrian tunnel and I know there's some side "tunnels" that are cut off from the public. Its not entirely clear what will happen to the restrooms. Hopefully they can be renovated or something.
As a convenience store, Famima!! might actually need more room than Subway. There's a Subway at the mall food court near my apartment, and the Subway there consists of a sandwich building area, plus a back room for storage. Seating is shared with the other vendors. At Union Station, they could take out some of the seating in that back area if Subway needed it. Famima!! wouldn't need seating, but I would think they would want to have grocery aisles, which would take up more space.
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Post by bluelineshawn on May 31, 2010 15:36:10 GMT -8
The part that will be Famima doesn't extend quite to the pedestrian tunnel. The restrooms just off the tunnel are still there and open and they have about a 10' wide access passageway. It's the other, less used and often closed, restrooms that have apparently been demolished. They can't keep those open because unless I'm mistaken the new structure is being built directly on top of where they were. And yeah I agree that the subway by itself might not need much room, but the north side does have room to grow should additional retailers be added in the future. The area from the red line tunnel to the entrance to the entrance to the baggage retrieval area would make a nice little food court where they could fit 4 or 5 little Subway/Peet's type mall restaurants. And most airport retailers lowered their prices within the last 10 years. They are still more expensive than normal, but that makes sense given the rent that they are charged. At least they aren't nearly double like they used to be. More like 20-30% more. In some instances maybe 50% more. And I think that people do need seating for Famima. The ready to eat meals seem like a big part of their business. And while I'm not a fan I would rather see a Famima than their Japanese competitor - 7-Eleven! It's just more upscale!
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Post by James Fujita on May 31, 2010 18:38:23 GMT -8
Sorry, of course I meant that the Famima!! will extend from the Amtrak ticketing area to just before the pedestrian tunnel, give or take 10' for the restroom corridor. That's the best way to describe it, and I just shorthanded it. Either way, that's a fairly large space. I am wondering if there will be a wall or a glass partition between Famima!! and the restrooms, since the construction box juts out in a rough L shape on the south side.
It's really quite exciting what they are doing in that space on the north and south ends of the back side of the station. The "rental car area" is completely gone and it looks like that the new retail will flow into the baggage claim. Coming in from the Red Line, you will have retail on both sides, probably Subway on one side and Wetzel's on the other.
And of course, people will need to sit down to eat their Famima!! bento (although pork buns can be eaten standing up), but generally Famima!! hasn't always set aside space inside or outside their stores to eat, the way that Subway typically does. They want you to buy it "to go," the way you would in Japan. Bring your own food on the Pacific Surfliner or carry it home with you...
But you're right, there really ought to be some shared table space for all of the retail that's going in back there. Most likely suspect, the overflow waiting area in front of that little Metrolink ticket office, since there's already waiting room space elsewhere in the station.
Oh, and Famima!! is definitely much more upclass than 7-11 ;D
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Post by wad on Jun 7, 2010 4:20:24 GMT -8
The "rental car area" is completely gone and it looks like that the new retail will flow into the baggage claim. The rental car booths have now moved past the ticket areas to the south. Though, in all my times visiting Union Station, I don't think I have ever seen those rental car booths staffed.
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Post by LAofAnaheim on Jun 7, 2010 7:42:58 GMT -8
The rental car booths are staffed from 8 am to 4 pm Monday through Friday....and 8 am to 2 pm on the weekends.
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Post by James Fujita on Jun 7, 2010 14:01:16 GMT -8
yup, they're still there.I thought I saw somebody still there when I walked into the station at 2:30 on Saturday, but they disappeared before I took my picture. It must be a very lonely post. I can't imagine that they get very many customers, but apparently, both Hertz and Budget see fit to strand somebody there, so I guess somebody must.....
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Post by James Fujita on Jun 19, 2010 19:56:02 GMT -8
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Post by bluelineshawn on Jun 20, 2010 11:07:06 GMT -8
Regarding Mickey, it looks like it's part of an advertising campaign for the MLB All Star Game.
Regarding the paneling it looks like the construction to date has been all utility related.
Thanks for the update!
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Post by James Fujita on Jun 20, 2010 12:43:33 GMT -8
Regarding Mickey, it looks like it's part of an advertising campaign for the MLB All Star Game. Regarding the paneling it looks like the construction to date has been all utility related. Thanks for the update! no problem. I kinda figured that the paneling might be utility hook-ups, since there's no telling where the water, cable, electricity, telephone lines would be in a grand old station like that. (can't be too difficult, given the restrooms, the electronic signs, the ticketing computers, etc.) My next trip down to Union Station will be during Anime Expo in two weeks. I doubt highly that they'll be finished by then, but I'll give another update
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Post by James Fujita on Aug 7, 2010 19:10:45 GMT -8
I took some pictures at Union Station today; unfortunately I forgot the cord I need to upload (or is it download?) the pictures. Good news is, one of the construction workers left a door wide open and I was able to see that they have built some nice looking glass walls inside that construction barrier. .... and that's about it for now. It would be nice if there were some shelves in there, but the space is certainly larger on the inside than it looks from the outside. I hope this doesn't count as a double-post, as my last update was over a month ago... = currently in Little Tokyo, where the new Yagura tower looks great just one month from Anime Expo (when it was a hole in the ground) = EDIT: photos addedEDIT, Aug. 21: No update. They could be building anything behind that wall and nobody would know.... EDIT, Sept. 11: The door to the entrance of the construction area is bigger than it was. Which, I suppose means that they are carrying big things into the construction....
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Post by James Fujita on Sept 13, 2010 21:11:57 GMT -8
Update: construction workers entering/ leaving Famima at Union Station= BTW, I noticed that the subway entrance that used to look like this now looks like this. Very cool new design, especially when combined with this subway sign, which for some odd reason, reminds me of this, only with the donuts filled in. Maybe we prefer "donut holes"
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dane
Junior Member
Posts: 59
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Post by dane on Oct 5, 2010 11:14:45 GMT -8
As of yesterday, 10/4/10, the construction barriers have been pulled from out front of what I assume is the Subway sandwich location near the Red Line portal. The entry is all dark paneled wood with ribbed glass.
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Post by metrocenter on Oct 5, 2010 13:09:00 GMT -8
BTW, I noticed that the subway entrance that used to look like this now looks like this. Very cool new design, especially when combined with this subway sign, which for some odd reason, reminds me of this, only with the donuts filled in. Maybe we prefer "donut holes" I have updated all of the wikipedia articles for Metro Rail to reflect this look. See for example: Pershing Square station.
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Post by James Fujita on Oct 5, 2010 13:30:54 GMT -8
That news is great, Dane! Nice to know that progress is being made... Also, MetroCenter: Nice job on the new Wikipedia subway dots I'll be at Union Station this weekend, and if my bus connection isn't running too far off schedule, I should have time to look around and photograph the evidence....
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Post by James Fujita on Oct 9, 2010 16:25:35 GMT -8
Famima!! opens on Tuesday, October 12!The place looks great, too. Very typical Famima style, but it matches Union Station well, as well. The shelves are already packed with Pocky sticks and ramen bowls and the heater is ready for char siu bao and other goodies Famima!! set at FlickrFamima!! near the Metrolink/Amtrak arrivals board.There's about 25 photos in all.... a difficult shot because Union Station is a little dim inside, Famima!! is bright inside, and the glass is thick...
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Post by metrocenter on Oct 9, 2010 18:26:48 GMT -8
It does look great.
I'd love to see a Famima! at 7th/Metro Center, Wilshire/Vermont and a few other key stations.
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Post by James Fujita on Oct 9, 2010 18:37:02 GMT -8
It does look great. I'd love to see a Famima! at 7th/Metro Center, Wilshire/Vermont and a few other key stations. Famima!! would be awesome at 7th/Metro, although I think Famima!! is near that intersection already. But our stations do need more of this sort of thing. UPDATE: Famima!! Union Station, now on YouTube video #2
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Post by bobdavis on Oct 9, 2010 20:44:52 GMT -8
I suspect that food stands/convenience stores are the last thing Metro wants inside its stations, unless we can import some Singapore police officers to crack down on ill-mannered slobs who don't know what a trash barrel is for or are just too @#$! lazy to use one. That said, I'll have to go on the Gold and see what all the excitement is about at Union Station. The upcoming debut of Famima!! was even mentioned at the Pacific Railroad Society meeting last night.
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