LANKERSHIM TRAIN DEPOT

Photo courtesy of Terry Guy on Flickr.

The Conservancy has long advocated for the restoration of North Hollywood’s Lankershim Train Depot at the corner of Lankershim and South Chandler Boulevards.

Built circa 1896, the depot is one of the San Fernando Valley’s few nineteenth-century landmarks and is the Valley’s oldest unmodified railroad structure. The structure is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

The building has sat vacant for several years on Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) property as the MTA and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) struggled to reach agreement on its future.

Previously, both agencies were considering a proposed development project for the site that would have relocated the depot to a less visible location about a block west of its historic location.

In 2006, the MTA proposed spending $3.6 million to rehabilitate the station, potentially as a transit information center, as the depot is located at the terminus of the Orange Line East-West busway and across from the North Hollywood Red Line station.

The Conservancy applauds the MTA’s initiative and will continue to oppose the relocation of the building that historically anchored the entire North Hollywood community.