LA’S PURPLE LINE AIMS TO FLATTEN MUSEUM ROW
The inarguably valuable Purple Line that begins construction shortly to extend past Wilshire to Westwood and soon to the coast has recently been detailed in an environmental impact statement issued by the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the news is bad for three small gallery owners across the street from LACMA’s Broad Contemporary and next door to the Petersen Automotive Museum.
While a large lot of tax-exempt land sits just two blocks east of the proposed staging ground - the construction requires a flattened area “to receive gassy soils and possible fossil finds and to park subway construction vehicles, equipment and office trailers” - LACMA doesn’t want to give it up. Not only that, but LACMA also owns vacant land behind the May Co. building that has been used as staging ground for the past eight years.
But MTA is going after the easier targets first.
As gallery owner Edward Cella says, “I have great sympathy for the subway project. It’s a dream of all Los Angeles.” But that doesn’t mean he’s happy about the ouster. “I purposely moved my gallery from Santa Barbara to be in this network of spaces next to the A+D, across the street from LACMA, down the block from the Petersen. The context is irreplaceable.”
Read all of the details in this well-written article from the LA Times.
