It’s just shy of four miles long, yet this short-but-stubby Los Angeles subway expansion could easily become one of the city’s  most transformational public transit projects—particularly for tourists. Metro announced today that Section 1 of the D Line Subway Extension Project will open on May 8, meaning that starting about a month before the World Cup, the current DTLA-to-Koreatown route will stretch as far west as Beverly Hills thanks to three new stops: Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. These three stops along Wilshire Boulevard will now compete with Downtown L.A. as one of the most cultural institution–rich transit-friendly stretches of the city. The existing span of underground track terminates at Wilshire and Western, across from the Wiltern. Next up comes the first new station at Wilshire and La Brea, about a half block from République and All Season Brewing, and a roughly five-minute walk from the El Rey Theatre. Wilshire and Fairfax will drop riders off right next to the Petersen Automotive Museum and across the street from the La Brea Tar Pits, the Academy Museum and LACMA—only a few days after its new gallery debuts to the general public. Finally, there’s Wilshire and La Cienega, which sits just past the Saban Theatre and will technically become the first Metro station within the City of Beverly Hills. Photograph: Courtesy Aurelia Ventura To mark the occasion, Metro is channeling some real “Chaise Longue” energy by releasing a T-shirt ($21) and crop top ($20) emblazoned with “Ride the D” on the front. In another heavy wink that they get the joke, they announced the opening date on Instagram by proclaiming that “the D is coming!” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (@metrolosangeles) As the “Section 1” part of the names implies, this is only the start: Section 2 will add two new stations, Beverly Drive (Beverly Hills) and Century City by the spring of 2027, while Section 3 will extend to Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital by fall 2027, ahead of the Olympics and Paralympics. (For what it’s worth, Section 1 was once slated for the end of 2025 and then winter 2026.) The agency expects that riders will be able to get from Union Station to Wilshire/La Brea in about 14 minutes and to Wilshire/La Cienega in 21 minutes. ...read more read less