The Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (aka LA Union Station) opened in May 1939 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Here’s how it looked in January 1964.
Oh, to know where that Gruen clock ended up!
Union Station is still there, still looking good — even though the world around it has changed quite a bit.
Last weekend for my trip to the Hollywood Heritage Museum, I decided to skip the traffic and the headache of driving and travel by train instead. Unfortunately, I can’t say that Amtrak was worth the switch. A round trip from San Diego to LA is $70; even with the price of gas these days, traveling by train is more expensive than driving. But wait…there’s more.
While taking pretty photos of Union Station was a definite plus for traveling by train, my trip cost had to factor in another $70 for round trip via Lyft from Union Station to the Heritage Museum in Hollywood.
Who knew that sustainability was so much more expensive?
To make matters worse, my train from San Diego to Los Angeles ended up being almost an hour late that day, which cut into my already short amount of time to spend at the museum. AND my time to take photos. You know it’s a bad day when I only take five photos of an architectural treasure!
At least the train home was on schedule, allowing me to make my San Diego photo shoot on time.
What I was able to trade in stress for traffic was replaced by the stress as to whether Amtrak would pull through on time, making the stress factor a wash. Another negative about traveling by Amtrak is the train schedule itself, with trains running approximately every 2 hours. Yes, I understand they are trying to minimize their costs by not having empty trains, but it sure does not add a convenience factor for those trying to avoid twiddling their thumbs in between trains. On the day I traveled, they ended up canceling a few of their scheduled routes, which does not instill confidence that Amtrak is going to perform when they say they are. Although Amtrak’s text to passengers said that they can make up for the lost time, my train did not. Leading to another mystery…how is it that cars in traffic (visible from the train window) are able to go faster than a train that has the track to itself?
C’mon Amtrak; help a brother out! I want to ditch the car but you don’t make it easy.
See more L.A. Union Station photos at my main website.
I'm grateful to have grown up in the 60s and 70s in SoCal when there were still open spaces between towns and cities and the traffic flowed more freely than it does today. It just seems more of a hassle to travel beyond a 10 or 20 mile bubble down there today. To think I could take a date down to San Diego for the day, stop around Laguna Beach for dinner and have her home in Cypress by midnight is almost unthinkable now. I loved my freedom of movement to where and when I desired. KS
ReplyDeleteThe frustrations are real. The only tough spot is figuring out where the bigger disaster will be that day. Will you look from the train and see a massive backup on the I-5? Will you look from the car window and see the Amtrak stopped because of a landslide over the tracks? Am I carrying enough ammo to drive south of the 8? Things like that.
ReplyDeleteKS: Other than my job, I am very grateful to have everything I need within my little 10 mile bubble!
ReplyDeleteBryan: I find myself worrying about being on a train that succumbs to a mudslide!