Union Station (Los Angeles)

Union Station in Los Angeles, which opened in May 1939, is known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States, but even with its massive and ornate waiting room and adjacent ticket concourse, it is considered small in comparison to other union stations. It was formerly designated the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT), but its current owner, Catellus Development, officially changed the name to Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS).

The facility served as a backdrop for the 1950 film Union Station, which starred William Holden and Nancy Olson. Many television shows and motion pictures have incorporated the station as a backdrop, including Speed, Pearl Harbor, Blade Runner, Star Trek: First Contact, and the Fox television series 24. ^[2]

Union Station is located opposite L.A.'s historic Olvera Street.

[edit] Architecture

The waiting room at the Los Angeles Union Station.

Union Station was designed by the father and son team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, or the Parkinsons, assisted by a group of supporting architects, including Jan van der Linden. The Parkinsons also designed Los Angeles City Hall. Their firm designed many landmark Los Angeles buildings from the late 19th century onward. The structure combines Spanish Colonial (the suggestion of the Dutch born Jan van der Linden), Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne style, with Moorish architectural details such as eight-pointed stars.

Art Deco lights hang from the rafters of the passenger terminal.

Enclosed garden patios are on either side of the waiting room, and passengers exiting the trains were originally directed through the southern garden. The lower part of the interior walls is covered in travertine marble, and the upper part is covered with an early form of acoustical tile. The floor in the large rooms is terra cotta tile with a central strip of inlaid marble (including travertine, somewhat unusual in floors since it is soft). Other parts of the station's flooring are colored tiles with Aztec influences.

A bird's eye-view of Union Station.

Attached to the main building to the south is a small masterpiece, the remarkable station restaurant designed by southwestern architect Mary Colter (the last of the "Harvey House" restaurants to be constructed as a part of a passenger terminal). Although now usually padlocked and stripped of many interior furnishings, the topology of its rounded central counter dynamically thrust forward, its streamlined booths, and the inlaid floor patterns still constitute a busy and evocative sense of place. As with many Angelean locations, it has only survived by serving as an occasional filming location.

[edit] History

The Santa Fe Railway's combined Super Chief / El Capitan pulls into Track 10 at Los Angeles' Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT) on September 24, 1966.

The station originally served the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Southern Pacific Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad, as well as the Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway (LARy). Established on the site of L.A.'s first Chinatown, it saw heavy use during World War II, but later saw declining patronage due to the growing popularity of air travel and automobiles.

Now Union Station is once again heavily visited, especially since the construction of the Metro Red Line and Purple Line subway station and Gold Line light rail station. Union Station also serves as a terminus for 4 of Amtrak's long distance trains, is a major station on Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner, and serves as the hub for Metrolink's passenger trains. The station currently has 10 train tracks, and approximately 80 train departures on weekdays (not counting the Gold, Purple and Red Lines). The attached Patsaouras Transit Plaza serves several bus lines including Rapid and regular Metro lines, as well as downtown DASH shuttles.

[edit] Historic designations

National Register of Historic Places #NPS–80000811
Los Angeles Historic–Cultural Monument #101

[edit] Current services

Metro provides service to Union Station in the form of three rail lines (Red, Purple, and Gold); and several bus routes. Its headquarters is located in nearby Gateway Plaza. Amtrak, Amtrak California, and Metrolink serve the station as well. Los Angeles World Airports recently opened a FlyAway express bus service to Los Angeles International Airport, similar to the one already in use for the Van Nuys area.

[edit] Amtrak

[edit] Long Distance Services

Previous station	Amtrak	Next station
Van Nuys toward Seattle	Coast Starlight	Terminus
Terminus	Southwest Chief	Fullerton toward Chicago
	Sunset Limited	Pomona toward New Orleans
	Texas Eagle	Pomona toward Chicago

Thruway Motorcoach Services
Amtrak offers Thruway Motorcoach Service at Los Angeles Union Station, buses board from the north side of the station, and not thru the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.

Routes:

Los Angeles/Las Vegas

[edit] Amtrak California Intercity Services

Previous station		Amtrak California		Next station
Glendale toward San Luis Obispo		Pacific Surfliner		Fullerton toward San Diego

Thruway Motorcoach Services
Amtrak California offers Thruway Motorcoach Service at Los Angeles Union Station, buses board from the north side of the station, and not thru the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. Connections to Amtrak California's San Joaquins line are provided thru bus services to and from Bakersfield. Connections to ferry services to Catalina Island and the cruse ship terminals is provided by bus services to Long Beach & San Pedro.

Routes:

Los Angeles/Bakersfield
Los Angeles/Bakersfield (via Santa Clarita-Newhall Metrolink)
Los Angeles/Long Beach & San Pedro
Los Angeles/Santa Barbara
San Diego/Bakersfield (via Los Angeles)
Santa Ana/Bakersfield (via Los Angeles)
Van Nuys to Los Angeles

[edit] Metrolink

Union Station is the "heart" of Metrolink's operations acting as the major hub for the system, providing connections between 6 out of Metrolink's 7 lines.

Previous station	Metrolink	Next station
Terminus	91 Line	Commerce toward Riverside-Downtown
	Orange County Line	Commerce toward Oceanside
	Riverside Line	Montebello toward Riverside-Downtown
	San Bernardino Line	Cal State L.A. toward San Bernardino
Glendale toward Lancaster	Antelope Valley Line	Terminus
Glendale toward Montalvo	Ventura County Line	Terminus

[edit] Metro Rail System

[edit] Red and Purple Line Subways

The Red and Purple line subways share an island platform in the station's basement. The car yards are located just east of the station. This station serves as an important transfer point, with connections with Metrolink and Amtrak, and several bus routes at the nearby Gateway Transit Center.

There are two entrances to the subway platform, one through the Patsaouras Transit Plaza on the east side of the complex and another through Union Station's main entrance on the west side of the complex, facing Alameda Street.

[edit] Gold Line Light Rail

Gold Line train platform at Union Station.

The Gold line's terminal is also at this station on grade level. The Gold line's platforms are located beside those of Metrolink and Amtrak. The art installation is that of Beth Thielen. The artwork is entitled Images of Commonality/Nature and Movement.

Gold Line platforms are accessible only via a passageway containing a staircase and an elevator, and use Tracks 1 and 2. When the Gold Line Eastside Extension opens, the starting point will also be at Union Station.

Previous station	Metro Rail System	Next station
Civic Center Westbound toward North Hollywood	Red Line	Terminus
Civic Center Westbound toward Wilshire/Western	Purple Line	Terminus
Terminus	Gold Line	Chinatown (local) Eastbound toward Sierra Madre Villa
Terminus	Gold Line	Highland Park (express) Eastbound toward Sierra Madre Villa

[edit] Patsaouras Transit Plaza (Bus Services)

The Patsaouras Transit Plaza is located next to Union Station on its eastern side, it provides a direct link to the rail services of Union Station and provides connections and transfers between many bus lines and serves as a major stop for two of Metro's Transitways. The transit plaza is also known as the Gateway Transit Center.

[edit] Metro Services

Metro Local: 33, 38, 40, 42, 68, 70, 71, 78, 79, 304, 368, 370, 378
Metro Express: 439
Metro Rapid: 740, 745

[edit] Metro Transitways

[edit] El Monte Busway

Main article: El Monte Busway

All lines stop nearby at Alameda St. & the El Monte Busway entrance, except line 699 which has a stop within the Patsaouras Transit Plaza.
Foothill Transit: 481, 493, 497, 498, 499, 699, Silver Streak (All lines except for the Silver streak operate only during weekday rush hours.)
Metro Express: 484, 485, 487, 489, 490

[edit] Harbor Transitway

Main article: Harbor Transitway

Metro Express: 442, 444, 445, 446, 447

Previous station		Metro Transitway System		Next station
Terminus		El Monte Busway		Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center Eastbound toward El Monte Bus Station
Terminus		Harbor Transitway		7th St/Metro Center Southbound toward Pacific Coast Highway (Harbor Transitway)

[edit] Other Local and Commuter Services

Antelope Valley Transit Authority: 785*
LADOT DASH: B (Weekdays Only), DD (Weekends Only), Lincoln Heights/Chinatown
LADOT Commuter Express: 430*, 534*
Orange County Transportation Authority: 701*
Santa Clarita Transit: 794*, 799*
Santa Monica Big Blue Bus: 10
Torrance Transit: 1, 2

Note: * indicates commuter service that operates only during weekday rush hours.

[edit] FlyAway

Main article: FlyAway Bus

Direct FlyAway Bus service is offered between Union Station and Los Angeles International Airport. The blue buses operate every 30 minutes between 5 am and 1 am and on the hour between 1 am and 5 am from Berth 9 of the Patsaouras Transit Plaza. The service is mainly intended for those who are able to use public transportation to get to Union Station and then transfer to the bus to complete their journey there is, however, a parking garage available for those who wish to drive to Union Station.

[edit] Run-through tracks project

With the number of trains using Union Station expanding, the stub-end layout of trackage at the station is becoming a liability. Trains are required to back out of the station resulting in delays as multiple trains must use the same tracks to get out of the station.

CalTrans and the Federal Railroad Administration have drafted a plan to create two run-through tracks that would connect the south end of Union Station with existing BNSF trackage south of the 101 Freeway, which is directly south of Union Station. The Run Through Tracks would exit Union Station on a bridge crossing over the freeway, and continue on an elevated structure for approximately one mile until they reached the BNSF trackage on the west bank of the Los Angeles River.

The final environmental impact report was published by the FRA in November 2005.^[3]

[edit] References

^ Amtrak.
^ Television and movie productions that have utilized Union Station as a filming location. Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2006-06-30.
^ FRA – Los Angeles Union Station Run-Through Tracks Project Environmental Impact Statement

[edit] External links

An aerial view of Los Angeles' Union Station from the late 1990s.

Amtrak - Stations - Los Angeles, CA

The Parkinson Architectural Archives: Union Station
Public Art Works at the Union Station and in El Pueblo
Union Station — MTA Website.
Union Station at the Internet Movie Database.

Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 34.055931° -118.234262°
- Satellite image from WikiMapia, Google Maps or Windows Live Local
- Street map from MapQuest or Google Maps
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image from TerraServer-USA

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (website)
Metro Bus	Metro Local – Metro Rapid – Metro Express
Metro Rail	Red Line – Purple Line – Blue Line – Green Line – Gold Line – Expo Line (future)
Metro Liner	Orange Line
Metro Transitways	Harbor Transitway – El Monte Busway
Connecting rail	Amtrak – Amtrak California – Metrolink
Other information	Union Station – Metro Fleet – Transportation of Los Angeles

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