LOS ANGELES: Metro rail, Downtown, Pasadena, and several pretty train stations

[Cirrus]

I am aware that Los Angeles is a gigantic and vibrant city with numerous unique and fascinating neighborhoods. Sadly, this thread doesn't have that kind of depth. I was there for maybe five hours, on a quick side stop during a 2022 stay in San Diego (SD photo thread).

Let's start downtown. In fact, let's double-down on the not-what-anybody-expects-for-LA and start with the subway, lol.

This is Metro Center station. No I don't mind that they blatantly ripped off DC's name. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.




Quintessential LA? Sure. Let's go with that.






Naming aside, all the chrome everywhere in the subway gives off Philly vibes to me.




Let's go outside. I was there on a blisteringly hot day. It was not comfy out. Nobody wanted to be out. I think it was also a weekend? Anyway, the tiny bit of downtown I explored was pretty deserted. I was toting my then-six-year old along with me for the walk, and she wasn't super having it. We didn't see a whole lot.














I've wondered about Pershing Square ever since reading Jane Jacobs. I guess a lot has changed since her day.




I dig the postcard bench though.




What have we here?




Don't mind if I do










When I first started coming to SSP many years ago, Library Tower was the tallest building on the west coast. Around that same time, it stole the show in the first Independence Day movie. Cool to see it in person.




Oh, this must be why they call it Library Tower.








Gorgeous




Back to the Metro












LA Union Station. OT1H it's gorgeous. OTOH they clearly care more about preventing homeless people from using most of it than having anyone else use it.






I like this part a lot:






I, uh, neglected to take a photo of the front of the building. But I got you this tunnel.








If you're familiar with LA Union Station, you can probably guess where I'm walking to through that tunnel.

It's the light rail!




We're taking it to Pasadena, but look through the window at Chinatown!




There are a couple spots in Pasadena where the light rail passes through apartment buildings. It's interesting and kind of cool I guess. It they squeezed a few more apartments out of it, great. One does wish they'd build taller.










You may recognize Pasadena City Hall as Pawnee City Hall.




It's really impressive.




And the attached Spanish garden is fab too. I'm a sucker for big ornate fountains.




Downtown Pasadena: Pretty, vibrant, way under-densitied.




















Almost done. Stopping in Anaheim to see ARTIC, Anaheim's high speed rail station in waiting. Someday hopefully California HSR will stop here. Until then, it's a sleepy stop for Amtrak, commuter rail, and local buses.
















Bye!

[xzmattzx]

Nice pictures! I had forgotten that there is a subway line in Los Angeles. I do remember the incline railway, though.

[tdawg]

LA has two subway lines and multiple light rail ones as well. Downtown Pasadena is gorgeous, as is that Anaheim station.

[sopas ej]

Great pics, Cirrus!

Originally Posted by Cirrus

LA Union Station. OT1H it's gorgeous. OTOH they clearly care more about preventing homeless people from using most of it than having anyone else use it.

Yeah; ever since the LA County MTA/Metro bought Union Station, they've really junked it up with the vendors and those plastic barriers around the seating area; it used to look far more elegant. I still like Union Station though, it's among my favorite buildings in Los Angeles.

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I was toting my then-six-year old along with me for the walk, and she wasn't super having it. We didn't see a whole lot.

This is very relatable, LOL. Looks like you were able to see a decent amount in such a short time. The downtown library is definitely a cool, overlooked building. Agreed about Pasadena having some great urbanism to it. Several cool alleyways to explore with surprises tucked away in them. And yes, the Pasadena city hall is very impressive in-person. Thanks for sharing your photos!

[destroycreate]

How did riding the subway feel? When I used to live in Ktown I'd take it frequently to DTLA with no issue, other than the occasional homeless person flipping out. But now I live nowhere close to a station, and since Covid nearly every day I read about horror stories on the metro - people getting murdered, stabbed, fentanyl overdoses. I'm avoiding it until the city cracks down it. They've essentially become moving homeless shelters and nobody I know wants to ride it. Really a shame...I don't know why it's so hard to to have fare enforcement.

[Cirrus]

Originally Posted by destroycreate

How did riding the subway feel?

Fine? People coming and going, bros with hot pink accessories, hipstery chicks... I guess it had some trash on the floor? IDK, how many people have died in LA car crashes since 2020, do you think?

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

Fine? People coming and going, bros with hot pink accessories, hipstery chicks... I guess it had some trash on the floor? IDK, how many people have died in LA car crashes since 2020, do you think?

That guy likes to exgerrate problems and I bet he'll point to few stories in the last 2 weeks instead of the gazillions of days where nothing happened. Yes, some bad things have happened recenlty.
And according to NYC"s reddit, theyre getting alot more of it. Doesnt mean most people's commutes are pretty uneventful in either city. BUT THE HEADLINES THO

[geomorph]

Originally Posted by Cirrus

I like this modern addition at the end of the Union Station tunnel!

[Nouvellecosse]

Beautiful city and stations! Thanks for sharing.

[OhioGuy]

Love Pasadena! Nice to see the transit shots too!

[Murphy de la Sucre]

haha, i am so very sure you only picked up the good spots and nice views and neat parts.

This thread has been audited and censored.

Downtown LA is not as pretty enough as it shown in this thread.

Am I wrong? or to blame on mass media.

[pwright1]

Originally Posted by Murphy de la Sucre

haha, i am so very sure you only picked up the good spots and nice views and neat parts.

This thread has been audited and censored.

Downtown LA is not as pretty enough as it shown in this thread.

Am I wrong? or to blame on mass media.

As a person who lives downtown, it's not audited or censored so please stop. Great photos.

[Cirrus]

A thing you have to understand about US TV media is that there's a big segment of suburbanite viewers who are comforted by the idea that central cities are different and scary places, and that the people in them are bad. This makes the boomer suburbanite feel better about themselves, like a high school cheerleader insulting the clothing choices of a girl in the marching band. They love to see that on TV, and TV plays things people will watch to get viewers.

Like most stereotypes, there is just enough truth in it to defend it, but it's not really true in the real sense. But it makes for much more compelling TV than a bunch of people quietely reading in the library.

Bottom line: It is perfectly fine, safe, beautiful, and normal to spend an afternoon walking around with my 6 year old daughter. People who believe otherwise do so because it suits them to believe a myth, and media makes a lot of money feeding it to them.

[bilbao58]

Originally Posted by Murphy de la Sucre

haha, i am so very sure you only picked up the good spots and nice views and neat parts.

This thread has been audited and censored.

Downtown LA is not as pretty enough as it shown in this thread.

Am I wrong? or to blame on mass media.

Looks just like the Downtown LA I saw 20 years ago. Only I was there on a weekday and there were a lot of pedestrians...especially on Broadway.

[bilbao58]

Deleted

[LAsam]

Originally Posted by LA21st

That guy likes to exgerrate problems and I bet he'll point to few stories in the last 2 weeks instead of the gazillions of days where nothing happened. Yes, some bad things have happened recenlty.
And according to NYC"s reddit, theyre getting alot more of it. Doesnt mean most people's commutes are pretty uneventful in either city. BUT THE HEADLINES THO

To be fair... it's not like the violence is all that infrequent recently:

https://www.foxla.com/news/timeline-...lent-incidents

Metro violence: Timeline of recent incidents

• April 22: A deadly stabbing on the B-line in Universal City.
• May 7: A security guard was stabbed and a suspect was shot and killed in East Hollywood.
• May 13: A fight on a Metro bus led to a stabbing in Glendale.
• May 13: A woman was stabbed at a Metro station in South LA.
• May 14: A bus passenger was beaten and robbed in Encino.
• May 17: A Metro bus passenger was shot and killed in Commerce.
• May 21: A Metro bus passenger was stabbed in Lynwood.

Not wishing to further hijack this photo thread... but the unfortunate reality is that there is a problem right now with violence on the Metro system that needs to be addressed.

[LA21st]

Again, the same is true for NYC. They had to get the National Guard involved for fucks sake. And I could find WAY more stories lately about their subway violence. The NYC reddit is full of God awful experiences about people doing drugs,
robbing people on the trains since covid.

Yet NOBODY makes those comments about NYC here. Ever. Point is, this a photo thread and Destroycreate has a history of making these dumb comments on any thread he can.

[Nouvellecosse]

Originally Posted by LAsam

To be fair... it's not like the violence is all that infrequent recently:

https://www.foxla.com/news/timeline-...lent-incidents

Metro violence: Timeline of recent incidents

• April 22: A deadly stabbing on the B-line in Universal City.
• May 7: A security guard was stabbed and a suspect was shot and killed in East Hollywood.
• May 13: A fight on a Metro bus led to a stabbing in Glendale.
• May 13: A woman was stabbed at a Metro station in South LA.
• May 14: A bus passenger was beaten and robbed in Encino.
• May 17: A Metro bus passenger was shot and killed in Commerce.
• May 21: A Metro bus passenger was stabbed in Lynwood.

Not wishing to further hijack this photo thread... but the unfortunate reality is that there is a problem right now with violence on the Metro system that needs to be addressed.

Those are absolutely horrible and tragic and something should done done to reduce the violence. But at the same time, if we're talking about a whole month of violent incidents across the entire transit system of a 4 million person city, that context is important in judging how dangerous a place is. It would be different if it was say, all downtown, or all on the subway, etc.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

Those are absolutely horrible and tragic and something should done done to reduce the violence. But at the same time, if we're talking about a whole month of violent incidents across the entire transit system of a 4 million person city, that context is important in judging how dangerous a place is. It would be different if it was say, all downtown, or all on the subway, etc.

Some of those are in the suburbs too, so its more than 4 million.
Anyways its dumb to bring up in a PHOTO thread. But some people just cant help themselves.