Universal City (LACMTA station)

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Universal City

Station statistics

Address

Lankershim Blvd. & Universal Terrace Pky., North Hollywood, Ca 91608

Lines

Metro Red Line

Connections

"Kiss & Ride" passenger drop-off area

Platforms

Island platform

Parking

390 "Park and Ride" lot spaces

Bicycle facilities

16 Bike Rack Spaces
14 Locker Spaces

Other information

Opened

June 24, 2000

Accessible

Universal City station has an island platform, and serves the nearby Universal Studios theme park and Universal Studios. Riders can cross the street and board the tram to go to City Walk and the theme park, as well as the Studio itself. A pedestrian tunnel was originally proposed by Metro but was ultimately scrapped because of Universal's reluctance to pay the growing costs of the project.

The station features a Park and ride lot which makes this stop all the more convenient for anyone wanting to visit Universal Studios or one of the nearby Ventura Blvd restaurants. As an added bonus, there are a few public bus lines that stop or terminate at the bus bays on the west side of Lankershim Blvd, adjacent to the station while others are found by crossing to the east side of Lankershim.

The station, which is in the southeastern corner of the San Fernando Valley, is at the confluence of several neighborhoods: the far eastern end of Studio City, and the south end of West Toluca Lake and southwestern tip of Toluca Lake. Just southeast of the station, across the Ventura Freeway (U.S. Route 101) is the Cahuenga Pass, which is arguably a neighborhood as well, consisting of a strip of shops, restaurants and offices that follow US 101, but along Cahuenga Boulevard, which parallels the freeway through the pass.

On October 11, 2007, NBC Universal announced that it will sell its Burbank studios and construct a new all-digital facility near the Universal Studios backlot, in an effort to merge all NBC Universal operations into one area. As a result, KNBC and its sister stations KVEA and KWHY, along with NBC News's Los Angeles bureau will move to a new digital facility adjacent to the Universal City Metro Red Line Station. The Tonight Show and other studio productions will move to the studios backlot. NBC's Los Angeles operations have been in Burbank since 1955, when they left Hollywood. Construction plans to take place over the next four years.