Bergamot Station Arts Center is a Santa Monica facility housing many different private art galleries and appears in most tourist guides as a primary cultural destination. Opened September 17, 1994 as Bergamot Station the campus-like complex is owned by the city of Santa Monica and presently managed by the Worthe Group. [1]
From 1875 to 1953, "Bergamot Station" was the site of a stop and car storage area first serving the steam-powered Los Angeles and Independence Railroad and later the Santa Monica Air Line. The station was named after Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), a wildflower native to North America, that once flourished in the area. [2]
After passenger service ceased, the line was used for light freight delivery only. Car storage was no longer needed and Southern Pacific Railroad leased the land to various companies for light manufacturing. Warehouse buildings were constructed and housed a celery packing operation, then an ice-making plant, and finally, the manufacturing home base for American Appliance water heaters.
As the rail line fell into disuse and eventual abandonment in the late 1980s, the City of Santa Monica purchased the entire parcel from Southern Pacific Railroad in 1987 to prevent it from being split up and sold. At that time a future light rail service along the right of way was anticipated within 10 years, and the site would be needed as a rail yard and passenger station.
American Appliance moved out in 1993, leaving a sprawling industrial park sitting vacant. Even under the most optimistic scenarios, plans for the light rail were years away. The City, seeking a productive use for the site, approached Wayne Blank, developer and co-owner of the Shoshana Wayne Gallery. Blank's development expertise had already been tapped by the City of Santa Monica for an earlier project: the conversion of a vacant city-owned airport hangar into artists' studios.
Pleased with the airport project's outcome, The City asked Blank to conceive of an artistic use for the site. Blank along with acclaimed architect Lawrence Scarpa of the architecture firm Brooks + Scarpa, created a campus-like complex that retained its industrial and rudimentary look. "Blank's search for a limited partner began and ended with Tom Patchett, an art collector and TV writer who was looking for space to store and possibly exhibit his separate collections of contemporary art and Americana" [3]
The complex has become so popular that the original rail intention has been usurped. When, in 2010, Phase 2 of the Metro Expo Line was approved, adjacent land was purchased to serve the purpose. 26th Street/Bergamot, a stop on the new Expo Line light rail between Los Angeles and Santa Monica, located just north of the entrance of the new arts destination, was opened to the public on May 20, 2016. [4] [5]
Bergamot Station Arts Center is managed by the Worthe Group. [6] Since 2022, the site is managed by Redcar Properties LLC. In 2023, 18 galleries, two restaurants and other business are located in the center. [6]
Bergamot may refer to:
The NoHo Arts District is a community in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, that is home to contemporary theaters, art galleries, cafes, and shops. The community is generally bounded by Hatteras Street to the north, Cahuenga Blvd to the east, Tujunga Ave to the west, and Camarillo Street to the south. The area features more than twenty professional theaters, producing new work and classics, diverse art galleries, public art, and professional dance studios. The district also features the largest concentration of music recording venues west of the Mississippi. A Metro Rail station is located here, the North Hollywood station of the B Line and serves as the terminus of the Metro G Line busway.
The E Line is a 22-mile (35 km) light rail line in Los Angeles County, California, running between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles. It is one of the six lines in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system and is operated by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles, California, United States. As an independent and non-collecting art museum, it exhibits the work of local, national, and international contemporary artists. Until May 2015, the museum was based at the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica, California. In May 2016, the museum announced an official name change to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and its relocation to Los Angeles's Downtown Arts District. The museum reopened to the public in September 2017.
Olympic Boulevard is a major arterial road in Los Angeles, California. It stretches from Ocean Avenue on the western end of Santa Monica to East Los Angeles—farther than Wilshire Boulevard and most other streets.
The Arts District is a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Downtown Los Angeles, California in the United States. The city community planning boundaries are Alameda Street on the west which blends into Little Tokyo, First Street on the north, the Los Angeles River to the east, and Violet Street on the south. Largely composed of industrial buildings dating from the early 20th century, the area has recently been revitalized, and its street scene slowly developed in the early 21st century. New art galleries have increased recognition of the area amidst the downtown, which is known for its art museums.
Greater Los Angeles has a complex multimodal transportation infrastructure, which serves as a regional, national and international hub for passenger and freight traffic. The transportation system of Greater Los Angeles includes the United States' largest port complex, seven commuter rail lines, Amtrak service, a subway system within the city of Los Angeles, and numerous highways. Los Angeles is integrated into the Interstate Highway System by Interstate 5, Interstate 10, and Interstate 15, along with numerous auxiliary highways and state routes. Bus service is also included locally within the area by numerous local government agencies. Subways and light commuter rail lines are present within Los Angeles proper, allowing mass transportation within the city. Commuter railroads are run by Metrolink. Amtrak has numerous railroad lines that connect Los Angeles to the rest of the country.
The Santa Monica Air Line was an interurban railroad operated by the Pacific Electric between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. Electric passenger service operated over the line between 1908 and 1953. After abandonment as a freight railroad, most of the route was converted to light rail for use by the Metro E Line.
Brooks + Scarpa is an American architectural firm based in Los Angeles, California, and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, USA. Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa are the recipients of the 2022 American Institute of Architect Gold Medal, the institute's highest honor. The firm was also chosen as the 2014 Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum Award Winner in Architecture. In 2010 they were the recipient of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Firm Award. Los Angeles projects completed by the firm include the Solar Umbrella home in Venice, California, the Orange Grove lofts in West Hollywood and the Colorado housing project in Santa Monica.
Expo/Vermont station is an at-grade light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located in the center median of Exposition Boulevard at its intersection with Vermont Avenue, after which the station is named, near the Exposition Park and West Adams neighborhoods of Los Angeles.
Expo/Western station is an at-grade light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located in the center median of Exposition Boulevard at its intersection with Western Avenue, after which the station is named, in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Expo/La Brea station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located over the intersection of Exposition Boulevard and La Brea Avenue, after which the station is named, in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Culver City station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located on a dedicated right-of-way alongside Exposition Boulevard — between the intersection of Venice Boulevard and Robertson Boulevard on the west and the intersection of Washington Boulevard and National Boulevard on the east. The station is located in the city of Culver City, California, after which the station is named.
Palms station is an elevated light rail station on the E Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located over the intersection of National Boulevard and Palms Boulevard in the Palms neighborhood of Los Angeles, after which the station is named.
26th Street/Bergamot station is an at-grade light rail station in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located near the intersection of 26th Street and Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, California and near the Bergamot Station Arts Center. The station is served by the E Line.
Downtown Santa Monica station is an at-grade light rail station in the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located near the intersection of 4th Street and Colorado Avenue in downtown Santa Monica, California. It is the E Line's western terminal station.
The Rosamund Felsen Gallery is one of the longest-running art galleries in Los Angeles, California, involved in and influencing the broader American art community since its establishment in 1978. The gallery has operated four locations since its inception: first on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles, then on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, later at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, and finally in the Arts District, Los Angeles in Downtown Los Angeles.
Edgemar, located at 2415–2449 Main Street in Santa Monica, California, is a mixed-use shopping center designed by architect Frank Gehry that combines early 19th century warehouses, a 1940s Art Deco office building and new construction.
Merion Estes is a Los Angeles-based painter. She earned a B.F.A. at the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque, and an M.F.A. at the University of Colorado, in Boulder. Estes was raised in San Diego from the age of four. She moved to Los Angeles in 1972 and first showed her work at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles. As a founding member of Grandview 1 & 2, she was involved in the beginnings of Los Angeles feminist art organizations including Womanspace, and the feminist arts group "Double X," along with artists Judy Chicago, Nancy Buchanan, Faith Wilding, and Nancy Youdelman. In 2014, Un-Natural, which was shown at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery in Los Angeles and included Estes' work, was named one of the best shows in a non-profit institution in the United States by the International Association of Art Critics.
The Expo Bike Path is a 12-mile-long (19 km) rail with trail bicycle path and pedestrian route in Los Angeles County, California that travels roughly parallel to the Los Angeles Metro Rail's E Line between La Cienega/Jefferson and 17th Street/SMC stations. The Expo Bike Path is one of two major bicycle routes in Los Angeles that share dedicated rights-of-way with public transport, the other being the G Line Bikeway in the San Fernando Valley.
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