Signs Point to Westside Transit Mystery

It seemed to some Westside motorists stuck in traffic Tuesday that relief was in sight.

“Future Station Location, Metro Aqua Line,” announced a series of large signs--sporting the familiar Metropolitan Transportation Authority logo--that seemed to sprout overnight along San Vicente and Wilshire boulevards.

A map included on the 5-foot panels showed that 10 new Metro Aqua Line stations were planned between Santa Monica and the existing Metro Rail Red Line subway.

But with what kind of mass transit was the MTA planning to link downtown Los Angeles and a broad swath of the Westside? One that would connect the Fairfax district, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Westwood, Brentwood and Santa Monica?

Some were certain the Aqua Line would be an above-ground trolley, like the MTA Blue Line light rail system between Los Angeles and Long Beach.

“They wouldn’t make it a subway because of the methane gas beneath Fairfax,” said a Santa Monica man studying the Aqua Line construction sign at San Vicente and 26th Street.

“I just hope they’re not going to take out any traffic lanes for it. But this is fantastic. This will run three blocks from my house and there’s a station at Comstock and Wilshire, near my brother’s place,” said the man, who would identify himself only as Stan.

Nearby, boutique operator Robert Keirstead was convinced that the Aqua Line would be underground. He was happily anticipating the new customers it would bring to his store, Dungarees.

“I think it’s a subway. I’m assuming they’re already building it underneath us. I think that’s what’s been knocking out my electricity the last few weeks,” Keirstead said.

Given the Aqua Line name, some wondered whether the signs announced a pending water pipe project. Or maybe another sewer line project, suggested Brentwood resident Katie Grimditch.

But that would probably be called the Brown Line. “If it’s a sewer line, I’m embarrassed,” she said, laughing.

A man sipping a noontime drink outside the Jamba Juice shop at San Vicente and Montana Avenue speculated that the Aqua Line was simply a new bus line.

Brentwood resident Sue Nordhaus said she drove past the sign twice to read it.

She suggested that it might be something officials put up for the Democratic National Convention “to make visitors think we have a transit system.”

Her friend Monique Martin, also of Brentwood, wondered whether the Aqua Line was actually a canal. “Not a canal. A Conal. You know, Robbie Conal”--the Los Angeles street artist whose work is often posted on corners all over town.

Promoting Dialogue About Transportation

Turns out Martin’s guess was the closest of all.

A recorded message greeted callers to the “Aqua Line Hotline,” whose number is printed on the signs. All Aqua Line operators were “busy” and unable to answer calls, it advised.

MTA officials denied involvement in the project.

Ed Scannell, a spokesman for the agency, said the MTA suspects that the Aqua Line signs are part of an elaborate art project.

And sure enough, a group called ‘Heavy Trash took credit Tuesday afternoon for creating the fictitious subway plan.

The group posted eight signs Sunday “in an attempt to promote civic dialogue about the need for better transportation in Los Angeles,” it said in a statement.

“Heavy Trash created this project in response to the attitudes taken by many upscale neighborhoods toward the implementation of mass transit in their area. Homeowner groups often see mass transit as an encroachment upon their living space by lower-income residents. This ‘not in my backyard’ mentality has stopped many plans for the expansion of the Metro in its tracks.”

No names were attached to the announcement, but Heavy Trash was described as “an anonymous organization of architects, artists and builders” who create urban art installations.

In other words, the Aqua Line was created by underground artists, not underground tunnelers.