Westlake/MacArthur Park is a heavy-rail subway station in the Los Angeles County Metro Rail system. It is located at Wilshire Boulevard and Alvarado Street, across from the park of the same name in Los Angeles' Westlake District. This station is served by the Red Line and the Purple Line.Westlake/MacArthur Park is one of L.A.'s five original subway stations: when it opened in 1993, it was the western terminus of the Red Line before completion of the Wilshire/Western branch (now called the Purple Line) and North Hollywood branch (still called the Red Line) later that decade.This station has two tile murals designed by Francisco Letelier, entitled El Sol (The Sun) and La Luna (The Moon). The station also has artwork by Therman Statom.Right outside the station, MacArthur Park and a lively street scene of a largely Salvadorean, Guatemalan and Honduran population is in stark contrast to the Manhattan-like metropolitan environment one station to the east. The entrance to the station is only a few steps away from the landmark Langer's Deli, which is famous for its pastrami. Workers from downtown offices often jump on the Red Line or Purple Line in order to have lunch there or send someone to pick up food for take-out. Langer's credits the Red Line's opening with saving their business in the late 1980s, when MacArthur Park's once glittering reputation had decayed to notorious at best. Langer's Deli is featured in one of 13 ceramic mosaic murals located inside the MacArthur Park station. The porcelain murals, by Los Angeles artist Sonia Romero and fabricated by Mosaika Art & Design, were named one of the best public art projects in the United States by the organization Americans for the Arts.
