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.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

July 14, 2015 2:30 AM PT

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 opens in 1990, ushering in the new era of trains in L.A. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times )

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)

California

Photos: The Metro Blue Line turns 25

More From the Los Angeles Times

Scores of starving brown pelicans found on Southern California beaches

Bay Bridge to be relit, with twice the lights

Eight arrested in multimillion-dollar retail theft operation, L.A. County sheriff’s officials say

Bodies found in Baja California during search for missing tourists, Mexican officials say