Wilshire / Vermont Red and Purple Line Station

One of the few Metro stations where you can catch two different lines, the Wilshire Vermont station is where you can catch the red and Purple lines. What a convenience, right?
Located right nearby Downtown L.A., this station is on of the ones that was undergoing major reconstruction within the last few years. Above it you will find Koreatown, as well as MacArthur Park not too far away. This is one of the more heavily congested stations due to its nearing location to DTLA. You will also find various vendors selling you stuff, whether it be items, trinkets or some of the tastiest street hot dogs ever! Sometimes it looks abandoned, especially if you come during the late evening hours. Creepy! Both lines pass at various times. The Purple line will take you almost the same route as the Red line but with a few different stops.
As with the other Metro stations, don’t forget to use your TAP card whenever boarding. You never know if you might find an undercover police officer ready to catch those who don’t pay!

This is a great station. It is clean, big, and accessible. It is in a very good location with lots of restaurants around. The best part — there is Internet and cell reception even all the way underground!

I don’t have much expectations for subway stations like I don’t have much expectations of gas station restrooms. This station is clean most of the times… It can’t be clean ²⁴⁄₇ and I understand why. If you don’t… You need to mature a bit.
Public transportation doesn’t always attract sane folks, and thus I don’t ride the elevators in stations. I do fear of being trapped with someone who is totally frightening. This station gets two-​star deduction because their escalators are out of service too often. I’ve climbed Mt. Whitney and the U.S. Bank Tower in DTLA, but climbing the stairs from the bottom level of this station… I thought I was going to pass out.

Gets me where I need to go. I just want to feel a little safer at night. I never see security but a lot of crazies are everywhere. You will be asked for money every 5 mins from people. They also sell random stuff on the train. A lot of things I never want. Lmfao!

Hmm. Well. Not too much to say about this station. Convenient, grimmy and gets you where you need to go. The location is central to everything, which is a plus. You can always count on being asked for money or something of the sort. Be careful where you step because you may step in a puddle that is not water. But hey that’s the risk you take here. If you don’t mind the soliciting or can get over the temporary stinge of bad scents. This station will help meet all of your commuter needs lol.

…departing from the Vermont end gets creepy in the evening. I suggest that the women (and guys I guess) depart from the Santa Monica street, there are more lights on the street/​foot & car traffic! Overall okay location and near shops!

This station was just like the other one! People smoking cigs and asking for change. I just used it for the nice weather over the weekend. Huge mistake! I will stick to private transportation from now on rather than public, very public transportation.

I have used this station probably more times in the last month than the average local here their whole life, no one knows about it and perhaps that’s why it’s still clean. I just moved ten minutes away from this station and we were so excited to finally be able to use the ever so hidden gem.
This station is under a modern courtyard, full of quick eats and an upscale apartment building.
One thing to be wary, as always with LA, there will be homeless and mentally unstable people on the train and around the streets. This guy tried to start a fight with my boyfriend by randomly deciding to throw a fist at him, but it was closer to hitting me than him. There are things you can control, and it may not be them, but you can watch where you are walking and who is around.

I came here to check out the Farmers Market that takes place every Friday and I was very pleased. It’s not very large but the food that is available looks great. I had the opportunity to try the Crepes and they were delicious. The owner was so sweet because his credit/​debit machine wasn’t working so he was cash only. Unfortunately we didn’t have cash so he was willing to have us pay him next week. I didn’t want to do that so instead he accepted a check.
There’s a variety of vendors here including Homeboy Industries as well as fresh fruit/​vegetable vendors, etc.
Everything was great and it was awesome to be able to check out the samples from our local growers.

The Tap purchase system is slow because the tap readers take too long to register a card when loading.
I purchased $ 20 to add to my Tap card at machine 0113 at Wilshire and Vermont in July. The machine froze up and wouldn’t load my card. However, my bank account was charged $ 20. I called and called trying to get someone to help me get my money back OR my card loaded. Computers down for 3 or 4 calls. Put on automatic hold, then disconnected several times. Finally got a rep and emailed scanned bank info and a detailed description of what happened, where, the time, the machine, etc… More than two weeks now. No credit to my account. No card loaded. No check in the mail. I called Tap and they said LA Metro is investigating and they must wait for LA to get back with them. ugh! Foot dragging and incompetence. This is ridiculous.
The Metro works fine for me. The Tap system sucks!

The first time I used this station it was a bit confusing and I can understand why. There are two platform levels here: All eastbound trains towards Union Station use the upper platform and all west (Purple) and north (Red) bound trains use the lower platform.
The stench of urine is minimal here and for the most part this station is bum-​free, but I swear that the escalators have to be one of the longest anywhere. Heaven help you if they don’t work.

protip: (U)pper platform – (U)nion station
i dont really have a catchy mnemonic for the lower platform
maybe (L)ower platform – (L)eaving downtown?
also: theres a chase bank, nail salon, classy liquor/​sandwich store, shoe store, and coffee bean & tea leaf
sooooo…
first go to the bank to get money for your shopping adventure
then eat a sandwich and drink some coffee for energy
then get your nails done because theyre hideous
then go and buy shoes to show off your fancy new toes!!!
and then ride the subway back to wherever you came from
weeeeeeeee
and: this is easily the station with the most confused people, though not the station with the most tourists (hollywood/​highland)
or the most hobos (pershing square)
or the most affliction t-​shirts (hollywood/​vine)
or the most nurses (vermont/​sunset)
or the most pantsuits (civic center)
but i likes it
because its my home station

Easy access, clean and can’t beat rush hour traffic.

This is one of the best LA Metro rail stations, it’s a HUGE subway station with cathedral ceilings and is a very competent transfer point between the Red Line and the Purple Line (at peak trains to Union Station can be as frequent as every 3 minutes) although the directional boarding platforms are upstairs and downstairs. There’s an elevator that will take you from street level all the way down to the platforms (beyond the fare gates). On the outside there’s some minor shopping opportunities like a market, coffee shop, shoe store, Gamestop, sushi bar, and others and nice apartments upstairs. Only negatives are that the escalators are extremely long and go very deep as if for a Guinness World Record or something and the ticket vending machines are around the corner from the entrance where the location may not be obvious to novices. Two of my favorite amenities is 1) the real time bus arrival information screen on the mezzanine level for the plethora of LA Metro bus routes that connect (720, 754, 204, 20, 603, etc) and 2) it may not be «official» yet this rail station gets pretty good AT&T cellular service with 3G data included especially to be more than 100 feet below ground. Overall a very safe and impressive modern rail station in the middle of Los Angeles’ rail system.

The station is clean and has shopping and food two thumbs up

This is the stop i get off to catch the rapid 720 that travels down wilshire and ends in santa monica or other stops. Even though there are further stops along the purple line that match with the rapid 720 i’ve found that no seats are available at those later stops especially during the summer when it seems all of east LA is on the bus.
Since i enjoy walking as an exercise it makes for a nice bit of exercise briskly walking up this escalater its gotta be the longest one in LA

I have just started using the subway and I am so pleased so far with its service. I travel from Hancock Park to Hollywood in half an hour. No parking hassles and no traffic woes. I have lived in several major US and European cities and this system is not quite as elaborate but it does do the trick if you are using it for certain things. It could be wider reaching but for what it is it works. No more parking tickets in Hollywood for me I’ll take the subway.

Dear Angelenos,
Well, first, congratulations: you’ve somehow stumbled onto the realization that yes, Los Angeles does in fact have a subway system. So, I guess, you deserve some degree of credit.
But it’s been almost 20 years now, and you still act like a bunch of mescaline-​addled first year Hogwarts students trying to find Platform 9 and three quarters.
So allow me to give you some handy tips on how to negotiate the wonders of modern public transportation.
1) GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY. The point of transportation is to get from Point A to Point B. And yet some of you act like you’re slack jawed simians on some sort of Escher designed scavenger hunt. If you can’t operate an automated ticket machine, a turnstile, or the buttons of an elevator, start growing mutton chops, hop on the nearest buggy, and trot off to Amish land.
2) GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY. You’re in America now, bucko, which means the left hand lane is reserved for people like me with places to go: like a job. So if you’re lolly gagging on the escalator, please do so on the right hand side. Yeah, I get that you’re out with your cousin/​sweetheart and you want to hold hands, but side-​by-​side fraternization on an escalator pisses me off. Stand behind her and affectionately manhandle her gargantuan rear end if you must, but just let me pass.
3) GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY. When the train pulls into the station and the doors open, don’t act like a bunch of Adderall snorting hockey players. Let us civilized folks get out first, before you begin your training for Pamploma.
4) GET THE HELL OUT OF MY WAY. If you have managed to get yourself on the train: don’t block the door. Move to an empty seat or else stand in the aisle. Yes, there are times when the trains are filled to crush capacity, but usually there’s plenty of room, so space yourselves out so people can get in and out of the doors. And if you have a bicycle or a stroller, I hate you on general principle because there’s nothing more annoyingly self-​righteous than cyclists and parents with babies. Don’t even get me started on cycling parents with babies.

I got off at this stop to go to my 9 – 5 once upon a time. It was only a few stops from where I caught the red line to go to work but hell. its the subway. Of the other stops I’ve gotten off at. it’s about average. Above the ground of this place are numerous shops (sans the Coffee Bean which really could be most any filler coffee shop) that are really not worth a damn and are essentially just the catch basin from the travelers on the railway below.
Parking underneath if you are for some reason needing to take the train from here… though on the weekends theres free parking on the street by the church a few blocks away.
The two platforms can be a bit confusing. When I first came here I missed the train by going to the wrong platform so pay close attention while running for that train.
Tmobile signal is non existent on the metro either. But you can get it till about the end of the stairs before you reach the platform if you’re lucky.
This stop is pretty quiet. Most people mind their own business and don’t chatter. There is a rush to the elevator up to the ground floor every morning. I would have to run to get in. At which point its like a clown car with everyone shoving and pushing to get a spot.
Sidenote: I still need to remember to bring tap shoes with me when I go to the station sometime. The echo in there and the silence screams «tap here.»

Really?
Reviewing Metro stops?
Okay. It’s a metro stop. Red and Purple lines go here (and, I might add, split up here) The escalator’s are extremely long. Don’t take the wrong one or you’ll be headed back up.
There are stores around the entrance beneath an apartment building. The stores are mostly chains, but ones I personally don’t mind patronizing (Coffee Bean, Coldstone, Wasabi — which actually as far as I know only has one other location a few blocks down the street).
Across the street on the Northwest corner of Vermont and Wilshire there’s often a great bacon-​wrapped hot dog vendor and a guy who roasts corn. Plus there’s a variety of other street food in the general vicinity.
So yeah. I’ve now just criticized the act of reviewing a metro station, then gone and done so myself.