Tomorrow, Saturday the 26th, will be the concluding weekend event of Los Angeles Walks, Walktoberfest events. I’m leading this Santa Monica walk, and we will be taking a tour of some projects in the Expo Line corridor of Santa Monica. This will include parts of the rail line and each of it’s currently under construction stations, as well as looking at some other city projects underway, recently completed (like Tongva Park where the walk will conclude), projects planned for soon, or that exist as grand ideas in the long term, pending funding that does not yet exist (such as the two freeway capping proposals).
We will be experiencing the areas to undergo the most near and long term change in the city with the reintroduction of passenger light rail service to Santa Monica. As a note on this, parts of this walk are less than scenic (and with some tight sidewalk spaces in parts or temporary walkways due to construction), and not typically what one often thinks of as Santa Monica for those who visit it. The division the freeway construction of the 1960’s created within the city, destroying many homes that were formally part of the Pico Neighborhood with it’s broad right of way, continues to leave it’s significant mark, as we will see in crossing it 3 separate times to arrive at various points, including where ambitious but unfunded long term plans for capping portions of the freeway exist.
We’re starting at 3:30 at Virgina Avenue Park, where the new library branch for the Pico Neighborhood is nearing completion, and will be heading for Bergamot Station first from there. The starting point and full route are shown in detail below. We will be concluding the walk at the gorgeous new public park, Tongva Park, and for those interested in drinks, we’ll be stopping into the adjacent and historic Chez Jay afterward, estimating around 6:30-7:00pm.
The route is not a loop, but it has been planned with easy transit access back to the starting point in mind for those that need to get back to the start, and that is also highlighted on the map below. Big Blue Bus fare is $1.00.
Check out the Facebook event page if you want to rsvp or see who is going.
View Walktober Santa Monica in a larger map
