The Gold and Red Lines of the Los Angeles Metro should be designated as the “art and culture Metro Lines”. They were among the earliest ones built and the Metro invested a significant amount of money in site-specific artwork for each station along these two lines. The newer Metro stations still have art–mostly in the form of tile panels–but nothing quite like the Gold and Red Line stations.
The apartment buildings are in a deep brick red color. The Old Pasadena trolley station from back in the early 1900s is the low gold color building in the front. And behind it, slightly left of center, is a gray tower, the site specific art for the Del Mar Station. From the street it is almost unnoticeable.
At the Del Mar station the artwork designed by Ries Niemi is dwarfed by the massive rental apartment complex that surrounds it. But go inside the plaza behind the old trolley station and here is what you will see:
It may look like a kind of industrial building, but it is part of the artwork created for this station by Ries Niemi. It shelters the entrance to the stairs to the garages for the apartment complex.In addition to the tower, Niemi created decorative elements for the barriers in this station. At the Del Mar station the Metro plunges underground.A detail of this artwork which shelters the stairs to the lower level garages of the apartment buildings.Los Angeles had an extensive trolley system back in the first half of the 20th Century. When cars became more popular in the 1950s, the trolley tracks were pulled up. This one trolley station remains but is now a very popular restaurant.About a block away is the historic Castle Green, the last remaining building of a hotel built back when Pasadena was a resort destination. It is an artwork in itself.
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