Track 16 yields to the Expo Line

Signs of actual work on the Expo Line extension to Santa Monica can be seen all along the right-of-way west from Culver City. Beside Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, bridge foundations are rising that portend the demise of a portion of the Bergamot Station arts complex, including the Track 16 gallery where many have attended events through the years. Lisa Napoli went out to do a story on the end of Track 16 for KCRW:

It’s a sad irony for those of us who crave more mass transit that a special spot has to fall to make way for the Expo Line. Wine-sipping, art loving visitors have flocked to the galleries at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica for nearly 20 years, but the building that houses the massive 13-thousand square foot wonder known as Track 16 will be razed soon, and in its place, a train platform will eventually rise for the Olympic and 26th Street stop....

The workmen had already arrived last week to prep the site, even before the December 7th move-out date. I went to talk to Hollywood writer and producer Tom Patchett (“Alf,” “The Muppets Take Manhattan,” “The Bob Newhart Show”) who helped develop Bergamot Station back in 1994, when it was a warren of abandoned warehouses. If you’ve ever visited Track 16, you know it wasn’t a typical gallery. It was enormous, crazy, fun-filled with Americana, like this old diner from the twenties, and lots of memorabilia, like the original Brown Derby neon sign.

Audio of her story is here.

Photo cropped from KCRW photo