New Metro Connections; Ride Free All Weekend

By Goweho Staff | June 14, 2023

Metro celebrates the opening of three new underground stations with free rides for the public on all Metro trains Friday-Sunday, and beginning at noon on the new Regional Connector Friday, June 16, 2023, following the opening ceremony.

The Regional Connector Opening Ceremony will include the unveiling of a plaque at the Little Tokyo/Arts District Station in honor of former Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta. Mineta, the only Democratic cabinet secretary in the Bush administration, oversaw the creation of the Transportation Security Administration in response to the Sept. 11 attacks that had occurred early in his tenure. 

There will also be performances by taiko drummers and a spiritual invocation.

The three new underground stations – Little Tokyo/Arts District, Historic Broadway, and Grand Avenue Arts/Bunker Hill – will provide riders with more direct access to Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) destinations and provide transfer-free journeys between Azusa to Long Beach and from East Los Angeles to Santa Monica, through the downtown Los Angeles core. The project will also improve transit connections, bringing together the Metro L (Gold), A (Blue), E (Expo), B (Red) and D (Purple) lines at the 7th Street/Metro Center Station.

Dignitaries scheduled to attend include Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins, Glendale City Council Member and Metro Board Chair Ara J. Najarian; Metro Board Members Mayor James Butts, Sr., Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker, Fernando Dutra, and Hilda L. Solis; Alex Padilla (D-CA); Ray Tellis, FTA Region IX-Regional Administrator; Congressman Jimmy Gomez (D-CA); Maria Elena Durazo, California State Senator (D-CA), along with Metro Executives.

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WHEN:    Friday, June 16, 2023. Opening Ceremony 9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.  

WHERE:        Japanese American National Museum (JANM) 
                        100 N. Central Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90012 

Check out the Little Tokyo/Arts District station and artworks by Clare Rojas (entrance pavilion) and Audrey Chan (platform). Commissioned by Metro Art, Clare Rojas’ artwork, Harmony, honors the presence of the natural world within the urban landscape and highlights humanity’s shared rhythm with the land, water, and sky. The 14 colorful panels of Audrey Chan’s, Will Power Allegory, feature fluid vignettes of people and symbols from Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, Arts District, Skid Row, Bronzeville and Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe.

For more details, see the Metro.net website.

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