Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 Public Domain. Release under the CC BY Attribution license--http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/--Credit both “University of Southern California. Libraries” and “California Historical Society” as the source. Digitally reproduced by the USC Digital Library; From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California Send requests to address or e-mail given USC Libraries Special Collections specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph of a view of the Angels Flight, looking west on Third Street towards the corner of Hill Street, Los Angeles, ca.1910. The surrounding buildings flank the Angels Flight transportation facility. A set of stairs (to the right of the railway car) allows people to walk up to the top of the hill instead of taking the incline railway car. A tall tower, with a platform and a booth, stands at the top of the flight. The street is busy with pedestrian and vehicle (horse-drawn carriages and early-model cars) traffic. Legible signs include: "ladies tailor", "301, Marsden Drug Co.", "Common Sense Beauty Shop", "Continental Development Corporation", "The Hulburt apartments", "Angels Flight, B.P.O.E.", "Notice $100 fine, for riding, driving or propelling any vehicle faster than 8 miles per hour in this tunnel, see ordinance no. 15775", "Vegetarian Cafeteria", "power off", "Hotel H[illcrest]", "Kodak finish[...], developing free, good work, prompt delivery", "The Walcourt", "cigars, pool room". "The original Angels Flight, originally known as the 'Los Angeles Incline Railway,' was built in 1901 by Col. J.W. Eddy to connect the original Downtown shopping district below with the posh residential district of Bunker Hill, with its Victorian frame houses. Then located at the corner of 3rd and Hill streets, Angels Flight was known (and is still known) as 'The World's Shortest Railway,' with its two counterbalanced passenger cars, Sinai and Olivet ascending up and descending down the hill for all Angelenos, all for a nickel. During the post-World War II era, the growth of Los Angeles boomed, and the once-upper-class area of Bunker Hill had turned into a slum. The Victorian homes were gradually razed, and those that remained were converted to boarding houses. Bunker Hill became an urban renewal project under the California Redevelopment Act, and in the late 1960s, everything was demolished to make room for office buildings and a senior citizen's condominium complex, called the Angelus Plaza. Angels Flight, however, was not demolished but dismantled, by the City, who promised to move and re-build the Los Angeles landmark 'in a couple of years.'" -- unknown author.
Type
image
Format
3 photographs : photonegatives, b&w 26 x 21 cm. negatives (photographic) photographs
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