Photos: The Metro Blue Line turns 25
A Metro Blue Line train breaks through a banner in celebration of the line’s 25th anniversary. It has become a microcosm of the community it serves as well as of the challenges and successes of mass transit in a metropolis where the car is king.
The Blue Line, which runs from downtown L.A. to Long Beach, was Los Angeles’ first modern rail. Long popular, it serves a working-class area that depends on mass transit to get around.
The Blue Line train from Long Beach ends at 7th and Flower in downtown Los Angeles on July 15, 1990.
(Thomas Kelsey / Los Angeles Times)Blue Line construction along the 710 Freeway on April 17, 1988.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)A Blue Line train runs in the median of Long Beach Boulevard, with its rows of aging buildings that city officials want to spruce up, on Nov.20, 1990.
(Rick Corrales / Los Angeles Times)Commuters pour out of a Blue Line train on Feb. 15, 1991, the first day of operation for the new Metro station at 7th and Flower in downtown L.A.
(Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times)Blue Line cars on Washington Boulevard near Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles on May 4, 1992.
(Rick Meyer / Los Angeles Times)Blue Line train operator Hector Gutierrez heads along Washington Boulevard on a section of track where no crossing guards are posted on Dec. 10, 1992.
(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)