Kiss 'n' Ride Kiss Your Car Pool Goodbye! "METRO Kiss 'n' Ride" -- the sign at the Wilshire Boulevard/Vermont METRO Rail Red Line Subway Station near Westlake, not far from MacArthur and Echo Parks, implies a return to the days when the "Red Car" ran and traveling to downtown LA was carefree and fun! The children and grandchildren of Angelenos who rode the "Red Car" earlier in this century have been left with the impression that transit was simple, life ideal. So, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has been reviving mass transit modes to ease gridlock and reduce commute times, perhaps slowing the exodus of corporations to states where such business enticements as lower cost of living and federal tax incentives beckon. Currently, commuters and visitors to the City of Angels can beat gridlock by hopping on the "Red Line" (or the "Blue Line") at such expansive transit stations as the 7-acre plaza at Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont, where Tatsumi and Partners, Inc. designed an urban grove of shade trees, formal streetscape trees, plaza seating, tree wells in pavement, enhanced pavement treatments and four Xeriscape garden areas. Having completed the Wilshire Boulevard Station, the firm is looking forward to designing the landscape of Universal Station across from Universal Studios, near North Hollywood and Universal City. At twice the size of the Wilshire/Vermont METRO Rail Red Line Subway Station, Universal Station is bound to be more than an off-loading platform and a parking lot, particularly as various public and private entities are steering related projects to make L.A. a safer place for individuals to be, overcoming pedestrians' reluctance to be downtown, day or night, with or without their cars. There is even talk of a city walk theme area at the convention center and an expanded theme park downtown. So, get ready to kiss your car pool goodbye, Angelenos! The City is gearing up to make downtown a delightful destination! Caption: Certain aspects of the METRO Rail that will connect the Southland combine circulation and safety issues in public open spaces that only Landscape Architects can address. As a Landscape Architectural firm specializing in public sector transportation infrastructure systems since its formation in 1981, Tatsumi and Partners, Inc. is heading such projects as landscape concept development for all lines of the METRO Rail and such freeway projects as the SR55/Chapman Avenue Interchange which is to become a Gateway to the City of Orange.