Metro’s Transportation Library & Archive is taking a look back at this week’s 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking for the Red Line subway.

On September 29, 1986, numerous dignitaries converged on the future home of the Civic Center station to turn over the first shovels of dirt in digging our local Metro Rail system.

The Library’s Primary Resources blog post features groundbreaking footage from that day, along with a 1985 promotional film that primed Angelenos for the subway system that was headed their way.