Depot Revival

Metrolink – San Bernardino station

The birthplace of McDonald’s and one of the oldest Southern California communities (the “gateway to Southern California”), San Bernardino is now better known for its sprawl, fires, and placement on oft-debated lists of most dangerous cities.

San Bernardino as it stands now, is a prime example of (sub)urban planning gone a bit awry. Housing prices in San Bernardino are (and were) so low compared to the continuing high cost of homes in the Los Angeles market that many workers grit their teeth for four hour (or longer) commutes because they cannot afford to live closer.

With a large portion of the population gone for ten to twelve hours a day, San Bernardino has suffered. However, the rising cost and length of this commute has left some hope for the future of this community, which was originally based on rail travel. The necessity of commuter trains is slowly translating into improvements to the old Santa Fe station, which was once the heart of San Bernardino.

The Santa Fe Depot opened on July 15, 1918. It marked the beginning of a new era, as the largest station west of the Mississippi. During the height of passenger train travel (from 1920 - 1950), sixty to eight-five percent of people living in San Bernardino were employed at the station.

With the rise of the automobile and the decline of rail travel, the station slowly decayed. What started as a city hub in the 1900s almost became a great loss to the city in 2008. Without organizations such as the San Bernardino Railroad Historical Society and San Bernardino Historical Society helping to re-open the depot, Amtrak and Metrolink service to the San Bernardino area would have disappeared in June 2008. Although it is now open, the beautifully restored depot has restricted hours, and depends on limited funding and volunteers to keep the doors open and welcoming riders.

The future of the station is looking brighter, as SANBAG and other San Bernardino area organizations see it as a hub for transportation and, subsequently, commerce. Improvements to the area include plans for shops, restaurants, and other commuter conveniences in the "Mercado Santa Fe Depot District". By June 2009 a new parking structure for San Bernardino Metrolink riders is expected to increase ridership and launch the restoration of the area surrounding the Metrolink station.

With all of these changes, there is a great opportunity for San Bernardino residents. While Metrolink is both less expensive and faster to ride for a daily commute, many residents are afraid to leave the convenience of their car. A new commerce center will not only allow for that convenience, but it will also restore money to the community which would otherwise be spent along the road to or from downtown Los Angeles. The new parking structure will make it more convenient for riders who live too far to walk to the station, and offer greater security for cars that are left in the city.

Right now the train stations in the Los Angeles area suffer from the same plague: too many cars and too few amenities. Hopefully this will prove to be the first of many mixed-use stations along the Metrolink lines.

Walking Merced

Merced, CA

Most people visit Merced on their way to Yosemite. It’s a place to stop and grab a bus to Yosemite Valley on YARTS (highly recommended), or to fill up on gas and snacks for people just driving through.

But you can also walk through Merced to see a small town with a lot of history. Most of the towns in this area are filled with great little places to stumble upon, since most of them were built during the gold rush era.

Merced even provides you with a helpful walking map of famous and historical buildings, which you can pick up in the California Visitor Center located next to the old Santa Fe rail station.

Highlights included:
- The old Courthouse, built in 1875 (it’s the one with Lady Liberty on top).

- The 1888 cottage built by William McElroy which was also home at one point to “Rusty” Doane, "a reputed underworld boss of Merced's earlier shady days" (it's the picture of house with the flag out front).

- The Greenbrier House, which is not only beautiful, but has served the city well; first as a sanitarium then as a boarding house for bachelors. You can even still tie up your horses out front on one of the handy hitching posts. While it's Merced's pride and joy, there is some doubt about when Greenbrier was built, since the early records refer to properties more than they refer to structures atop them (it's the picture with the green house to the left).

Most recently Merced has become home to one of the newer UC campuses, UC Merced (opened in 2005 alongside Lake Yosemite, it is also one of the prettier UC locations).

If you want to get around Merced (or visit neighboring cities) and you get tired of walking, you can grab The Bus from 7am – 6pm at any corner along any of its routes. Just wave down the driver, and hop on.

Oo-oo I look just like Buddy Holly

Clovis, NM

The home of the Clovis Man, the Clovis culture, and the Clovis sound: Clovis, NM is a little big town with people who enjoy naming things after their city.

If you go a few miles west, you’ll be in Texas. A few miles south, and you’ll reach Roswell. In between are miles and miles of desert.

While you might not be able to travel through space, you can certainly take a trip through time in Clovis. At Blackwater Draw you can view the famous (and recently controversial) evidence of what is generally accepted as the earliest culture in North America. If you aren’t ready to travel that far back, take a look at the 7th street studios, where Buddy Holly recorded “Peggy Sue” to take a trip through Rock ‘n Roll history.

If you’re traveling, you might want to take the bus. The Clovis Area Transit System (CATS) where you can pay 50¢ to have a bus pick you up and drop you off (curb to curb). Kids can even buy a $25 summer pass to travel to and from any location while school is out.

That’s right, the stops are where you make them. Their new transit home will eventually become the center of a standard fixed route service. But for now, it is quite convenient to be shuttled door to door when you need it.

Just make sure you make your reservations at least a day in advance.

"The last of America's great rail stations"

Metro Red Line – Union Station

If you are going to travel through downtown Los Angeles without a car, you will inevitably end up at Union Station. The MTA Red/Purple Line and Gold Line converge here, sandwiched between Amtrak and Amtrak’s Metrolink trains, and topped with a connection to almost every major bus line in the Los Angeles area.

It is all covered by a beautiful, Dutch Colonial Revival Style/Streamline Moderne/Mission Revival style station (translation: Danish Steampunk Pueblo), also known as the last of America's great rail stations. The building screams Welcome to LA from the bottom of its terra cotta tile to the tips of its towering palm trees.

Built in 1939, Union Station has seen its way through the heyday of the Santa Fe Railroad, and managed to survive the advent of the freeways, when many Los Angeles rail lines and public transportation resources were paved over to make way for the automobile. But when the Red Line came, passengers began to outnumber pigeons once again.

As a traveler, there are two very good things to know when you arrive:

1. When you come, give yourself some extra time. While smaller than its fellow Union Stations, Los Angeles Union Station is still quite daunting, with lots to see, inside and out.


2. The trains here really do leave on time. To help you remember this, the entrance provides your choice of timepiece: Sundial or Clocktower.

When waiting for your ride, you can take shelter in the large waiting room, or walk outside to one of the two enclosed garden patios. The building is beautiful, but the atmosphere is often subdued once you leave the platforms. Venture outside and across the street, and you can even enjoy Olvera Street’s shopping, history and culture.

At Union Station you can ride:

Trains:

Amtrak
Metrolink, Pacific Surfliner, Coast Starlight, Southwest Chief, Sunset Limited, Texas Eagle…and connections to other lines (via bus) on Amtrak’s Thruway Motorcoach Service

Metrolink
91 Line, Orange County Line, Riverside Line, San Bernardino Line, Antelope Valley Line, Ventura County Line

MTA
Red Line (subway), Purple Line (subway), Gold Line (light rail)

Buses:

Gateway Transit Center (Patsaouras Transit Plaza)
FlyAway Bus (direct route to LAX!), Metro Local: 33, 333, Metro Express: 439, 442, 444, 445, 446, 447, Metro Rapid: 704, 728, 740, 745, 940, Antelope Valley Transit Authority: 785, City of Santa Clarita Transit: 794, LADOT DASH: D (Weekdays Only), Bunker Hill Shuttle, LADOT Commuter Express: 430, 534, Orange County Transportation Authority: 701, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: 10, Torrance Transit: 1, 2, Metro Local: 40, 42, 68, 70, 71, 78, 79, 92, 94, 378, Metro Rapid: 704, 728, 770, 794, LADOT DASH: Lincoln Heights / Chinatown, LADOT DASH: B (Weekdays Only), DD (Weekends Only)

El Monte Busway
Foothill Transit: 481, 493, 497, 498, 499, 699, Silver Streak, Metro Express: 484, 485, 487, 489, 490

It is a bit complicated. There are many reasons for these separate transportation resources, but the biggest and best reason is: Los Angeles is large and, largely, flat. Different counties, cities, and jurisdictions often have different bus lines and transportation interests. The land of freeways is fragmented, even when it comes to our public transportation.

Dia de los Muertos

Red Line - Union Station

Welcome.

It's the day of the dead.

There will be music and light. Dancing and food. Confetti and cheap souvenirs.

I'm like most Los Angelinos. There are certain areas of the city which I grew up visiting before I was old enough to appreciate them. Certain places where the annual field trips became so routine in elementary school that it no longer seemed an adventure to travel there.

Olvera Street is one of those places.

So I went back to re-discover it on the day of re-discovery and remembrance.

The outside courtyards were more beautiful than I remembered.

(This was probably at least partially due to the contribution of an abnormally warm and clear November day.)

And the streets were more of an adventure.

Between the pueblo and the bricks the temperature dropped about ten degrees. If you ignore the touristas stumbling through their Spanish, you could pick up on the Spanish in the air - store talk and singing, complaints and directions.

Trees and grapevines shade the street. One row of stalls smells of leather. One row smells of jalapenos. Everywhere are hand-written signs advertising: Mexican Jumping Beans, Candy Skulls, Piggy Banks, Leather Purses.

Plus there was a donkey and plenty of colorful sombreros. It's like Tijuana, but cleaner, with no traffic or chickens in the road.

Behind the shopping and haggling, the colors and crepe paper, the history of this area, the history of L.A., waits for you to notice.

This is still an educational field trip in disguise.

The original bell from the Los Angeles Mission.

A shrine honoring the life of Christine Sterling, the founder of Olvera Street.

Listen. Her bones are dancing down the street.