Work to Restore Lankershim Train Depot Begins

Metro and city officials helped kicked off a 10-month restoration effort at the historic Southern Pacific Lankershim/North Hollywood Train Depot on Friday.

Located at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards and first built in 1896 as a platform station for packing plants and cannery farms, the depot later became a pedestrian station for the North Hollywood Red Car through 1952.

Metro completed asbestos and lead paint abatement last year year and will now focus more on seismic strengthening as well as plumbing and electrical work.

"The preservation and integration of historic structures into new mobility is important, so we're preserving our past advancing our future with this project," said Diane DuBois, Metro board chair. 

Metro plans on leasing out space at the depot once restoration is finished. A small park will also be built in front of the station.

The overall effort comes with a $3.6 million price tag with Metro kicking in $2.5 million in Prop. C money while the city contributes $1.1 million.

"There aren't a lot of buildings left in Los Angeles that were erected in the 19th century, this is one of the few," said LA County Sup. Zev Yaroslavsky.

He added that the revived depot would well complement the Metro Red Line Station across the street and the Orange Line bus stop right next door.

"Today we're going back to the future, we're taking this old structure and we're going to make it part of this transportation hub," Yaroslavsky said.

To add even more historic value, a pair of old train tracks from the red car days will be built into the ground right next to the depot.

LA City Councilman Tom LaBonge used to represent NoHo and was one of the initial champions pushing for restoration. If possible, he'd like to add one more element to the project.

"If we could, it's not in the budget, but we'll find an old car in Travel Town in Griffith Park and bring a little piece of art here that will go toward the great revitalization of NoHo," he said.