Red Hot, Red Cars, Red Line and Code Red

Red Hot: The Militant can tell you things you don't know, or are not aware of, so he doesn't have to tell you it was freakin' hot on Labor Day Monday. Still aching from his Pobladores Walk, the Militant hobbled around town and spent a certain amount of time underground, where the air-conditioned confines of the (M) stations and trains were perhaps the coolest parts of town.

Red Cars: As the temperatures cooled down, the Militant trekked around town with an out-of-state operative visiting for the long weekend. The operative, who previously lived in the Valley for 25 years, was shown around the various changes to the city, from eating döner kebab at Eagle Rock's new Spitz eatery, to the new Downtown Ralphs to all the new condo developments in Downtown.

Speaking of developments, the Militant had to break the visiting operative some bad news: One of the operative's favorite sites in town, the abandoned Pacific Electric tunnel at Glendale and Beverly boulevards, is no longer in plain view, and is now obstructed by a large apartment complex (pictured left). The tunnel portal was obstructed by a foreman's trailer and other construction-related structures. The heavily-graffiti'd concrete structure was the Toluca Substation, which was an electric power conversion facility for the trolleys (Culver City's Ivy Substation, now a playhouse, was another one of these). This tunnel carried Pacific Electric Red Cars from Downtown Los Angeles' Subway Terminal Building on 4th and Hill streets (now refurbished as lofts) to the portal site, where the long-gone streetcars continued on to Santa Monica, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and Burbank from 1925 to 1955. The operative mentioned that he would like to move back to Los Angeles eventually. The Militant informed him that maybe he can live there right by the tunnel.

Red Line: The Militant and the operative also surveyed construction of the Eastside (M) Gold Line extension by following its route to East Los Angeles (in The Real Eastside) and caught a rare glimpse of (M) Red Line trains running out in the open, deadheading (moving without passengers) into the Santa Fe Yard and Shops near the Arts District, taken from the 1st Street Viaduct. Some YouTube goodness below:




Code Red: Though he cannot divulge the exact details, the Militant was tipped off by one of his operatives/militia members to a very grave Code Red security situation at the Great L.A. Ice Cream party in Heritage Square. Though the Militant cannot divulge the exact details, nor confirm whether or not he was actually there, and if he was, how long he was there, the situation was serious enough that it warranted calling in an unspecified number of operatives to the scene to thwart the security breach. The Militant will say that according to intelligence reports, the quick and evasive actions of the operatives proved largely successful in sealing the breach and that the Militant will quickly review and revise the current security protocol to ensure this type of incident will not happen again.

The Militant hopes you understand.