Ald. Tom Tunney ( 44th ) , Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, and other community and business leaders celebrated the ending of the three-year renovation of the Belmont El station Jan. 28. The ceremony featured artist David Csicsko, whose designs brighten up the facility inside and out. The station is in the city's heavily LGBT Lakeview neighborhood, just down the street from Tunney's Ann Sather restaurant.
Tunney, who was fresh from the previous night's State of the Union in Washington, said the station "represents a gleaming gateway to our beautiful neighborhood." The facility also has room for commercial tenants.
The mosaic faces of Lakeview artist Csicsko, whose designs were also the "face" of Gay Games VII in 2006 in Chicago, were hand-cut and made at Erin Adams Design in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Adams joined Csicsko at the dedication. The designs depict various types of train riders with colorful faces.
"I wanted to capture the spirit of Lakeview," Csicsko said in a press release. "There's so much diversity and vitality here, it just seemed that the train image was a great way to represent that. The design is all about making visitors enjoy using the station."
The mosaics even have a Facebook group, "Rub the Eye for Luck," which asks riders to rub an "eye" on one of the mosaic faces for good luck.
A sculpture, "Space Junction of Energy" by Jerald Jacquard is featured on the station's outdoor plaza.
Karen Tamley, commissioner of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, also addressed the crowd about the station's accessibility. The facility boasts brighter lighting, Braille signs, wheelchair accessible turnstiles and expanded platforms.
