Car-Dependent City Welcomes a Subway

After 20 years of planning and $1.4 billion, the city known for its dependence on the automobile embraced its first modern subway. Nearly 53,000 people crowded into five underground stations in downtown Los Angeles for free rides on the subway’s first 4.4-mile segment, from Union Station to MacArthur Park. The full trip from end to end took only about seven minutes, but some people put on their best clothes and drove more than an hour to experience it. A taped version of “The Stars and Stripes Forever” echoed through the tunnel as Los Angeles’ first Metro Red Line car pulled into the station at downtown’s Pershing Square.