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LA TRANSPO - At Christmastime around the city there are decorations and Christmas Trees everywhere, public and private. They cannot be escaped; they are what make the season.
In early December as Christmas approached, as I rode the E/Expo Line to the K/Crenshaw Line to the LAX Transit Center, I expected to see at the LAX Transit Center holiday decorations. For travelers, either within the transit system of Los Angeles, for those using LAX for flights out or in, they help soften the pressures of the trips and the times.
Lights, wreaths, Christmas Trees, anything with the festiveness of the Christmas holidays are welcomed to somewhat lessen travel fatigue from bus, train or plane.
But, from early December through December 28, 2025, when I last visited the center, there are no Christmas Holidays festivities of lights associated with the Christmas Holidays at the LAX Transit Center. Only the endless whites, grays and some black.
The LAX Transit Center, as I understand things, is a joint venture between Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)/LAX and Metro, to try to get some type of train into LAX. This does not happen with the LAX Transit Center, it is outside of LAX, and is a transit hub for Metro Light Rail Trains and their buses, and buses from other transit agencies: Beach Cities Transit, Culver City, Gardena, Santa Monica Big Blue Bus and Torrance.
Above the LAX Transit Center is a recently constructed, and still in testing, People Mover which finally makes the train trip to airport terminals. The People Mover project builder, LAX Integrated Express Solutions, LINXS, is behind schedule. LAWA/LAX were in contract disputes with the construction company, and lost, which required the City of Los Angeles to pay an additional roughly $550Million to LINXS to settle the disputes. The City of Los Angeles owns LAX.
It is murky, the divisions of operations of the LAX Transit Center between LAWA/LAX and Metro. Is the center owned by County of Los Angeles which operates Metro, or the City of Los Angeles which owns LAX, or both? Who owns what percentage, who operates what, what percentage are the liabilities?
The LAX Transit Center is basically all-white, a design concept which seems to be from LAWA/LAX. The airport has a lot of white. Transits websites comment on the whiteness of the transit center and say the all-white concept is from LAWA/LAX.
On websites there are concept drawings of the original LAWA/LAX, City of Los Angeles funded People Mover with blue trains, but the ones now tested on the tracks are white.
In its construction of its light rail and subway network, Metro has consistently created artistic projects, with colors, at each station. They do not settle for all-white. Metro, as owner of Union Station, DTLA, the Grand Dame of train stations and transit centers, has done a wonderful job rehabilitating the station. It gleams in warm colors which welcome travelers. Union Station, under Metro, has consistently had large Christmas Trees and holiday decorations, full of color and warmth.
At the LAX Transit Center there is only one Christmas Tree. It is small, with lights, and is beautiful, but it is out of the way, behind the glass wall of the Metro information office. There are no other holiday decorations or another Christmas Tree in the 1,100 square foot structure and 9.5 acres site.
This leads to the conclusion that Metro is not being a scrooge with no Christmas Tree or Holiday decorations. It is LAWA/LAX, and its owner, the City of Los Angeles.
What makes a functioning city is a collective spirit to make sure holidays are celebrated throughout the city. After spending all of that money for its construction, and the contract disputes, one would think the City of Los Angeles would celebrate this building.
But no, there is nothing to remotely greet travelers with Christmas and Holiday cheer as they navigate their way around the transit center. It is the same old, business as usual: whiteness.
This falls on the major’s office and the city council, to look after the city, at what it owns and operate, and to rise to the occasion of holidays. This is a failure.
This lack of awareness of the needs of travelers, and how to properly greet them, does not bode well for the upcoming World Cup, June 2026, and the 2028 Olympics, to be held in Los Angeles, with plans for the LAX Transit Center to be a center of transportation. These are events of global implications of great celebration, and colors.
Flags of the participating nations should fly from the rafters of the LAX Transit Center. Colors should be splashed everywhere for these games. But, it seems LAWA/LAX wants no colors, or festivities, no sense of special occasion, but only whiteness.
The LAX Transit Center is a public building, paid for by public monies, yet LAWA/LAX treats it, and we transit riders and airline fliers, as secondary to their in-house design concepts.
The major’s office and city council need to make sure they set the tone, set the mood, and make travelers welcomed with the warmth of colors. If they don’t, the World Cup and Olympics could become muted, colorless events in the city’s history.
(Matthew Hetz is a Los Angeles native and composer whose works have been performed nationally. He is the former President of the Culver City Symphony Orchestra and Marina del Rey Symphony. A passionate transit advocate, Matthew is dedicated to improving the rider experience and encouraging drivers to embrace public transportation as a solution to air pollution and climate change. He teaches at Emeritus/Santa Monica College and is a regular contributor to CityWatchLA.com.)
