Los Angeles Metro Blue Line Grand Opening - July 14, 1990

In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Metro Blue Line, the Metro Rail system and the return of rail transit to Los Angeles, the Militant Angeleno shares with you his home video taken 20 years ago of the Grand Opening ceremony of the light rail line at the Pico Station.

Category:

Travel & Events

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• Los
• Angeles
• LA
• L.A.
• California
• Metro
• Rail
• Transportation
• light
• rail
• Blue
• Line
• Pico
• Station
• history
• grand
• opening
• street
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• Downtown
• Tom
• Bradley
• Ed
• Edelman
• Kenneth
• Hahn
• train
• inaugural
• celebration
• Militant
• Angeleno

[LAOCTransitFan]

What used to be at the area where there is the Staples Center and LA Live? I can't really see it from the video.

[militantangeleno]

@LAOCTransitFan The Staples Center is a block west of where the Militant was standing. Today there is a parking lot in between Staples and the Pico Station, back then it was a post office, which you can see briefly, and is covering what would be the site of Staples & LA Live.

Staples Center stood on what used to be the site of the Los Angeles Convention Center's North Hall. It was a smaller convention hall and it was a simple steel structure, so knocking it down wasn't a big deal.

[militantangeleno]

@LAOCTransitFan And on the site of LA Live was a bunch of old stores and apartments.When Staples opened, that land became a flat parking lot for the arena for a number of years, then it was excavated to build LA Live.

[militantangeleno]

Former mayor James Hahn (then City Attorney) WITH BROWN HAIR at 1:03-1:05

[metrolibrarian]

Excellent historic video. Love it. Thank you Militant Angeleno from the Metro Library and Archive.

[militantangeleno]

@metrolibrarian Glad the Metro Library and Archive digs this! Knew you folks would get a kick out of it!

[jooshiscrazy]

That was certainly quite a grand entrance. I didn't realize they celebrated it that much. When the Expo Line opens in the next few months, there definitely won't be anything like this happening. Although, I am glad they made this entrance for the Blue Line. It was the return of one of Los Angeles' oldest interurban transit lines. The original Long Beach streetcar ran for 60 years, and was the last of the Pacific Electric lines, so it is quite fitting that it was the first to be resurrected.

[Mozultecania]

I was born the next year! lol!

[TheCm900]

wow just five years before i was born.

[bgammill]

I appreciate the blue line for what it is, but frankly some of the stops scare me--and when I was there, it was the train with the worst inside condition. But I never cared, it got me from point A to point B!