January 11: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History

1931:  Lines No. “3” and “4”  of Los Angeles Railway debut on 5th Street.

The new lines form a two-unit line known as the Central Station and Larchmont Line, augmenting existing streetcar service for the territory through which they run and with subsequent service additions and changes to Lines “R,” “I,” “D,” and “S.”

Line No. “3” operates from Melrose Avenue and Larchmont Boulevard south to 3rd Streeet, east to private way, south to 6th Street and east on 6th and 5th to Central Station.  This line supercedes the Larchmont Branch of the “R” Line.

Line No. “4” operates from 3rd and Gramercy via private way, then along the same route as Line No. “3.”

More information can be found in the January, 1931 issue of Two Bells, the Los Angeles Railway employee news magazine.

2001:  The second phase of Angels Walk, the self-guided walking tour of downtown Los Angeles historic sites, is dedicated.

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The new phase takes the explorer further back in Los Angeles history at the sites of the MTA Gateway Building and Patsaouras Transit Plaza, Union Station, El Pueblo de Los Angeles, Gateway to Chinatown, Los Angeles Mall/Fletcher Bowron Square, Roybal Federal Building, Little Tokyo, the Los Angeles Times, City Hall, Court of Flags/Civil Mall/Criminal Courts Building, Music Center, Disney Concert Hall, and the early Native American Village “Yang-na,” home of the Tongva Indians whose settlement later became El Pueblo.

The first phase of Angels Walk was launched in 1997 with the support of LACMTA to encourage pedestrian exploration of the Bunker Hill/Historic Core District in downtown.

Additional information can be found in the January 11, 2001 issue of the MyMetro employee news digest.

2006:  The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority opens its new bus terminal at Pico/Rimpau.

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While buses serving Downtown, Mid-City and Santa Monica have picked up and dropped off passengers at an on-street transfer point here for nearly 70 years, a sleek new facility debuts consisting of six stainless steel bus shelters with benches, lighting, phones, trash receptacles, security and restrooms for male and female bus operators.

The facility is proposed to serve 2,000 passengers per day via Metro Lines 30/31 and 330 as well as 2,000 more via Big Blue Bus Lines 12, 13, 5, 7 and Rapid 7, and to be integrated with “Mid-Town Plaza,” a mixed-use retail center with a future Target store, Home Depot and other stores by mid-2007.

More information can be found in the January 10, 2006 issue of the MyMetro employee news digest.