Palms station is an elevated
light rail station on the
E Line of the
Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located over the intersection of National Boulevard and Palms Boulevard in the
Palms neighborhood of
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
, after which the station is named.
History
![The Palms Depot Sign](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/The_Palms_Depot_Sign.jpg)
Bay View was a stop on the
Los Angeles and Independence Railroad
The Los Angeles and Independence Railroad, opened on October 17, 1875, was a steam-powered rail line which ran between the Santa Monica Long Wharf (north of the current Santa Monica Pier) and 5th and San Pedro streets in downtown Los Angeles.
...
. It was renamed The Palms in 1886.
The
Eastlake style
The Eastlake movement was a nineteenth-century architectural and household design reform movement started by British architect and writer Charles Eastlake (1836–1906). The movement is generally considered part of the late Victorian period in t ...
Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot
Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot is a historic railroad depot built between 1886 and 1888 in what is now the Palms section of Los Angeles, California. The two-story wood depot was originally located at the corner of National Boulevard and Vi ...
building was situated approximately west of the present station, on the south side of the tracks, and remained in active rail service until the closure of the
Santa Monica Air Line
The Santa Monica Air Line was an interurban railroad operated by the Pacific Electric between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. Electric passenger service operated over the line between 1908 and 1953. After abandonment as a freight railroad, ...
in 1953.
Used in many motion pictures, the building eventually fell into disrepair and abandonment but was declared a
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites which have been designated by the Los Angeles, California, Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.
History
The Historic-Cult ...
in 1963. A grassroots organization, S.O.S. (Save Our Station), moved it in February 1976 to the
Heritage Square Museum
Heritage Square Museum is a living history and open-air architecture museum located beside the Arroyo Seco Parkway in the Montecito Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southern Arroyo Seco area. The living history museum sho ...
grounds in the
Montecito Heights
Montecito Heights is a neighborhood in the Northeast Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California. The population in 2000 was estimated at 16,768.
Geography and transportation
Montecito Heights' boundaries are roughly the Pasadena Freeway ( SR ...
community of the
Arroyo Seco. It now serves as the museum's gift shop and visitor center.
Station name
Originally slated to be renamed "National/Palms" on re-opening, it remains "Palms" as a result of a request by the Palms Neighborhood Council.
The council's resolution stated that:
::
the Pacific Line Palms station was an important landmark on the west side of the city, and the community that grew around it is one of the oldest on the west side of Los Angeles. Our stakeholders feel the naming of the station is not only an important branding opportunity for Palms, but an opportunity for Los Angeles to reinstate a link to the history in one of its oldest and most diverse communities.
On April 25, 2013, the Metro board of directors voted in favor of "Palms" as the official name of the station.
Service
Station layout
The station location is adjacent to
I-10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
, just west of the three-way intersection of National, Palms and Exposition boulevards and perched on an embankment above National Boulevard. Access is provided by stairs and elevators at the east end of the station.
Construction incorporated an existing steel bridge from the
Air Line
An air line is a tube, or hose, that contains and carries a compressed air supply. In industrial usage, this may be used to inflate car or bicycle tyres or power tools worked by compressed air, for breathing apparatus in hazardous environments ...
era and added a new concrete bridge, both immediately east of the station over the National/Palms intersection, as well as re-using an existing rail tunnel west of the station.
Hours and frequency
E Line trains run every day between approximately 4:30 a.m. and 12:30 am. Trains operate every ten minutes during peak hours Monday through Friday, every twelve minutes during the daytime on weekdays and all day on the weekends after approximately 8 a.m. (with 15 to 20-minute headways early Saturday and Sunday mornings). Night service is every 20 minutes.
Connections
, the following connections are available:
*
Big Blue Bus
Big Blue Bus (stylized, big blue bus) is a municipal bus service serving the city of Santa Monica and the greater Westside region of Los Angeles County. The service, operated by the city of Santa Monica, was founded on April 14, 1928 and thro ...
(Santa Monica):
5,
17
Points of interest
Attractions within walking distance of Palms Station:
*
Moreton Bay Fig Tree (Los Angeles, California)
The Moreton Bay Fig tree in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles is a large ''Ficus macrophylla'' (commonly known as the Moreton Bay fig or Australian banyan) tree that was planted in 1875 and landmarked in 1963. The St. John’s Presbyterian Ch ...
References
External links
Metro.net: Metro Expo Line website Metro.net: "More to Explore, 7 New Expo Line Stations"— ''opened 20 May 2016''.
Metro Expo Line Construction Authority website— ''all projects''.
Metro Rail Expo Corridor, Phase 2 Project Website— ''opened 20 May 2016''.
Youtube.com: Location of old Palms Station— ''seen on
time lapse
Time-lapse photography is a technique in which the frequency at which film frames are captured (the frame rate) is much lower than the frequency used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus ...
video of pre−upgraded section of line from near Robertson Boulevard northwest through Palms and Cheviot Hills to Pico Boulevard''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palms (Los Angeles Metro station)
Los Angeles Metro Rail stations located above ground
E Line (Los Angeles Metro) stations
Palms, Los Angeles
Railway stations in Los Angeles
Westside (Los Angeles County)
Railway stations in the United States opened in 2016
2016 establishments in California
Pacific Electric stations