Future of Wilshire May Ride on Subway Extension

The Los Angeles subway, panned by some as a 3.2-mile pastrami express because it ends at a deli, becomes more like a real urban transit system with the opening Saturday of a 2.1-mile extension from downtown to the Wilshire corridor.

After spending $578 million over five years, transit officials are cheering an important milestone in the West’s largest public works project. MTA officials will dedicate the extension today and open it to the public Saturday for a weekend of free rides.

But some riders and Wilshire property owners aren’t joining the celebration.

Passengers will no longer be able to ride for a quarter. Monday, the fare is jumping to $1.35.

And some major Wilshire Boulevard landlords complain that dozens of insurance companies, advertising agencies and law firms that once made the area a thriving regional center fled the noise, dust and detours of Metro Rail construction. High-rises, nearly 90% occupied when tunneling began in 1991, are now less than 70% full, according to commercial real estate industry estimates.

Still, when the first train rolls out of the artsy station 60 feet beneath Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue at 4:43 a.m. Saturday, transit officials will enjoy a happy break from the turmoil that has surrounded the crown jewel of the city’s transportation system.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials predict that ridership will double to more than 40,000 passengers a day, even with the higher fare.

The subway, which currently runs between Union Station and MacArthur Park, will now stretch to Wilshire with stops at Vermont, Normandie and Western avenues.

The station at Wilshire and Vermont will be unlike any of the other stations. Passengers will ride the longest escalator west of the Mississippi into the deepest station, 120 feet below the street, and see whimsical artwork, such as a tiny unicyclist rolling on a tightrope.

The extension has come at a high price. Its tunnels and stations came in at 18%, or $45 million, over budget, according to federal transit authorities’ math. The MTA says the project came in under its budget, which included funds to cover an expected 10% cost overrun.

And 17 Wilshire property and business owners have sued the MTA for an estimated $50 million to $75 million over damage they say subway construction caused to their buildings and future economic prospects.

At $289 million per mile, the Los Angeles Red Line is among the most expensive subways in the world.

Even some people who should have the most to gain are wringing their hands: Retailers and restaurateurs wonder whether riders will pay $1.35 to take a subway that goes not quite 5 1/2 miles.

“Nobody’s going to spend $2.70 to come here and eat,” lamented Al Langer, 83, the owner of Langer’s Delicatessen, an Alvarado Street restaurant at the current end of the line. Langer said the opening of the downtown subway three years ago rescued his business.

Now, Wayne Ratkovich’s Wiltern Theater will anchor the end of the line. But he’s not any happier than Langer. He believes that subway construction delivered a “mortal blow” to an area already struggling to recover from the sharp downturn in the real estate market in 1991, the riots in 1992 and the Northridge earthquake in 1994.

MTA officials assert that in the years ahead, the inconvenience of tunneling will seem insignificant once new customers and businesses are attracted to the area because of easier and faster mass transit.

Ratkovich said he can’t afford to wait. “It doesn’t make any sense to go around ruining parts of the city so you can take credit for saving them 20 to 30 years down the line,” he said.

Architect Gary Russell agrees that “there’s no question we went through hell.” But Russell welcomes the subway and improvements like the planting of 500 trees on Wilshire that will make the boulevard “a grand place again.”

Even though the neighborhood has fallen on hard times--as have other areas struck by the recession but not by rail construction--Wilshire Boulevard remains one of the nation’s busiest public transit corridors.

Nearly two-thirds of the new subway riders initially will be bus riders, forced underground by MTA plans to terminate some Wilshire bus lines at Western. Wilshire Boulevard bus riders will be allowed to transfer to the subway for free.

That prospect has upset some bus riders even if transit officials say the subway will be faster and more comfortable than the bus.

Others, like bus rider Kathy Brown, are excited about the extension. “For me, it will definitely be an advantage,” said Brown, who spends two hours commuting via Metrolink, subway and two buses from Moreno Valley to the Crenshaw District.

The entire subway ride from Western to Union Station will take 13 minutes--a 15-minute saving over the same trip by bus, MTA officials said. Trains will travel about 10 mph faster--up to 55 mph--because of longer straightaways in the new tunnels. And the system will stay open later.

Transit chief Joseph E. Drew said the MTA is not spending millions just to shift bus riders underground.

“Remember, we’re building for the future,” he said in what has become an unofficial motto for the rail project. The subway is supposed to reach Hollywood in late 1998, the San Fernando Valley in 2000, and the Eastside in 2003.

“L.A. right now has a serious congestion management problem,” Drew said. “I can’t imagine [traffic] 10 or 15 years from now if all you had was more buses.”

The additional 2.1 miles of subway will expand the reach of the region’s evolving rail network, which includes the 404-mile Metrolink train system and the Los Angeles-to-Long Beach Blue Line trolley. Both connect to the subway.

Because of these connections, the MTA hopes to attract more riders. But officials acknowledge that the subway fare hike will cost them some riders, primarily downtown workers who take advantage of the 50-cent round trip fare to sample lunch spots along the route.

“I won’t be on it” when the fare goes up, said Jimmy Stewart, a downtown worker who rides the subway every day to the Citicorp Plaza for lunch.

Such riders amount to a fraction of total passengers, MTA officials said. Most riders will be unaffected, they said, since they already ride the bus for $1.35 or use monthly passes.

The 25-cent fare--in effect since the subway opened in 1993--was intended as a promotion and was set because officials didn’t think riders would sample the short subway if they had to pay more.

Construction of the Wilshire extension began in April 1991 with promises by transit officials that the legendary mess and mistakes of tunneling downtown would not be repeated.

While major errors or accidents underground were avoided--officials say a minor tunnel misalignment and track signaling problems were the scant mistakes--the din above ground still enrages those who lived through it.

The extension passes through a once-fashionable neighborhood that ranges from architectural wonders such as the former Bullocks Wilshire, the long-closed Ambassador Hotel, the blue-green Wiltern Theatre and rows of glass office towers, dotted with signs in English and Korean. “For lease” signs are commonplace.

Ratkovich, an early backer of the subway before turning into a bitter opponent and ultimately filing a $20-million lawsuit against the MTA, said Metro Rail builders showed “not one ounce of concern for people along the route” by building the entire segment at once, rather than in increments.

The result: The entire corridor became a 24-hour construction zone, with generators, lights and jackhammers preventing guests at hotels like the Radisson Wilshire Plaza from sleeping at night. And during the day, the clang of cranes, clouds of dust, maze of fencing and frequent street blockages impaired the concentration of workers at skyscrapers like the Paramount Plaza towers.

Wayne Williams, who manages the Radisson, said the massive equipment and trucks used to build the Normandie station across the street lined three sides of his hotel for four years. In front for months lay a vast, open trench. That was later covered with wooden decking that clattered whenever a bus rolled past, he said.

Reservations plunged, the wedding and banquet business vanished, and walls cracked from ground settlement, he said. “It was an unconscionable blow,” Williams said in an interview last week.

Said his attorney, John Peterson: “Our hotel used to rely on people coming to visit insurance companies or give depositions at law firms, and a good part of that business has disappeared.”

Rick Buckley, a senior broker at CB Commercial Real Estate Group, said most of the major new tenants for Wilshire high-rises are state government agencies, quasi-governmental organizations, nonprofit foundations and small Korean import-export firms.

“These organizations are changing Wilshire,” Buckley said. “They are not into image, and they’re expected to control expenses. You’re less likely to see upscale retailers. You’re more likely to see Dennys now than a Daily Grill.”

MTA officials said they knew the construction would have an impact on the community. “But we also know that it’s been proven in several other cities that new rail systems bring great economic benefit to neighborhoods,” said Jim Smart, a spokesman for the agency. “It just takes time.” Some business owners along Wilshire are confident that Smart is right.

Rich Nicholson, director of operations for the Coco’s Restaurant franchise steps away from the Wilshire and Normandie subway station, is so thrilled with the coming of the Red Line that he is offering 10% discounts to customers with rail ticket stubs. “It’s got to help us out in the long run,” he said.

Many business people are equally hopeful.

John Tamayo, manager of the Atlas Bar and Grill, said business plunged 60% during construction, but he hung in there with loyal patrons. Now, he said, he looks forward to customers stopping at his 1940s-style supper club for a bite of “global cuisine” before jumping on the subway across the street to catch a concert at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

“There was a lot of magic to Wilshire Boulevard, and we’re hoping that this time Metro Rail can be a positive force to bring it back,” he said.

With completion of another segment, MTA officials say, the much-maligned subway is finally earning some respect. In fact, in the movie “Independence Day,” a survivor of the invasion says, “Today was the first day I used the subway. Thank God for the Metro Rail.”

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The Subway’s New Leg

The second leg of the Los Angeles subway opens Saturday, extending the 3.2-mile line by 2 miles through the Wilshire corridor with stations on Wilshire Boulevard at Vermont, Normandie and Western avenues.

* Fare: Now a quarter, rides are free this weekend. But the fare goes up Monday to $1.35 one-way, or 90 cents with a token or pass.

* Bus and train connections: Wilshire Boulevard bus passengers may transfer to the subway for free from lines 20, 21, 22, 320, 322, 426 and 497. Beginning Monday, Wilshire lines 426 will end at Western and 497 will end at Westlake Avenue. Starting Sept. 15, Wilshire lines 320 and 322 will end at Western. Other MTA bus riders may transfer to the subway for 25 cents. Commuters arriving by Metrolink may transfer to the subway and Wilshire bus lines for free. Westbound subway riders may, with their ticket stub, hop on a Wilshire Boulevard bus at no charge.

* Hours of operation: Traines will run every five minutes during rush hours, 6 to 9 a.m. and 3:15 p.m. and 6:25 p.m. They will run every eight minutes in the middle of the day, every 20 minutes from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. and every 12 minutes before 6 a.m. weekdays. Trains will not operate between 11:45 p.m. and 4:45 a.m. Weekend trains are less frequent.