LAUS Metropolitan Lounge?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
leemell

leemell

Conductor
Joined
Oct 5, 2009
Messages
1,549
Location
Los Angeles, CA
I was at the newly refurbished (as of today) Van Nuys station and got to talking to a worker who said to me that they (his company) is working on a Metropolitan Lounge at LAUS. He said it was south of the main waiting area near the Amtrak ticket windows. I asked him questions several different ways but it sounded like he knew what he was talking about. Has anybody heard anything about this? I can't find anything about it at my usual sites.
 
I read about this in the PRIIA report on the Coast Starlight, but it did not say there was a definite plan or time frame. From what I've heard in other conversations, Amtrak will end up spending less money if the lounge comes to fruition and effectively replaces the TRAXX Lounge.
 
I haven't heard anything. And I'm trying to think where they could put one "near the ticket windows".

The only 2 possibilities I can think of are where that convenience store is or to build in the courtyard on that side.
 
as i recall, there is a fair amount of space at the far end of the ticketing area where rental car counters are located. however, the only logical solution is to give us the unused space that is the old ticketing area (the cathedral like space to the left as you enter the front of the station). :giggle:
 
yarrow said:
as i recall, there is a fair amount of space at the far end of the ticketing area where rental car counters are located. however, the only logical solution is to give us the unused space that is the old ticketing area (the cathedral like space to the left as you enter the front of the station). :giggle:
Click to expand...
But LAUS rents that space out for movies and TV shows all the time. They probably wouldn't want to give it up for Amtrak!
 
MrFSS said:
yarrow said:
as i recall, there is a fair amount of space at the far end of the ticketing area where rental car counters are located. however, the only logical solution is to give us the unused space that is the old ticketing area (the cathedral like space to the left as you enter the front of the station). :giggle:
Click to expand...
But LAUS rents that space out for movies and TV shows all the time. They probably wouldn't want to give it up for Amtrak!
Click to expand...
Ah, but if you follow the doomsday-types predicting California's demise and spiral into a 100% welfare state, all movie production will have moved out of California within the next 10 years. Meaning, no more movies and TV shows being filmed! All the more reason to just realize the inevitable and give us the space now! :giggle: ;)

EDIT: Which brings up a somewhat OT curiosity. Large chunks of some of our biggest stations are increasingly being roped off and used for things other than their original transportation-oriented purpose (LAUS has the former ticketing area and the former Harvey House restaurant off-limits; CHI has the Great Hall routinely rented out and blocked off from travelers; WAS put a mall into the heart of the station and regularly rents out the large entry concourse for events; DEN might end up being like CHI when the rebuilding is complete and value the historic station more as a convention hall than a transportation hub.) I attribute this trend to a still-lingering notion by a lot of people that "no one travels by train anymore" and that the monuments to passenger rail travel from yesteryear are valued more as a commercial property than anything else.

So I ask this, in half-jest: How long do you think it'll be before our massive, sprawling airports begin to extensively see their vast open terminal spaces (pre-security naturally) be roped-off to travelers for events? I mean, those pesky ticket counters are on their way out already as most passengers go to e-ticketing and don't check luggage in order to evade fees. Suddenly, there is a glut of worthless space... Perfect place to host your next fundraiser event or shoot a movie set in the nostalgic 1970's!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
MrFSS said:
yarrow said:
as i recall, there is a fair amount of space at the far end of the ticketing area where rental car counters are located. however, the only logical solution is to give us the unused space that is the old ticketing area (the cathedral like space to the left as you enter the front of the station). :giggle:
Click to expand...
But LAUS rents that space out for movies and TV shows all the time. They probably wouldn't want to give it up for Amtrak!
Click to expand...
i was speaking in jest. anyway, we wouldn't mind sharing the space with movie stars and such.
 
Well, they also do movie filming out in the tunnel in off hours (I walked into such a production getting off the Surfliner when I was out there). As to the airports, that's actually an excellent question. I suspect at the only things bottling it up are:

(1) Security issues. Duh. This has actually killed a lot of business at airports, since you can't go through security without a ticket, and most folks don't want to shop/eat before getting through security. This basically wiped out casual "Jane Doe grabbing a bite to eat while waiting for John Doe's flight to come in" business and probably contributed to cell phone lot use.

(2) Locations: LAX is downtown. CHI is downtown. SEA is downtown. PDX is downtown. WAS is downtown. PHL is just outside of downtown. NYP is downtown (well, technically Midtown). BAL is just outside of downtown. PVD is downtown. NHV is pretty much downtown. BOS is downtown. I don't know of too many airports, other than Washington National, that are in anything resembling a similar position. It's not like you can do an air rights deal on a runway like you can a railyard, and airports weren't much of a "thing" until automobiles were reasonably prevalent.
 
Anderson said:
(2) Locations: LAX is downtown. CHI is downtown. SEA is downtown. PDX is downtown. WAS is downtown. PHL is just outside of downtown. NYP is downtown (well, technically Midtown). BAL is just outside of downtown. PVD is downtown. NHV is pretty much downtown. BOS is downtown. I don't know of too many airports, other than Washington National, that are in anything resembling a similar position. It's not like you can do an air rights deal on a runway like you can a railyard, and airports weren't much of a "thing" until automobiles were reasonably prevalent.
Click to expand...
Locations of train stations or airports? If train stations PHL is considered Center City. It's pretty much a dividing point between Center City and University City.
 
OK, everybody has had their fun. :p I do not see anyone who has been there recently to comment on the possible construction. Anybody? BTW, the worker did intimate that they were keeping this quiet, maybe for big announcement -- Train Day?
 
One wonderful thing about SAN (the airport) is its proximity to the downtown core. Only two miles outside, as it was built at least a decade before WW2. You really can't beat that :)
 
johnny.menhennet said:
One wonderful thing about SAN (the airport) is its proximity to the downtown core. Only two miles outside, as it was built at least a decade before WW2. You really can't beat that :)
Click to expand...
As an air passenger, the approach into SAN 27 is nothing short of spectacular. The high-rise buildings of downtown San Diego are right off the port side of the aircraft as you are descending just a few hundred feet above ground.

I once came into SAN and was at my downtown hotel 20 minutes after the door opened.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I can't speak for recently, but the approach altitude above the ground down part of that hill was 200 feet. Always a thrill.
 
That is honestly my favorite thing about SAN - the approach. From right after you make the hard right bank over Spring Valley/Lakeside, you descend roughly along the 94, watching the Trolleys roll by under you on the Orange Line, and then the bridge, any cruise ships, and downtown all under you, it's pretty neat. I always sit on the left side, facing forward, when flying home.
 
PRR 60 said:
johnny.menhennet said:
One wonderful thing about SAN (the airport) is its proximity to the downtown core. Only two miles outside, as it was built at least a decade before WW2. You really can't beat that :)
Click to expand...
As an air passenger, the approach into SAN 27 is nothing short of spectacular. The high-rise buildings of downtown San Diego are right off the port side of the aircraft as you are descending just a few hundred feet above ground.

I once came into SAN and was at my downtown hotel 20 minutes after the door opened.
Click to expand...
Have you ever landed at the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport?
 
Shanghai said:
PRR 60 said:
johnny.menhennet said:
One wonderful thing about SAN (the airport) is its proximity to the downtown core. Only two miles outside, as it was built at least a decade before WW2. You really can't beat that :)
Click to expand...
As an air passenger, the approach into SAN 27 is nothing short of spectacular. The high-rise buildings of downtown San Diego are right off the port side of the aircraft as you are descending just a few hundred feet above ground.

I once came into SAN and was at my downtown hotel 20 minutes after the door opened.
Click to expand...
Have you ever landed at the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport?
Click to expand...
Sadly, no. Coming in there must have been a real E-Ticket ride.

1505982.jpg


Photo by Daryl Chapman, Airliners.net.
 
PRR 60 said:
Shanghai said:
PRR 60 said:
johnny.menhennet said:
One wonderful thing about SAN (the airport) is its proximity to the downtown core. Only two miles outside, as it was built at least a decade before WW2. You really can't beat that :)
Click to expand...
As an air passenger, the approach into SAN 27 is nothing short of spectacular. The high-rise buildings of downtown San Diego are right off the port side of the aircraft as you are descending just a few hundred feet above ground.

I once came into SAN and was at my downtown hotel 20 minutes after the door opened.
Click to expand...
Have you ever landed at the old Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport?
Click to expand...
Sadly, no. Coming in there must have been a real E-Ticket ride.

1505982.jpg


Photo by Daryl Chapman, Airliners.net.
Click to expand...
WOW!! What memories that picture brings to me. In the seven years we lived in Hong Kong,

I flew into and out of that airport several hundred times and was a Diamond Member of the

Cathay Pacific Marco Polo Club. Thanks for posting.
 
Well this picture is after the plane has made the 90 degree right turn lining up with the runway. In my mind the most spectacular part is the right turn. The so called Checkerboard Approach to kai Tak involved flying the plane straight towards a checkerboard pattern painted on the side of a mountain and then making a right angle right turn over a radio beacon marker to line up with the runway to land. While turning, if you happened to be on the starboard side in a window seat, you could see straight into people's living rooms, like you were traveling on a train by their window. I have landed at kaitak maybe half a dozen times and each landing was memorable. My travels to Kai Tak were all on Pan Am and United. The transition to Chek Lap Kok was naturally on United.

Here are two pictures....

The first is taken from near the Checkerboard as a United 744 makes the final turn....

0966245.jpg


In the photo below you can see the Checkerboard, that gave this approach its name

1115904.jpg
 
:eek: "..Those were the Days My Friend, I thought they'd Never End.." Cool pics Jis! :hi:
 
GG-1 said:
MikefromCrete said:
So, I guess nobody knows anything about a first class lounge at LAUS?
Click to expand...
There isn't one. A restaurant, Trax Lounge, Stands in for the morning Coast Starlight Departure.

Aloha
Click to expand...
That was the point of my post, a workman on the Van Nuys Station upgrade/refurbishment said his company was at work building an Amtrak Metropolitan lounge at LAUS.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top