Taylor Yard is the site of the

Rio de Los Angeles State Park Rio de Los Angeles State Park is a California State Park along the Los Angeles River north of downtown Los Angeles in the neighborhood of Glassell Park, Los Angeles. The park includes restored wetlands featuring native plants as well as sports fi ...

along with the new Metrolink maintenance facility located on the southern end of the former yard grounds in Los Angeles. The former

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

and

classification yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English ( Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English ( Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...

and former headquarters of

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

operations in Southern California was purchased by the Southern Pacific in 1911 and continually reshaped and remade over the course of the early 20th century for the purposes of inspection, repair, and storage of freight cars on the Southern Pacific Fruit Express line.

History

Taylor Yard was established in 1911 on the previous site of Taylor Feed Mill (from which the yard gets its name). It was rebuilt in 1949. Competition from the trucking industry and the closure of American manufacturing plants led to the decline of the Yard after the 1950s. In 1983, an average of 25,000 railroad cars moved through Taylor Yard and 1,200 workers were employed in its operations, down from 5,000 in the 1950s. Southern Pacific closed the terminal on November 14, 1985, citing declining business. Workers and union leaders cited a merger plan between

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

and

Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

, which had been sharply criticized by the U.S. Justice Department, but endorsed by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Southern Pacific closed the facilities and bulldozed the site in 1988. In 1991, the county acquired the eastern portion of the site. In 2003, the California Department of Parks and Recreation began working with the community to develop the

. The first phase of the park, built on , was completed in April 2007. In 2017, the city acquired G2 parcel, the northern portion of Taylor Yard.

Developments

"Rumblefish" Taylor Yard Bikeway and Pedestrian Bridge

In June 2019, the City of Los Angeles began construction on the "Rumblefish" Taylor Yard Bikeway and Pedestrian Bridge to connect Taylor Ward with

Elysian Valley __NOTOC__ Elysian Valley, commonly known as Frogtown, is a neighborhood in Central Los Angeles, California, adjoining the Los Angeles River. It has two parks, both maintained by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA). The Frog ...

on the west side of the Los Angeles River. The bikeway and pedestrian bridge, which is long and wide, is expected to be completed in October 2020. The bridge is part of Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan. The $20.8 million project has been wholly funded by

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), commonly branded as Metro, LA Metro, and L.A. Metro, is the state agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the transportation system in Los Angele ...

Taylor Yard G2 River Park

The Taylor Yard G2 River Park will be built on a site acquired by the city in 2017 for $60 million. The park is intended to be provide recreational park space, wetlands and other amenities, and has been described by Mayor

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...

as the "crown jewel" of a broader ongoing initiative to restore of the Los Angeles River. The park is expected to be completed by 2028, in time for the

2028 Summer Olympics The 2028 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, also known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28) is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to July 30, 2028, in and around Los Angeles, Cali ...

. In July 2019, the city announced 3 design proposals for the park, namely The Island, Soft Edge, and the Yard. A viewing platform will be built to enable the public to view changes to the river habitat prior to the 2028 opening.

Paseo del Río project

The Paseo del Río project (Spanish for "river walk") will be an approximately long riverfront walkway constructed on Taylor Yard, along the banks of the Los Angeles River. The project is being overseen by the 100 Acre Partnership, and will be funded by grants from the

Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is an agency of the state of California in the United States founded in 1980 and dedicated to the acquisition of land for preservation as open space, for wildlife and California native plants habitat Natu ...

Bowtie Parcel

The State of California owns the G1 parcel, colloquially called the "Bowtie Parcel" on a plot of , immediately north of G2, along the banks of the Los Angeles River. There are plans to convert this parcel into phase 2 of the phase two of

. The state currently uses the space for public art programming, and the site also hosts several site-specific installations, and numerous pop-up events, in collaboration with a local nonprofit, Clockshop.

Private developments

Taylor Yard Transit Village is a mixed-use development built on at the southern end of Taylor Yard, immediately southeast of Rio de Los Angeles State Park. The development comprises rental apartments, senior housing, homes, commercial space and greenspace. In Spring 2020, a developer proposed the construction of a mixed-used complex immediately north of the Bowtie Parcel, comprising 419 multi-family residential units, commercial space, and a multi-story parking structure.

Ecology

Taylor Yard sits adjacent to the Los Angeles River. As the river passes Taylor Yard, it flows through the Glendale Narrows. This portion of the river has an unlined channel bottom due to the high groundwater table. The soft-bottom includes riparian vegetation, open water, and sand bars, which are supported by year-round flows.

Architecture

Among the most iconic features of the site was the Roundhouse and the Dayton Tower. The Dayton is the only building of the site that has not been demolished. It has been relocated three times. By the 1950s, Taylor Yard was the central node in the freight network into and out of Los Angeles for Southern Pacific, as the classification yard had grown in complexity and size concurrent with increases both manufacturing and the overall population of Los Angeles. The Classification Yard was split into three operational zones, "with the receiving unit at the west end, then the classification unit, and at the east end the departure unit."

Environmental investigations

Soil mapping reveals four areas of potential concern (AOPCs) which exhibit high concentrations of

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

hydrocarbons In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...

arsenic Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...

, and

antimony Antimony is a chemical element with the symbol Sb (from la, stibium) and atomic number 51. A lustrous gray metalloid, it is found in nature mainly as the sulfide mineral stibnite (Sb2S3). Antimony compounds have been known since ancient time ...

. The first AOPC area surrounds the former diesel

turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

, the second envelops the former fueling and sanding tracks, the third sits along the southern portion of the former roundhouse, and the fourth is located near the diesel shops. "Results of environmental investigations conducted at Taylor Yard to date indicate that subsurface soils in the Active Yard generally consist of fill material extending from the ground surface to a depth of approximately seven feet below ground surface (bgs), and sands and silty sands with minor discontinuous clayey sands extending from seven to 35 feet bgs." Additionally, there is an extensive infrastructure consisting of thirty onsite wells, twenty-two of which are located in the active yard, to monitor the quantity and quality of groundwater on-site.