In an attempt to burn some holiday-induced blubber yesterday, I made the short but scenic hike to Temescal Peak in Topanga State Park from the Palisades Highlands. As it happened, there were pretty nice views of the route the Purple Line Extension subway will take between downtown Los Angeles (left) and Westwood (right).

The above photo almost has the entire route beginning with the Federal Building at the far right of the photo, then extending to Westwood Village and then veering south to Century City. At that point, the subway’s route will rejoin Wilshire Boulevard, which is easily seen in the photo as the developed corridor linking Century City to downtown L.A.

Below is a much wider view that shows the entire route. The subway will actually terminate on the western side of the 405 freeway near Wilshire Boulevard and the front of the VA Hospital. (Here’s a narrower view of Century City and downtown L.A.) The first phase between Wilshire and Western and Wilshire and La Cienega is ramping up for construction and is forecast to open in 2023.

The Santa Ana Winds were blowing yesterday, contributing to the smog. It was still nice to be able to see three major peaks — from left, San Gorgonio (at 11,503 feet the highest peak in Southern California), San Jacinto (at 10,834 the highest peak in Riverside County) and Santiago Peak (at 5,689 feet the highest point in Orange County).

Although off-topic, the hike also offered a nice view of Reseda Boulevard in the San Fernando Valley (below). That street is a major transit corridor serviced by two Metro bus lines, the 240 Local and the 741 Rapid.

And the sunset view wasn’t shabby either. That’s Santa Barbara Island, one of the Channel Islands. If you look real hard, I think that’s San Nicolas Island on the horizon on the right side of the photo.

If you want to download full-size versions of any of these photos, please visit our Flickr page. Click on the photo you want, then click on the “…” at bottom right, click “view all sizes” and then choose “original” on the next screen and then download.

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