Del Mar station is an at-grade

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

station on the A Line of the

Los Angeles Metro Rail The Los Angeles Metro Rail is an urban rail transit system serving Los Angeles County, California, United States, consisting of six lines: four light rail lines (the A, C, E and K lines) and two rapid transit lines (the B and D lines), ...

system. It is located between

Arroyo Seco Parkway The Arroyo Seco Parkway, also known as the Pasadena Freeway, is one of the oldest controlled-access highway, freeways in the United States. It connects Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles with Pasadena, California, Pasadena alongside the Arr ...

and Raymond Avenue at Del Mar Boulevard, after which the station is named, in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

. The station is located on the site of the historic Pasadena Santa Fe Depot and the station building, built in 1935, still stands on the property. The property surrounding the station, situated on the southern edge of

Old Town Pasadena Old Pasadena, often referred to as Old Town Pasadena or simply Old Town, is the original commercial center of Pasadena, a city in California, United States, and had a latter-day revitalization after a period of decay. Old Pasadena began as t ...

, has been used extensively for

transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of Real estate development, urban development that maximizes the amount of Residential area, residential, business and leisure space within Pedestrian, walking distance of public t ...

projects, including one apartment building that was built over the tracks, creating a tunnel for trains. The light rail station opened on July 26, 2003, as part of the original Gold Line, then known as the "Pasadena Metro Blue Line" project. It is one of the stations near the

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if New ...

route on

Colorado Boulevard Colorado Boulevard (or Colorado Street in Glendale, California, Glendale and parts of Arcadia, California, Arcadia) is a major east–west street in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It runs from Griffith Park in Los Angeles east ...

and is used by people coming to see the parade. This station features station art called Kinetic Energy, created by artist Ries Niemi.

History

Railroad station

Pasadena became a stop on the

Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

’s transcontinental line in 1887. The first station was a Victorian-style building with a tower, weather vane, and scalloped shingles. In 1935, a new station was built, this time a Spanish Mediterranean style, one-story white stucco building with green trim and a red-tile roof. The station was designed by architect H.C. Gilman and featured ceramic tile designed by Pasadena craftsman Ernest Batchelder. Pasadena was a stop on the Santa Fe's ''

Super Chief The ''Super Chief'' was one of the List of named passenger trains, named train, passenger trains and the flagship of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The then-modern streamliner was touted in its heyday as "The Train of the Stars" b ...

'', ''

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

'', ''

El Capitan El Capitan (; ) is a vertical Rock formations in the United States, rock formation in Yosemite National Park, on the north side of Yosemite Valley, near its western end. The El Capitan Granite, granite monolith is about from base to summit alo ...

'' and other major intercity

streamliner A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, and to their successor " bullet trains". Less commonly, the term i ...

s, and became a popular with wealthy Easterners who “wintered” in Pasadena, and elite Hollywood actors. Amtrak took over passenger train service from the Santa Fe on May 1, 1971, and leased the station building from the Santa Fe's real estate subsidiary, the Santa Fe Pacific Realty Corp., for its ''

Southwest Chief The ''Southwest Chief'' (formerly the ''Southwest Limited'' and ''Super Chief'') is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak on a route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and American Southwest ...

'' and ''

Desert Wind The ''Desert Wind'' was an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that ran from 1979 to 1997. It operated from Chicago to Los Angeles as a section of the ''California Zephyr'', serving Los Angeles via Salt Lake City; Ogden, Utah; and Las Vegas ...

'' trains. The ''Desert Wind'' was re-routed via Fullerton on April 27, 1986.

Conversion to light rail

In the early 1990s, the Santa Fe agreed to sell the tracks through Pasadena as part of a larger deal with the

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), branded as Metro, is the county agency that plans, operates, and coordinates funding for most of the Transportation in Los Angeles, public transportation system in Los Ang ...

, which would use the right of way to build the Gold Line, then known as the "Pasadena Metro Blue Line" project. Eastbound ''Southwest Chief'' service was rerouted to the San Bernardino Subdivision on November 28, 1993, followed by westbound service on January 15, 1994, ending Amtrak service to Pasadena and . As construction was underway on the new light rail line, an agreement was reached to use the site for a

project to include 347 apartments, a 1,200 space underground parking garage to be used by Metro passengers and the apartment renters, public courtyards, retail shops, and the historic Santa Fe Depot, which would be fully restored. The project was designed by Nadel Architects and Moule & Polyzoides. To enable the construction of the underground parking garage, in November 2001, a preservation firm sliced the historic train station into three pieces and moved them across Raymond Avenue to be stored in Central Park. It was returned to the station site in September 2003 and reused as a space for a restaurant. The underground parking garage opened in April 2003, the light rail line opened on July 26, 2003, and the commercial/residential development opened in June 2006.

Later changes

By 2007, Metro's 600 spaces in the underground parking garage were being underutilized. Most usage happened on weekdays and Metro still had enough excess capacity to rent spaces to a car dealership group. Meanwhile, the nearby parking garages for

shoppers were often full on weekends. In 2007, the City of Pasadena purchased Metro's share of the garage, opening it up to both commuters and shoppers. The station became part of the A Line when the

Regional Connector The Regional Connector Transit Project constructed a light rail tunnel for the Los Angeles Metro Rail system in Downtown Los Angeles. It connected the A and E lines with the former L Line. The A and E lines previously both terminated at 7 ...

tunnel opened on June 16, 2023.

Service

Hours and frequency

Connections

, the following connections are available: *

Amtrak Thruway Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transi ...

: 19 *

ArtCenter College of Design The ArtCenter College of Design is a private art college in Pasadena, California. It was incorporated in 1930 as a degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual arts and design. ...

Shuttle *

Foothill Transit Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that is government funded by 22 member cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. It operates a fixed-route bus public transit service in the San Gabriel Valley region of eastern Los Angeles Cou ...

: *

Los Angeles Metro Bus The Los Angeles Metro Bus is the transit bus service in Los Angeles County, California, operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro). Metro Bus operates in the Los Angeles Basin, the San Fernando Valley, and th ...

: , , (NoHo-Pasadena Express), , *

Pasadena Transit Pasadena Transit, formerly known as Pasadena Area Rapid Transit System (Pasadena ARTS), is the transit bus service in the city of Pasadena, California, Pasadena, California. The system was launched as a single shuttle route ahead of the 1994 FIF ...

: 20, 33, 51, 52

References

{{Amtrak California stations A Line (Los Angeles Metro) stations Transportation in Pasadena, California Railway stations in the United States opened in 2003