Downtown Santa Monica is the terminus of the Los Angeles Metro Expo Line and opened on May 20, 2016. It is the last stop of the 6.6 mile, 7 stop, Expo Line Phase 2 extension from Culver City. The station restored the former Red Car services between Los Angeles and Santa Monica that previously operated from 1908 to 1953 on the Santa Monica Airline, although freight service continued to Santa Monica until 1988.
The station is designed to be a high capacity terminus 3 blocks from the beach and the Santa Monica Pier. The tracks are rightfully so, not designed to extended any further. The station consists of two island platforms for 3 terminating tracks, trains on the middle track open their doors on both sides. Green arrows on the overhead sigs above the entrance to each illuminate to show which train will be departing next.
The platforms begin at the grade-crossing of 5th Street with emergency exit staircases (there isn't even a sidewalk/crosswalk on the west side of 5th Street by the platforms) and run west ending in bumper blocks. The station is flat, while nearby streets head down hills towards the sea, this means steps and ramps are required to leave the station.
Beyond the track bumper blocks the passenger entrance area, a wide elevated plaza. Two sets of turnstiles on each side are the station exits. To the south is the "Olympic Blvd/Civic Center" exit. More than 30 steps and a longer looping ramp lead down to some TVMs along 4th Street, Olympic Blvd is across the Santa Monica Freeway, a couple blocks south of the station. The north, the Colorado Av/Esplanade & Pier exit lead to a slightly shorter staircase, and switchbacking ramp down to the SE corner of Colorado Blvd 4th Street, this intersection is fully striped as a crosswalk since all pedestrian signals are Barnes dances and pedestrians can cross diagonally when they have the light.
Artwork: L.A. Sonata by Judithe Hernandez are 24 large panels throughout the platforms above showing global mythologies honoring the fact Downtown Santa Monica is a terminus station at the edge of the continent.
Photos 1-8: April 9, 2017; 9-25: December 22, 2019
