Metro invites you to celebrate the halfway construction completion milestone for Section 1 of the Purple Line Extension! ‘Halfway to La Cienega’ is a free community event, open to the public that will take place on Sunday, June 2, on the Great Lawn of the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum from 11 a.m to 3 p.m.
The nine-mile Purple Line Extension Project is being constructed in three sections. The first section, currently under construction, will extend the subway 3.92 miles from Wilshire/Western Station to new stations at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega, connecting downtown L.A. to Koreatown, the Miracle Mile and Beverly Hills. Section 1 is forecast to open in 2023.
Join us for live music and dance performances, games, giveaways, food trucks and a family fun zone. Purple Line station artists Karl Haendel, Soo Kim and Fran Siegel will give a sneak peek into their art designs in process and lead hands-on art-making workshops at the Metro Arts and Design Pavilion. Free food samplings will be provided by Metro’s Eat Shop Play partners: Continental Kitchen, Rocco’s Neighborhood Pizza, Milk Jar Cookies and Book My Lot’s Happy Ice.
Don’t miss performances by these incredible, local artists:
- Dexter Story & Wondem: Story combines his diverse background in soul, funk, jazz and folk with sounds from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia and Kenya. With his band Wondem, he performs his latest release Bahir, an East African-influenced testament to Story’s decades of dedication to artistic excellence.
- The Blasting Company: Blending Eastern European folk traditions with genres rooted in North America, the Blasting Company combines a consistent jazz groove with an infectious exuberance that propels it forward. With an electricity rarely felt, even in live performance, it is the very definition of ‘good time music.’
- Korean Classical Music and Dance Company: This splendidly costumed ensemble boasts a rich and varied repertoire of Korean ceremonial and social dances, including an intricate, stylized fan dance and a thrilling drum dance featuring unison drumming on suspended drums.
- La Junta: The La Junta crew is known for its summery, daytime cultural celebrations that feature tropical Afro-Latin music from across Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Central America, the Caribbean and more.
The Metro Local 20 and Rapid 720 buses serve Wilshire Boulevard.
Categories: Go Metro
Wait, so can you take the purple line out to Wilshire/La Brea for the event?
Hi Pick:
No, the Metro 20 and 720. The train to Wilshire/La Brea doesn’t begin running until 2023 under the construction schedule.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source
“Half done” means half the project done. The tunnels are started but not complete. The stations are begun but not complete. But overall, they are halfway there.
Have they tunneled past the Tar Pits yet?
They are currently boring both tunnels eastward from La Brea toward Western Avenue. When this is done, they will then bore both tunnels westward from La Brea to Fairfax and then La Cienega. That westward tunneling will pass the Tar Pits.
Which half from La Brea Avenue is already completed? You mean the twin-tube tunnel from Western Avenue?
The overall Section 1 project is approaching being nearly halfway complete.
Steve Hymon
Editor, The Source