Post by James Fujita on May 23, 2010 14:38:51 GMT -8
I've long been fascinated by the failed attempt to get a people-mover moving in downtown Los Angeles.
Sure, the people-mover would have been nothing compared to what we are building now. I'll take the Regional Connector over an airport-style, sideways elevator. Even the new Broadway streetcar proposal is a far better project than the people-mover would have been.
Still, it does fire up the imagination. If the rumors are true, the people-mover left behind one artifact: those retro-futuristic elevated walkways near the Bonaventure (one of my favorite hotels) on Figueroa. I look at those and think: "what might have been...."
The Los Angeles Times paid a bit of tribute to this historic trivia today
The article is fun and worth the read. Camels in Los Angeles? Really? Some sort of monorail-esque thing which was an epic fail on launch. L.A. riverboats, both real and hoaxes.
Then there's the people-mover. The photo tells it all. If the Figueroa walkways look cool, then the photo is the epitome of un-cool. What we have here are flying, boxy minivans on a spiderweb of concrete, looking horrifyingly unsafe and out of place in front of City Hall.
I'm sorry, but I just can't force myself to love that illustration.
There's one other tidbit which I think is telling: the project got squashed because of opposition from the San Fernando Valley, which felt left out.
"Plus Ca Change...." ;D
Sure, the people-mover would have been nothing compared to what we are building now. I'll take the Regional Connector over an airport-style, sideways elevator. Even the new Broadway streetcar proposal is a far better project than the people-mover would have been.
Still, it does fire up the imagination. If the rumors are true, the people-mover left behind one artifact: those retro-futuristic elevated walkways near the Bonaventure (one of my favorite hotels) on Figueroa. I look at those and think: "what might have been...."
The Los Angeles Times paid a bit of tribute to this historic trivia today
The article is fun and worth the read. Camels in Los Angeles? Really? Some sort of monorail-esque thing which was an epic fail on launch. L.A. riverboats, both real and hoaxes.
Then there's the people-mover. The photo tells it all. If the Figueroa walkways look cool, then the photo is the epitome of un-cool. What we have here are flying, boxy minivans on a spiderweb of concrete, looking horrifyingly unsafe and out of place in front of City Hall.
I'm sorry, but I just can't force myself to love that illustration.
There's one other tidbit which I think is telling: the project got squashed because of opposition from the San Fernando Valley, which felt left out.
"Plus Ca Change...." ;D