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PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE BELMONT/TOLUCA TUNNEL, TRAIN YARD AND GRAFFITI ART PARK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10, 2004
PRESS CONFERENCE FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE BELMONT/TOLUCA TUNNEL, TRAIN YARD AND
GRAFFITI ART PARK
Belmont Art Park United will be hosting a press conference on Sunday, September 12, from 1 PM until 3
PM at 1304 W. 2nd Street near downtown Los Angeles Street, adjacent to the Belmont Subway Tunnel,
Toluca Train Yard and Belmont Art Park entrance at Campaño Generators and Auto Electric. Speakers will
be discussing the upcoming Public Hearings regarding the historic site that are scheduled for Tuesday,
September 14 and Wednesday, September 15, 2004 at the Los Angeles City Hall. Community activists and
neighborhood residents will be speaking about the effort to preserve the historic elements of Los Angeles’
first subway train yard and tunnel as well as the graffiti art murals that currently grace the perimeter walls
of the Toluca Train Yard. This parcel of land has been recently acquired for a planned development of 276
apartment units and accompanying parking structure. Local residents, arts organizations, students and
neighborhood businesses that oppose the apartment development hope to have the site preserved as a
historic site, public art park and public recreation park.
Speakers will begin at 2 PM.
Artistic demonstrations and Information displays will begin at 1PM.
Speakers include:
Stash Maleski of Belmont Art Park United and ICU Art / In Creative Unity, Director of the Venice Graffiti
Walls
Brady Westwater, President of Think Tank LA
Eric “CRE8†Walker, Los Angeles Graffiti Artist and Muralist of the RTN Crew
Amy McKenzie, Neighborhood Resident, Historic Preservation Applicant
Francisco Campaño, Local Business owners (30 years), Campaño Generators and Auto Electric
Sean Richmond, Train Advocate and Publisher, Osiris Press
Additional speakers will be announced.
Artistic Demonstrations and Displays
Various artists and performers will be giving demonstrations of various elements of Hip Hop. Eric “CRE8â€
Walker will be painting a large graffiti art canvas live. “Poppin Chuck†of the LA Breakers, “Fresh†of the LA
Breakers and “Lil Cesar†of the Air Force Crew will be doing a Locking, Popping and Break Dancing
demonstration. Prominent local DJ’s will be spinning Hip Hop to accompany the afternoon’s events. Local
Graffiti Artists and Muralists CRE8 and Sano will have large scale Graffiti Art on canvas on display.
Belmont High School Students will be present in a show of support for the park preservation.
Belmont Art Park United will present full color architectural plans for a proposed Art Park and Community
Center for this site.
Location
The Belmont/Toluca Train Yard, Tunnel and Art Park is located at 1304 W. 2nd Street at the intersection of
Glendale Blvd, 2nd Street and Lucas Avenue. The Press Conference will be directly adjacent to the park
entrance on 2nd Avenue at the Campaño Generators and Auto Electric.
Public Hearings
The Cultural Heritage Commission of the City of Los Angeles Planning Department has is currently
deciding whether or not to give this site Cultural Landmark Status. The Commission has scheduled a vote
on this matter on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 at the Cultural Heritage Commission Meeting at City
Hall.
The Area Planning Committee of the City of Los Angeles is scheduled to vote on whether to grant the
requested variances to the current developers and property owners of the Belmont/Toluca Train Yard.
The Area Planning Committee will be taking public comment on the proposed development, case number
APCC 2003-9929-SPE-SPP. This meeting is at 4:30 PM in the 10th Floor Hearing Room, Los Angeles City
Hall 200 N. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012.
Site History
The Belmont Tunnel and Train yard was built in 1925 as an important hub for the first Los Angeles subway
system that ran the Big Red Cars as part of the Pacific Electric Railway. The trains entered the subway
tunnel at the Toluca Yard where you can still see the existing tunnel portal, power substation, train ramp
and perimeter wall. The Toluca Yard was used as a storage yard for trains up until 1955 when the last
Red Cars stopped running. Since the late 1970’s the yard has been used as a makeshift public park. The
walls of the train yard have served as large-scale public art canvases for local and international Graffiti
Artists and muralists for at least 20 years. Los Angeles residents play a rare and ancient ball game on this
site called "Tarasca†which was originally developed by Pre-Columbian Indians in what is now Mexico and
Central America. Many blockbuster Hollywood films from Colors to Training Day and Reservoir Dogs have
used this site as a unique location for filming. Belmont Art Park United hopes to preserve this site for the
historic train features, the public mural art, the Terasca ball game and as an affordable film location.
More Information
For more information regarding the Belmont Art Park and updated information on this press conference,
public hearings and community meetings, please go to www.belomontartpark.com or e-mail to
info@belmontartpark.com You may call for recorded information about the park, directions and
upcoming hearings at (310) 289-5692 or call Stash Maleski direct at (310) 309-7756.
If you would like to be removed from this list please respond to info@belmontartpark.com with the word
"REMOVE" in the subject heading.
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