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ChineseWestside Alignment’s Biggest Mistake
With all this talk about the Westside alignment, some heated, some humorous I feel that a great disservice is being made to the many fine residents of this city. And I’m not talking about the “obvious” crime element getting speedy and timely access to Los Angeles’ upper gay echelon to do their misdeeds, nor is it our children’s and baby’s safety (like it is elsewhere, lolz) or environmental racism (again like it actually is elsewhere, lolz 2x). But something a great deal more important. Something far more drastic of an oversight than imaginable.
I’m talking about why the Westside connector Hollywood/Highland extension plans have no inclusion of the hot dog eatery, Pink’s. After all, as we learned from Bernard Parks’ obsession with making the Aqua line called the Expo line after Exposition Park, the Los Angeles landscape is never changing and such things as businesses and parks last forever. Hence the designation of the Pink line going directly too Pink’s hot dogs makes perfect sense. Where it should go after that is anybody’s guess, maybe shoot east to Saddle Ranch and down to Canter’s after that. But that’s all for later, for now, lets just get the “Subway to Pink’s” built. We all know the “Subway to the Sea” is a hapless adventure with little guaranteed rider ship. Where as Pink’s, the rider ship is proven. Have you seen the line outside that place? That’s nearly a train car full already. And as the slogan proves, build it and they will come.
And though I don’t think it’s entirely necessary, for their service to this city—as in finally giving us a good reason to extend the subway—is already enough, Pink’s could even give a tiny percentage of their boosted revenue back to Metro. Maybe create a Pink’s fund that pays for a Melrose/La Brea stop rotating art exhibit with themes just as FUN as Pink’s hot dog names. One month could be an ode to Rosie O’Donnell, the next to Lord of the Rings. Just think of all the culture we’d be bringing to this city if we just brought this city a much-needed “Subway to Pink’s” to begin with. NYC, London, Tokyo, Paris, wouldn’t know what hit them when they got a load of Los Angeles’ cultural offerings.
In the end, what I care about most, and I’m sure what we all care about most, is what’s best for this city. What’s best for our children and what’s best for our friends visiting that want an “only in LA” cheap eat. And the only way to do that is to build the “Subway to Pink’s.” For did we not name Washington DC after Washington? Los Angeles after the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? Then why would we not name the Pink line after that actually good and not at all terribly overpriced and underwhelming hot dog establishment, Pink’s? After all, a line down La Brea would be just as underwhelming.
Discussion
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Please keep discussions civil: exercise Troll Controll.
Great bit of tongue-in-cheek writing there, Tyke.
Bravo. Hilarious. “Subway to Pinks”… classic.
Sounds like a modest proposal.
It’s unlikely the “Pink” Line, if and when it is constructed, will go to Melrose, but if there is a stop at LaBrea/Santa Monica as the City of West Hollywood would like, one could absolutely walk a short distance and
“Take the Pink Line to Pink’s!”
But it will stop at Century City which will give easy access to Pinkberry and Pink Taco.
Not to forget there would two Pinkberry’s walking distance from a San Vicente/Santa Monica stop.
This is a kind of a fun story and Pink’s would be a great stop for a good lunch. But we need to keep our eyes on the prize. The line needs to be built down Wilshire ASAP as it is the heaviest corridor and needs the service.
Could this be a distraction and a monkey wrench in the works to slow down the line like the Venice Sepulveda detour on the Expo Line was to slow or stop it? With out this detour the line would now be complete for the same amount of money to Santa Monica as it is taking to get to Culver City.
This same strategy could delay or even stop the subway to the sea and would certainly delay it’s start of construction and drive up cost.
An elevated LRT or Monorail line from the Hollywood Highland Station Red Line Station to West Hollywood, Pinks, Beverley Hills and to Century City could do the job for a lot less and the Wilshire subway would not be delayed.
Alan Fishel
Could this be a distraction and a monkey wrench in the works to slow down the line like the Venice
Those of us who fervently believe in the “Pink Line” do not see this as a distraction, but as a vitally important project. If the Pink Line is proposed as an LRT, I don’t think that would be objected to by many who want a rail line of some sort built. The Pink Line has even been mentioned as a possible northern branch of the Crenshaw Line as an LRT, going up San Vicente to Santa Monica and then cutting over to Hollywood/Highland, in addition to the idea of a Hollywood/Highland to Century City extension. I like the idea of it going from H/H to LaBrea/Santa Monica then to LaCienega/SantaMonica to the LaBrea stop of the Expo Line as a vital north/south link.
While I agree with everyone who believes the Purple Line is the first priorty, that doesn’t meant that Pink Line supporters are throwing a wrench into the works.
It came as a surprise to the MTA and probably to others how much support there is for some sort of Santa Monica Blvd. project, whatever modality that turns out to be.
It makes sense that the civic leaders in West Hollywood would work to try and ensure their city wasn’t left out of the rail system altogether as may have seemed likely if they hand’t lobbied to get the MTA’s attention. They at least have the MTA’s attention that there is need and popular support for something.
I would expect the City of WeHo and other Pink Line supporters to keep lobbying for it. However, I wouldn’t fear it. After 20 years of waiting, I cannot conceive the MTA will not go for the Wilshire alignment first.
I certainly think that what the Pink Line supporters are doing is more constructive to public transit advocacy that what FixExpo is doing.
I wonder if the MTA has the right to kick off those parking structures on their former track land in Beverly Hills. Beverly Hills doesn’t seem to want a Santa Monica Blvd. stop at this time. If some Pink Line modality is built, it seems those who lobbied for a Beverly Connection / Cedar Sinai stop will be in luck and those who have their hearts set on taking rail to the Grove may not be, but who knows at this point.
I’m a believer in a rising tide lifting all boats. The more interest there is in mass transit anywhere in So. Cal. helps the cause of mass transit everywhere in So. Cal.
There is a big difference between Pink Line supporters and the Cheviot Hills NIMBY trying to get the Expo line detoured to Venice-Sepulveda.
The support for the Pink Line is genuine and comes from the people who live and work and play in those communities and genuinely want it. It is not being proposed as an alternate roots by the Hancock Park old guard trying to stop the Purple Line.
I have yet to hear anyone who supports the Pink Line to say it should be built INSTEAD of the Purple Line. The fact that any part of So. Cal. wants mass transit and will lobby for it is something to celebrate, IMO.
As a side note, Beverly Hills has a preference for the Wilshire alignment, so it’s politically easier at this point to go forward with that.
As much as I would love to ram a Crenshaw Blvd. stop down the throats of people in Hancock Park who have been fighting a subway for years, perhaps the MTA should put off committing to building a Crenshaw stop just to get the line built and through. But that’s for another thread.
dan, in no way was this post meant to mock the public efforts and needs for the pink line down sm/fairfax/san vicente or wherever it may end up going (aside from the proposal to go down la brea). i think everyone on this would agree (minus rob dawg of course) that a pink line is not only desirable but necessary for a future LA. and i agree also, that it doesn’t thwart the efforts of the purple line either. 1 is not the answer, 2 is for sure, and theres no reason to say we can only have the purple and nothing else. i’m all for an EIR on a possible Pink as well as breaking ground on the damn purple already. And to hell with Hancock park NIMBY bitches. if we have to skip that stop for now just to get it built go with it, in 5 years time they’ll be begging for one.
Oh, I know that. I loved the hilarious, tongue-in-cheek post.
I was just reassuring Alan Fishel that the Pink Line is in no way an attempt to slow down and throw a monkey wrench in completing the Purple line.
I have, Dan, and it’s scary to listen to them.
And if the Pink Line served Century City, the employees of MGM/UA which has the rights to the Pink Panther movie franchise would also be able to ride!
That would be great advertisement.
Seeing the Pink Panther sitting on the Pink Line with his tail waiving in the air riding it to MGM/UA.
The advertisement simply writes itself.