Thousands Turn Red Line’s Valley Debut Into Carnival

Like anxious kids antsy to test the latest amusement park ride, thousands of people boarded the Red Line subway Saturday to experience the final leg of the $4.7-billion rail project.

For the first time, riders were able to board the Red Line subway in downtown Los Angeles and zip along underground all the way to the San Fernando Valley in less than half an hour.

Eighty-eight-year-old Hyman Hoffman emerged beaming from the Universal City Red Line station. An emigre from Eastern Europe, Hoffman is an old hand at public transit after living in the Bronx for years, frequenting the Jerome Avenue and 8th Street subway lines in the New York City borough.

When he moved to North Hollywood, the old Red Cars took him everywhere for less than a quarter, until they were bumped off by cars and freeways.

“There’s no comparison” with New York, he said, gazing at the tile murals and soaring ceilings inside the Universal City station. “This is like a joy ride.”

For many families, the grand opening of the final 6.3 miles of the subway, from the Hollywood-Highland station to North Hollywood, had all the trappings of a Los Angeles theme park. Lines often snaked outside in the hot sun around the station, parking lots were packed, and festivals and entertainers greeted passengers at each of the three new stops.

Just after 3:15 p.m., MTA officials said that about 130,000 people had ridden the trains and they expected to exceed first-day projections of 180,000 passengers. Similar ridership is expected today, with free rides continuing for all Red Line trains from 5 a.m. to midnight.

One man collapsed on the Universal City platform with a heart problem and was taken to a local hospital, but no other incidents were reported, the MTA said.

For some, the finished subway was more a relief than an attraction.

Just south of the North Hollywood station, optometrist Thomas Kutrosky viewed the end of the Red Line as the end of six years of dust, building zones and restless nights. His business suffered during the subway construction just outside his door, and he and his wife were often disturbed as they slept upstairs from his office.

“We survived,” Kutrosky said.

Despite the disruptions, Kutrosky and many others viewed the finished subway as a new chapter for highway-bound Angelenos. His wife, he said, will rely on the Red Line to reach her nursing job downtown.

Taking the bus to downtown from their North Hollywood home, meant an hour-and-a-half ride, said Heidy Perez, who attended the opening with her mother and children. She won’t have to drive her children to CityWalk, she said, and her mother’s long bus rides will be replaced by faster train commutes.

Overshadowed by the subway, the MTA’s Rapid Bus service, featuring sleek new buses that can electronically keep traffic lights green to speed their passage, also made their debut Saturday. Its rides--along Wilshire and Ventura boulevards--are free through June 30.

The new service lured many curious riders. Among them was Kesavan Korand, who boarded a Rapid bus at Van Nuys Boulevard and timed his trip to Universal City at 16 minutes--a speedy option, he said, should he get a job downtown.

As Korand reached Universal City and headed down the escalator to the subway, railroad fan Bob Hughart of Glendale was riding in the front car of a train from Union Station to North Hollywood. He clocked the ride at 28 minutes, a feat he said would be tough to beat on the Hollywood Freeway.

The new subway extension, Hughart mused, might even slow down Valley secession efforts, now that the both sides of the Cahuenga Pass would be that much closer.