CurtesyFlush
Bababooey, fafafooey, tatatoothy.
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join:2002-08-23
Fontana, CA
1 edit | reply to CurtesyFlush
Angels Flight
Angels Flight funicular railway, the "Shortest Railway in the World." Intersection of Third and Hill. The tunnel is the Third Street tunnel under Bunker Hill. The first pic shows what it looked like in the early 50's before it was dismantled for the Bunker Hill Urban Renewal Project, which also razed almost every building in the picture.
The second pic is the exact same view back in 1898, before Downtown had grown big enough to gobble up what was then a well-to-do residential area.
The third pic shows what it looks like after being taken out of storage and rebuilt in 1996.
I vividly recall taking the Angels Flight ride with my Grandfather back in the late 50's.
Over at 208 N. Broadway, a double cable car facility named Court Flight also ascended Bunker Hill, ending up at the top of Hill Street at an observation tower. For 5 cents one could "Take this car for the highest point in this city from which the finest view of the city, mountains, and the islands of the ocean can be had."
Court Flight was abandoned in 1944. Bunker Hill was graded down in the early sixties. A tree lined mall today connects Broadway and Hill. 208 N. Broadway is now occupied by the Music Center and the Dorothy Chandler.
EDIT: I added two more views of Angels Flight to show the rapid change that hit that part of town around the turn of the century. The 1903 shot is a world of difference from the one taken in 1898. The quiet, tree lined residential street with its stately Victorian homes and what appears to be a neighborhood church have given way to no nonsense masonry low rise commercial buildings. Only one home from 1898 remains, the turreted manse in the upper left. A tunnel now penetrates the hill under what had been a steeply inclined street.
By 1910 the transformation was complete. No trace of what had been a sleepy neighborhood a mere 12 years ago remains. Downtown has arrived.
Notice the "Vegetarian Cafeteria" in the 1910 shot. I guess we do have an earned reputation for that kind of stuff.
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Life Member, NRA and CRPA. |
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