Music Center parking loss creates traffic bottleneck for patrons

A no-show actor, singer or soloist at a Music Center performance could throw things into disarray. Ditto for a missing parking lot.

Since last month, the parking lot at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power building has been off limits to Music Center patrons, resulting in snarled traffic and hasty dashes to make opening curtains.

Sitting across Hope Street from the Ahmanson Theatre, the DWP lot appealed to many in-the-know performance-goers who didn’t mind a bit of a walk: an easy-in, easy-out, above-ground lot that, until the price rose from $5 to $8 a couple of years ago, was a money-saver compared to the Music Center’s 1,000-space underground garage.

But the 350 DWP spaces vanished last month when the department decided that public parking after hours and on weekends could pose a security problem, spokesman Joseph Ramallo said this week. He wouldn’t elaborate, but some of the spaces are beneath the DWP’s high-rise headquarters, and experts say it typically takes extra staffing and alertness to secure parking lots beneath buildings from would-be terrorist bombers.

The loss of those parking spaces caused a particular headache during the Sept. 21 Sunday matinee....

Los Angeles Opera was performing Puccini’s “Il Trittico,” John Guare’s “House of Blue Leaves” was at the Mark Taper Forum and the Dolly Parton musical “9 to 5” was playing at the Ahmanson — all on an afternoon when Grand Avenue in front of Walt Disney Concert Hall was closed for a street festival.

Opera-goer Daniel J. Fink reports that with the Music Center’s underground garage filled, he was directed to a lot at First and Olive, only to encounter “three lanes of cars trying to find their way in.”

After finally parking, Fink said he “literally ran” and made it to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion just in time, but spent half the first act sweaty and flustered.

Officials of the Music Center, the opera and Center Theatre Group, parent of the Ahmanson and Taper, said they have received some complaints from patrons about recent parking hassles; the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which had no concert Sept. 21 and plays in a 2,265-seat hall that sits atop 1,700 parking spaces, reports no complaints.

Only after the Sept. 21 parking bottleneck did the Music Center learn that the DWP had closed its lots to performance patrons, spokeswoman Catherine Babcock said.

As a short-term solution, more attendants have been added at the First and Olive lot, said Nick Chico, who oversees parking for the county. However, that lot is in the footprint of the Grand Avenue redevelopment project, and could vanish as soon as year’s end, he said.

As a permanent fix, he said, the parking department has “secured preliminary aproval” to open 300 more underground spaces for Music Center patrons in a county lot across Grand Avenue. But a secure, reserved area first must be cordoned off for the county and courthouse officials who park there after hours and on weekends.

-- Mike Boehm

Photo: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and Walt Disney Concert Hall, viewed from the Department of Water and Power Building in downtown Los Angeles.

Photo credit: Robert Millard/LA Opera

Comments

[Bert Green]

There is a Red Line station 2 blocks from the Music Center. Use it.

[Gary Stevens]

If the Music Center parking lot is getting full, then the rates are too low. They should be raised so only a small amount of spaces are left. One way of encouraging people to use mass transit is to increase the cost of parking. L.A. has been entirely too dependent on cars for too long. The real costs of using cars are much more than the apparent costs. Great music should be worth more to park at.

[Leonard Lipman]

The advice to use public transportation is of no benefit for people living in the West Side and Santa Monica. There is no public transportation that is useful.

[Fred Camino]

He literally ran? Poor guy. A short term solution might be to leave the house a little earlier.

[Don Norte]

The Hollywood/Highland entertainment complex has a red line station that has a huge parking structure which has a flat rate of $2 with validation. From there take the red line metro to the Civic Center. It will probably take just as long taking the metro as it would getting in/out of the parking structure under the music center.

[Brady Westwater]

There is no reason for the DWP lot to be closed. I can not think of a single instance where this type of building has ever been targeted. As for Hollywood/Highland option, with the frequency that trains run at night, the walk to the station and getting out of the garage in Hollywood - this could easily take an hour. And even though I use the subway - for 95% of the people who live in LA - it simply is not an option.

[Alfred Wong]

Maybe it's time to start a shuttle service to the Music Center from various parts of Greater L.A. regions, similar to the Hollywood Bowl shuttles.

We always use valet parking when we go to the Music Center. We just figure it into the cost of a night out. It's $12 more than the underground lot, but saves at least twenty minues each way sitting in a long line on Grand Avenue and in the garage itself. That's a huge waste of time and gas.

[Daniel Fink]

Since I started this whole thing, let me make some comments on the posted comments:
1. it's scary enough just walking to the DWP parking lot across the street at night. I grew up in Newark NJ and know when it's not safe. It doesn't feel safe to walk the 2 blocks to the Red Line station at the Civic Center

2. if there is no parking, people just won't go. Not in LA. That's the reality.

3. Hollywood/Highland and then the Red Line is too much trouble. Mr. Westwater has this right.

4. A shuttle service is a great idea.

5. yes, I did run. We left an hour in advance, to drive 10 miles. We were at the Music Center in 35 minutes. The parking was the problem, not the driving time. Fortunately, I'm in good enough shape to be able to run when I have to.

6. The valet parking was full.

7. Finally, Mr. Lipman has it right. Public transportation from the Westside to the Music Center just doesn't work! Maybe if they build the "Subway to the Sea" and have a station at the Music Center/Grand Ave development, people will use it. But not until then.

Daniel J. Fink