Since April 2025, Wilshire Boulevard between Beverly Drive and Crescent Drive has carried two lanes in each direction around the clock. Drivers can turn left at Beverly and Crescent but not at North or South Cañon. Through October, most of the K-rail along both curbs was swapped for cones and delineators, with street restoration going on behind them. Final paving and striping are planned for early November.
All of that is happening above a subway station that Metro doesn't expect to open until spring 2027. The lanes come back first because Beverly Hills' holiday construction moratorium begins on Thanksgiving Day.
Thanksgiving is the deadline that counts this year
Beverly Hills limits Metro's street work every holiday season. This year the moratorium runs from Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2026, through New Year's Day, January 1, 2027. Metro and its contractor, Tutor Perini Corporation/O&G, asked for an exception so they could do final paving and striping on Wilshire and nearby streets between El Camino Drive and Rexford Drive. If weather pushed the work late, they wanted to pave overnight from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
On October 20, the City Council turned the request down 4-0 as part of its consent calendar, according to the Beverly Hills Standard. The city staff report behind that vote also asked Metro for something specific before the holiday:
"Given that the majority of sidewalk-related work along Wilshire Boulevard has been completed, staff also recommends that Metro restore safe and normal street conditions and reopen Wilshire Boulevard to three lanes in each direction between Beverly Drive and Crescent Drive before Thanksgiving Day."
Staff concluded that the waiver "will not significantly reduce the overall schedule nor expedite the station opening." They also warned that street work during the holidays could leave open trenches and stretch lane reductions past the hours the city's agreement with Metro allows. Metro had argued that the limits could slow station construction and that leaving the road unfinished could be a safety risk.
The report spells out two possible outcomes for November:
- If paving wraps up in November, Wilshire goes back to three lanes in each direction for good before Thanksgiving, and no temporary layout is needed.
- If weather slows paving in the last days before the holiday, the city and Metro will agree on limited interim work to keep the road safe. That work does not count as approval for construction beyond what safety requires.
The moratorium doesn't stop the project. Metro can keep working around the clock in its staging yards and underground. Work on the station continues below the street while the surface stays quiet.
The city has held Metro to a date before
The Thanksgiving cutoff has a recent precedent a block away. North Cañon Drive at Wilshire was closed from 2019 for station construction. In September 2025, the council agreed to extend the closure only until March 14, 2026. Beverly Press reported that Metro agreed to reopen the intersection by 7 a.m. that day, one day before the 98th Academy Awards, and to pay the city $20,000 for each day it ran late. At the same meeting, the council unanimously rejected Metro's request to work through the 2025 holiday moratorium.
According to a May 2026 report to the city's Traffic and Parking Commission, North Cañon reopened at Wilshire on March 13, 2026, a day ahead of the deadline. In both cases the city's calendar set the pace of surface work: an awards weekend in March and a holiday shopping season in November.
What the finished street looks like, block by block
Metro's October look-ahead for the Beverly Drive station lists the surface work underway on this stretch.
| Stretch of Wilshire | Work in October 2026 |
|---|---|
| North side, El Camino Dr to Crescent Dr | New trees planted along the sidewalk |
| Median, Crescent Dr to Beverly Dr | Shrubs planted in the landscaped median |
| Crescent Dr to Reeves Dr | New landscaped median, which Metro calls the "Wilshire Island" |
| North and south sides, El Camino Dr to Camden Dr | Curb, sidewalk and ADA ramp restoration |
| Maybourne alley, between N. Cañon Dr and Beverly Dr | Asphalt demolition, removal and restoration where the alley meets Wilshire |
| South Reeves Dr | Driveway removed and replaced |
Metro's October 14 community presentation also showed tree restoration on the south side of Wilshire near the station. The October notice still allows for lane reductions on Wilshire overnight from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., and on Beverly Drive during set daytime and overnight windows.
The station called Beverly Dr opens onto Reeves
Under the street, the station box runs along Wilshire from Cañon Drive to Beverly Drive. The City of Beverly Hills' Metro FAQ puts the Beverly Dr Station entrance at the southwest corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Reeves Drive. For riders headed to the north side of Wilshire, the city points to the crosswalks at Beverly Drive, North Cañon Drive and South Cañon Drive. It also says its Complete Streets and Connect BH plans include new wayfinding signs leading to the stations.
The name came out of a negotiation. In planning documents the station was Wilshire/Rodeo. Metro proposed "Wilshire/Beverly Dr." to the City Council on October 3, 2023. Representatives of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel opposed that name, the council did not consent to it, and the council backed "Beverly Drive" instead. A Metro committee recommended "Beverly Dr" as both the official and the operational name on May 15, 2025.
The city says Metro plans no new parking structures for the station and expects riders to use existing parking within a half-mile walk. Passenger loading zones near the entrances were still being studied.
Glass azaleas for a Beverly Hills gardener
The entrance at Reeves will carry the station's public art. Metro Art lists the work as Devon Tsuno's Jūrōdō (Heavy Labor). At street level, paintings of azaleas fabricated in glass honor Tsuno's grandfather, who worked as a gardener in Beverly Hills for 30 years.
Going down into the station, riders pass layered, abstract images of flowers, berries, fruit and Japanese vegetables. They come from the Japanese-owned greenhouses that supplied gardens across the region, Beverly Hills included, for decades. The design also shows groundwater first discovered near the station site in the early 1900s. Tsuno's artist statement calls the station "a metaphor for the way water and labor support the life of the community above."
It's a fitting subject for a stop whose street-level work this fall is mostly tree and shrub planting.
The Wilshire calendar from here to spring
These dates come from Metro, the city and event organizers. Construction dates are forecasts and can change.
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Nov. 2, 2026 | Metro's scheduled return of service at Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega after a closure for Section 2 tie-in work |
| Early November | Contractor's planned final paving and striping, El Camino Dr to Rexford Dr |
| Thu., Nov. 19, 5–8 p.m. | Rodeo Drive Holiday Lighting Celebration, "50 Years of Brilliance," free, with a fireworks finale |
| Nov. 26, 2026 to Jan. 1, 2027 | Holiday moratorium on Metro street work; underground and staging-yard work continues |
| Spring 2027 | Metro's forecast opening for Beverly Dr and Century City stations |
| Fall 2027 | Metro's forecast opening for Westwood/UCLA and Westwood/VA Hospital |
Section 1, which runs from Wilshire/La Brea to Wilshire/La Cienega, opened on May 8, 2026. The Rodeo Drive lighting comes a week before Thanksgiving, in the last stretch of paving season under the city's schedule. As of the October 20 vote, the city's plan and its request to Metro point to three lanes each way on Wilshire between Beverly and Crescent by Thanksgiving Day. Station work underground continues through the holidays toward a spring opening.
If you live or own near the Wilshire corridor and are wondering how the Beverly Dr Station and the restored street could change daily life or property value on your block, Mishevski Real Estate can walk you through what's happening around it. Let's Connect.
