Union Station

A proposal to build a new headquarters for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California next to Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles received a major boost with the endorsement of an MWD site selection task force. The full MWD board is scheduled to vote Dec. 14 on the recommendation to start formal talks with Catellus Development Corp., which proposed a 14-story MWD building just south of the transit center.

Less than a week old, the Metrolink commuter train system was confronted Wednesday with the possibility of its first service disruption when a representative of the corporation that owns Union Station rejected an offer to settle a dispute over station maintenance costs.

Union Station, a monument to the entwined elements of history and transportation, was a Johnny-come-lately as train stations go, but it played a leading role in making Los Angeles into the nation's second-largest city. For more than a century, the mighty transcontinental railroads had helped to transform Los Angeles from an isolated town of 10,000 into a modern megalopolis.

For seven years Washington's Union Station, a beautiful 1907 Beaux Arts structure on Massachusetts Avenue just a few blocks from Capitol Hill, stood idle and decaying. Not anymore. Last fall, after a $160-million restoration replete with gold-leaf trim and repolished marble, this landmark reopened as the capital's modernized train terminal and its choicest shopping and leisure center, with more than 100 shops and eateries and a nine-screen cinema complex.

Following the buttery smell of popping popcorn wafting into the majestic, marble-floored hall of Union Station, Metrolink conductor David Tellez entered McCarthy's newsstand one day last week and ordered a bag. "It'll be 10 minutes," cashier Phan Long told him. "OK, I'll hold the train," Tellez joked. Then Long broke the bad news: "Did you know we're closing this week?"

Historic Union Station has been sold and its owners plan extensive improvements for the 51-year-old building and possible future development to reestablish the nearly 50-acre site as a regional transportation hub, it was announced Monday. Santa Fe Pacific Realty said Monday that it bought the 22% interest in the downtown station that Union Pacific Railroad has owned since 1939.

Murphy's Law was in effect on Sunday afternoon at that unlikeliest of venues, a concert hall at Union Station. A performance by a group listed as the Freddie Hubbard Quintet found four of the advertised musicians missing, most notably Hubbard himself. The trumpeter, who was briefly hospitalized recently but confirmed his appearance as late as Sunday morning, was taken "violently ill" around show time, according to his manager.

There are only two cities in the United States where the rare ringed turtledove can be observed in the wild--St. Petersburg, Fla., and Los Angeles. Since 1926, the light-brown and cream-colored doves with a distinctive black neck ring have nested in ficus trees in the vicinity of Los Angeles' historic Old Plaza and Union Station. Another small flock nests at Pershing Square.

Owners of one of the largest parcels of undeveloped land in downtown Los Angeles are drafting a master plan to turn the historic Union Station area into a second civic center that could house tenants ranging from the Police Department to the Clippers basketball team. Catellus Development Corp.

Ending a heated debate, Mayor Tom Bradley announced Wednesday that Los Angeles' new subway will open Jan. 30--a day before the Super Bowl and three weeks later than scheduled. "It's going to be a super day in Los Angeles: A super Metro Rail opening and a Super Bowl game," Bradley said at a news conference. Initially, passengers are expected to ride free on the Red Line subway--which will run between Union Station and MacArthur Park.