The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, better known as L.A. Metro, is finally moving forward with a key rail extension – sort of.
The agency’s board in March signed off on an extension to its K Line that will hopefully one day link its northern terminus at Exposition and Crenshaw Boulevards to as far north as the Hollywood Bowl. This path will weave through Central Los Angeles and West Hollywood, with up to 10 additional stations and direct links to the D and A lines.
Metro has always held high ambitions for the K Line, the newest addition to its lineup. Initially spanning from Exposition down to Florence Avenue in Westchester, the line saw an expansion last year with the opening of the LAX/Metro Transit Center station that converted a portion of the C Line running to Redondo Beach into the K Line. That station also will one day connect the K Line to the automated people mover that goes to Los Angeles International Airport, although delays continue to plague that increasingly expensive project.
As a resident of South Los Angeles, a regular K Line rider and frequent concert attendee, it would be a dream to be able to park at one of its parking lots and enjoy an easy ride to venues like the Hollywood Bowl or the Hollywood Palladium. I won’t hold my breath though – the project lacks any funding for another 15 years at least and Metro’s anticipated service date is already as far away as 2049.
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L.A.’s own unique March Madness bracket has played out, and we now know what the county’s worst intersection is.
Voters and fans of the infamous American at Brand memes account on social media have, by a tight margin, picked the three-way intersection of Virgil Avenue, Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood Boulevard as our worst set of cross streets. While 51% of voters picked that intersection in the championship round, the other 49% argued for the vaunted Beverly Hills six-way stop of Beverly Drive, Lomitas Avenue and Canon Drive.
At least there’s a good reason to venture near the worst intersection: it is anchored by the historic Vista Theatre.
