Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
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.
Photo cropped from KCRW photo
