It was Disney's
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that brought the sad story of the demise of the Los Angeles Red Car to mainstream attention. Could the Mouse help bring the Red Cars back?
It's hard to imagine that L.A. once had the best public transportation system in the country, but it's a fact. Just take a look at the 1930's
Pacific Electric Railway map and you'll see that it puts
L.A.'s present light rail/subway map to shame. The remnants of the streetcar system linger all over L.A. In my WeHo neighborhood, you can find weird diagonal lots that are the result of the tracks slicing through the area, now clogged with congested streets. And while L.A. ultimately embraced Judge Doom's vision of
the freeway, L.A.'s Red Cars remain an icon of the city.
Downtown L.A. has talked of putting limited Redcar service back as a tourist draw for a few years, either along Broadway or Grand Avenue, though many dismiss this as another "we'll believe it when we see it" pipe dream for the city's core. However in January, the Community Redevelopment Agency
voted to increase funding for a feasibility study to create a Red Car corridor between Broadway an L.A. Live. The biggest sticking point is that costs are expected to be around $60 million.
Here's where the Mouse comes in. Currently, Disney Imagineers are in the process of renovating the stillborn California Adventure Park, which brought such inglorious attractions as a demonstration on the manufacture of sourdough bread, into something more exciting. One of the new attractions:
Accurate replica's of L.A.'s Redcars running through the park. This is a perfect opportunity for business and government to work together. Here you have a company whose name is synonymous with California working on building the very one-of-a-kind E-ticket item downtown L.A. is looking to build. While it might be too much to expect Disney to underwrite the whole project, the fact they're currently building and designing authentic Red Cars might just be the thing to kick a downtown scheme into motion.
Surely, the city and Disney can work out an arrangement that would benefit them both. I can't think of a better way for Disney to endear itself in the hearts of Californians (who incidentally, make up most of the tourist trade at Disneyland) then to help bring back a long lost city icon.
Labels: design, los angeles
