Westlake/MacArthur Park station

Westlake/MacArthur Park
Westlake/MacArthur Park station mezzanine
General information
Location	660 South Alvarado Street Los Angeles, California
Coordinates	34°03′25″N 118°16′35″W / 34.0570°N 118.2764°W / 34.0570; -118.2764
Owned by	Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Platforms	1 island platform
Tracks	2
Connections	Los Angeles Metro Bus LADOT DASH
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Parking	6 spaces,[1] kiss and ride facility[2]
Bicycle facilities	Metro Bike Share station,[3] and racks
History
Opened	January 30, 1993; 31 years ago (1993-01-30)
Previous names	Wilshire/Alvarado
Services
Preceding station Metro Rail Following station Wilshire/Vermont toward North Hollywood B Line 7th Street/Metro Center toward Union Station Wilshire/Vermont toward Wilshire/Western D Line
Location

Westlake/MacArthur Park station is an underground rapid transit, known locally as a subway, station on the B Line and D Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located near the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westlake, after which the station is named, along with MacArthur Park, which is located across the street. Unlike most of Metro's other underground stations, which are built directly under a street, the Westlake/MacArthur Park platform is located south of Wilshire Boulevard and between 7th Street.^[4] This design allowed a train storage area to be built under MacArthur Park, and necessitated draining the lake for several years to excavate and build the tracks.

Westlake/MacArthur Park is one of L.A's five original subway stations: when it opened in 1993, it was the western terminus of the Red Line, before completion of the Wilshire/Western branch (now called the D Line) in 1996 and the North Hollywood branch (now called the B Line) in 2000.

Right outside the station, MacArthur Park and a lively street scene of the neighborhood's largely Mexican, Salvadorean, Guatemalan and Honduran residents stand in stark contrast to the metropolitan environment dotted with skyscrapers just one station to the east.