Results tagged “thebelmont”

Photo by xxjetlab via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr

The Belmont Yard, aka the Belmont Tunnel, aka the Belmont Art Park has been threatened with destruction by a developer with 276 units of apartments up its corporate nose. Located off the west edge of downtown, the park has served as rare greenspace for a soccer-like game called Tarasca and as a canvas for some breathtakingly talented graffiti artists. While the rains held the bulldozers back for a short interval, the yard and its surrounding graffiti-coated walls have now been plowed into foundation-ready ground for the approved apartments. On February 9, the City Council's Planning and Land Use Management Committee approved designation of the tunnel and substation (pictured) as landmarks, but exactly how anyone will see them after the new construction takes place is beyond us. For now, the best vantage point is from the 1st street bridge as it crosses second. Either that or follow the stray dogs through the gap in fence off Lucas and get a closer-up view.

Los Angeles is once again busy trying to scrub away our colorful and interesting heritage. The Belmont Tunnel, formerly used to hustle rail traffic into and out of downtown, is in danger of being restricted from public use. The issue is rancorous because since its abandonment, the Tunnel has become a sort of wasteland, inhabited mostly by the unseemly characters that police pin all sorts of nastiness on: the homeless and taggers.