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Southern California Rapid Transit District collection of Metro Rail artist's renderings
20-DPGTL
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Library and Archives
Title: Southern California Rapid Transit District collection of Metro Rail artist's renderings
Creator:
Southern California Rapid Transit District
Identifier/Call Number: 20-DPGTL
Physical Description:
0.21 linear feet
0.5 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1983-1993
Language of Material: English
Abstract: This collection contains artist's renderings depicting stations along the originally planned Red Line subway route, as well
as stations along the eventually constructed Red and Purple Lines.
Open for research. All renderings have been digitized and are available by contacting LACTMA Research Library and Archive.
For physical access, advance notice is required. Contact LACMTA Research Library and Archive to make an appointment.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the LACMTA Research Library and Archive. Permission for reproduction
or publication is given on behalf of the LACMTA Research Library and Archive as the owner of the physical items. The researcher
assumes all responsibility for possible infringement that may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the
LACMTA Research Library and Archive collections.
[Identification of item], Southern California Rapid Transit District collection of Metro Rail artist's renderings, 20-DPGTL.
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Library and Archive.
Processed by Denise Villegas, July 2012.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
SCRTD material was passed on to LACMTA in the 1993 merger.
Biography / Administrative History
Planning for Metro rail service formally began in 1975 with SCRTD's formation of a Rapid Transit Advisory Committee to identify
a starter line for rail rapid transit. In 1979, a Draft Environment Impact Report/Alternatives Analysis is released for a
rail starter line that would eventually become the Metro Red Line subway. In 1980, a majority of Los Angeles County voters
approved Proposition A, a half cent sales tax for transportation improvements, with 35% of revenue dedicated for rail construction.
Planning was in full swing in the early 1980s, when the first renderings in this collection were created.
Original plans that are represented in some of these renderings were for a route that proceeded west from Downtown Los Angeles
underneath Wilshire Boulevard, then following Fairfax Avenue north to Sunset Boulevard, backtracking east to Cahuenga Boulevard,
and then traveling northwest to the terminus at North Hollywood station.
In 1985, a methane gas explosion at Fairfax and Third prompted a change in federal law that affected subway project funding.
A methane gas risk zone was identified along the Wilshire corridor in the Miracle Mile area and the planned route was changed
to turn north at Vermont Avenue, continue west along Hollywood Boulevard, and then northwest to the terminus at North Hollywood.
An additional corridor, the Purple Line, follows the same route as the Red Line except that it continues west after Wilshire/Vermont
Station and has a terminus at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue. Using mostly federal and state funding,
construction on a five station "starter line" subway in downtown Los Angeles began in 1986.
This collection contains color and black and white prints and color 35mm slides of artists' renderings of planned Metro rail
stations, as well as vehicle exteriors, tunnel renderings, and core studies from 1983-1993. The renderings represent currently
existing Red and Purple Line stations, as well as stations and infrastructure that were never built, particularly in the Miracle
Mile area as well as Hollywood and North Hollywood.
Arranged alphabetically by station name.
03-DPGTL Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Collection of Metro Red Line Construction Progress Photographs
22-DPGTL Metro Art Department collection of Metro Rail public art photographs
23-DPGTL Southern California Rapid Transit District collection of Metro Rail Project aerial photographs
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Subway stations -- California -- Los Angeles County
Local Transit -- California -- Los Angeles County
Local Transit -- Design and construction -- California -- Los Angeles County
Southern California Rapid Transit District