Crackton sees some development

[tags]los angeles, mta, big blue bus, mid-city, transit oriented development[/tags]

There’s going to be a useful mall around this useless transit center in Mid-City.
Credit: The Militant Angeleno

Pico and Pimpau boulevards may be more than just a place to unnecessarily transfer between Metro lines 30/31/330 and Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus lines 5, 7/Super 7 and 13.

The Los Angeles Times reports that construction is underway on a $70 million shopping center. Its anchor tenant is Lowe’s. The mall replaces land that has been blighted for decades. Immediately near Crackton was a Sears store, which shut down and became a failed hardware store. Another failed hardware store, Builders Emporium, was also at the site. Beyond that is a shopping center with a Ralphs and a swap meet that was once a prominent discount chain store.

Crackton has an interesting transit lineage. Before it became an agonizing and unnecessary transfer point between two bus services, Pico-Rimpau was an agonizing and unnecessary transfer point between the Los Angeles Railway P line and Santa Monica buses. The P was the last streetcar line to run in L.A. It shut down in 1963. A bus replaced the streetcar line, but Santa Monica did not pick up the remainder of Pico, so the transfer remains. For more on the history of Crackton, also known as Vineyard Junction, see the Militant Angeleno’s July 19 post, “Visiting … with the Militant Angeleno” and scroll down to the second item.

See also:

• Franklin Avenue: Embracing A Big-Box Home Improvement Store