L.A. Metro's new Red Line in 1993

A trip on the Los Angeles Metro Red Line (now part of Line B) on February 24, 1993, less than a month after its opening. Back then it had just five stations, running only between Westlake/MacArthur Park (of soggy cake fame) and Union Station.
Contents:
0:00 At Westlake/MacArthur Park
3:08 Morningside High School on the train
6:41 Union Station - Civic Center (front view)
8:56 Civic Center - Pershing Square
10:16 Pershing Square - 7th St/Metro Center
11:53 7th St/Metro Center - Westlake/MacArthur Park
14:55 At 7th St/Metro Center
18:26 At Pershing Square

[@busfan2750]

Excellent video, thanks for posting. It's nice seeing Westlake/Macarthur park station clean. Its current condition is horrendous.

[@joelpaniagua2024]

Yes, this was 30 years ago. It's not even close to "clean", today. Even if they clean it a little, it's still dirty.

[@busfan2750]

​@@joelpaniagua2024Agreed.

[@SuperheroJunior]

@@joelpaniagua2024 At this time the Redline never went to North Hollywood.

[@mrxman581]

It's much better today compared to 6 months ago.

[@Nate_Friedman]

to me the most interesting thing was seeing people reacting so much to being recorded. It seems to be an every day occurrence or expectation that people will be recording where you are especially if you're in a city. The people in this video certainly noticed especially because the size of recording equipment has changed so much

[@jrt2792]

This was 30 years ago when cameras weren't exactly common for everyone, it kinda makes me sad to see that the device no longer gets the respect it used to get back then. I wonder how are the people in this video are doing nowadays, I hope nothing but very best for them.

[@PDXLibertarian]

1980 Prop A passed: RTD built the Red Line, SCRRAT built the Blue Line, and Zev Yaroslavsky fracked it up.

[@mrxman581]

Zev and Berman. Will never forgive them for that.

[@alexanderbanos8125]

15:49 The Figueroa Street exit sign at 7th Street/Metro Center station looks almost same like today. It was formatted as "⬆️ Exit to Figueroa Street/Metro Blue Line To Long Beach ⬆️" at that time. As of now, it reads as "⬆️ Exit To Figueroa Street & Blue Line To Long Beach (Platform 2)" ⬆️. Despite the Expo Line (E Line) already existing since 2012 and extended to Santa Monica since 2016, that sign was never changed. Pretty soon, with the Regional Connector near completion, it'll be read as "⬆️ Exit to Figueroa Street/🔵 (A) to Long Beach & 🟡 (E) to Santa Monica ⬆️".

[@Lucrativecris]

Did they change it?

[@alexanderbanos8125]

@@Lucrativecris Probably not I think. In some Facebook photos inside 7th Street/Metro Center station taken on the day before the Regional Connector's grand opening, some signs were still carrying the original format. One of the signs still read "Metro Blue Line To Long Beach", which was never changed at the time the Expo Line (E Line) opened in 2012.

[@joelpaniagua2024]

Wow! Back then, its service ended early! Today, I think the last train is around 11:30 p.m.

[@joelpaniagua2024]

3:09, notice that they had no smartphones back then. Just pure chatting, and also notice how the trains were nice and clean, compared to today!

[@Mytimekid]

Massive thanks for uploading this. Have been interested in this system since i saw it in my favourite film from the 90's Speed. To think that Keanu Reeves was running along Pershing Square station at one point!

[@Lucrativecris]

It’s weird seeing it end in west lake station

[@Risky2k9]

Back when Westlake was a bit peaceful

[@petermen_2005]

weird to see the la metro without thinking about the crackheads and the homeless hanging around on either the train stations or the trains

[@bannedheretic2971]

I remember that.

[@mrxman581]

Very cool and rare video. Was probably filmed with a VHS video camera. Those were huge by today's standards. Thanks.

[@ChariotManGaming85]

I hope you do NYC MTA Transit next. We had the Redbirds which was the red looking cars the 1,9,2,3,4,5 and 6 trains use to run on. And 7th train.. And the A,C, B, D, E,F, G,R, Q trains. 😊

[@NHGMitchell]

Sorry, I didn't tape NYC.

[@ChariotManGaming85]

@@NHGMitchell So you was in LA back in the early 90's

[@NHGMitchell]

@@ChariotManGaming85 Yes, I taped this myself.

[@ChariotManGaming85]

@@NHGMitchell Nice! I wish you was in NYC back in the 90's. You would've been on the old red trains. Red Birds we use to call them here in NYC. Those ran the best.

[@steamymemes7946]

@@ChariotManGaming85There’s should be some 80-90s videos of nyc subway out there

[@K0BW3E]

I kinda fear to ride the metro red line because after watching the movie "valcano" i have fear of lava, even through it was a fiction movie

[@NHGMitchell]

"The Coast is Toast" -- I remember that movie -- but realistically it's earthquakes, not volcanoes, that we have to worry about in L.A.

[@WrapperPresidentsShow]

Today the red line is a dump! It’s horrendous! Homeless people sleeping on the trains and platform, unsanitary conditions, and worse of the the drug fentanyl contamination

[@mrxman581]

​@@WrapperPresidentsShowIt's much better today. All of Metro has improved noticeably over the last year. Ridership went up 11% in 2023. And it will be higher in 2024. Things began to change for the better after the Regional Connector opened in June 2023.

[@emvvehicles_8]

Anymore 90’s stuff coming?

[@NHGMitchell]

That's all I have from L.A., but I do have some Chicago and London stuff in the works.

[@AaronJrBrundidge]

the film 'Speed, 1994" used this line

[@metrorailinlosangelesprodu4407]

That’s cool History. I love it

[@mrxman581]

BTW, it's not obvious on the video, but there were no fare turnstiles when the subway opened. It was on the honor system. You bought a ticket and climbed on-board. They rarely checked for tickets. Years later they retrofitted all the subway stations with turnstiles.

[@SigmaRho2922]

Automated announcements were not introduced to the subway until the late 2000s.

[@djhurricane7493]

Way different compared to know

[@LDTV22OfficialChannel]

People still like to drive their cars on the freeways than actually ride the LA Metro for some reason.

[@mattlovescatz]

It's probably cause the LACMTA Metro doesn't really serve all of L.A. yet. But once it's expanded to something even bigger we might see a tremendous change in riders.

[@CancelYoutube026]

today, E line baraly get enough train carts for the riders in the afternoons, people were standing, it only get 3 train cars. plus a lot of people taking more than one seat.

[@mrxman581]

​@@mattlovescatzIt's already changing. I noticed a difference after the Regional Connector opened. A lot more young people using it. Many with bikes and skateboards.

[@mrxman581]

Less and less because traffic is getting worse and worse.

[@CancelYoutube026]

@@mrxman581 la traffic getting worse?

[@dumpsterfire79]

Damn. Different world. Went on it today and it was grimy, smelly, filthy and full of passed out transients and some open drug use.

[@mrxman581]

It's improved noticeably over the last 6-8 months. It's getting better.

[@kikeruiz539]

So weird to not see any homeless overdosing

[@superman7830]

I remember when that was totally nonexistent on the Red Line.

[@lacountytransitrailfan]

Back when LA Metro was safe and their stations were clean. As of now, the stations are dirty and it’s full of homeless people, drug addicts, and gang members

[@mrxman581]

Not true. That's an exaggeration. It's improved noticeably over the last year.