Welcome to Angels Flight Railway, Los Angeles, CA
"Shortest Railway in the World"

 

ANGELS FLIGHT UPDATE - January 2006

Reconstruction on the Angels Flight Railway continues. The two historic cars, Olivet and Sinai, have been completely rebuilt and are in storage offsite. The Station House and Arch exteriors have been restored. A new drive system is being designed and will be installed in
 late 2006, when the Flight is expected to reopen. To help finance the rebuilding, the nonprofit Angels Flight Railway Foundation welcomes donations at P.O. Box 712345, Los Angeles 90071.

 

 

 

After a 27-year absence, the famed Angels Flight funicular railway has returned to the streets of Los Angeles.

For 25 cents a ride, the newly-restored Angels Flight connects Downtown L.A.'s historic core, (and the nearby Broadway retail district and the Grand Central Market), with the modern financial district atop the hill, ending at the California Plaza Watercourt, featuring shops, restaurants and a public live entertainment space accentuated by fascinating water-jet displays. The Museum of Contemporary Art is also nearby.

The railway operates seven days a week from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., except for the first and third Tuesdays of each month, when the flight is temporarily closed for maintenance from 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.

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 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."

For more than a couple of decades, the remains of Angels Flight were stored away separately in a city-owned warehouse and in a Gardena scrapyard...

 

Angels Flight Trivia

Did you know...?

  • ...that the letters "B.P.O.E" (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks) are emblazoned on the lower station arch to commemorate the Elks' national convention held in Los Angeles in 1909 (the arch was built in 1908). An Elks Lodge (No. 99) existed nearby on Bunker Hill (where the Wells Fargo tower now stands).
  • ...that Angels Flight was not the only funicular railway in Los Angeles? A similar railway called "Court Flight" existed just north of Angels Flight, near the corner of Temple and Hill streets. Today, the Santa Ana Freeway lies there.
  • ...that Sinai and Olivet, the two railcars of Angels Flight, were named after mountains mentioned in The Bible?
  • ...that orange and black were not Angels Flight's original colors? When it opened in 1901, Sinai and Olivet were adorned in white. The cars were not painted orange and black until the 1930s.

 
The late 1980s brought a real estate boom to the Downtown area and new, taller skyscrapers re-defined the L.A. skyline. The California Plaza complex, located on the 300 block of south Grand Ave. was part of that and gave way to the rebirth of Angels Flight. The first tower was built in 1985, the 52-story second tower, the Watercourt, the Museum tower condo and the Hotel Inter-Continental were built in 1992. A planned third tower was to be built alongside at the corner of 4th and Hill streets, which in addition would feature the new Angels Flight, but the recession and the real estate decline of the 1990s killed the plan.

Not willing to wait any longer, several concerned citizens pushed the Los Angeles City Council and the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to build Angels Flight anyway, and in early 1995, construction began to signal the true return of an L.A. landmark.

The new Angels Flight contains 60% original material from its first life, which includes the railcars, the station house, the two end station arches and the (now unused) gear mechanism. They were carefully and faithfully restored by subcontractors and by Pueblo Contracting Services, a local contractor, who also constructed a new, seismic-resistant trestle and track structure. The total cost of restoration for the new Angels Flight was $4.1 million, paid for by the CRA and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

The new Angels Flight is maintained and operated in the public interest by the Angels Flight Railway Foundation. The fare, though it has increased five-fold, is just 25 cents a ride (and five rides for $1). And yes, like in the old days, you have to pay at the top. Ticket books are available in books of five for $1 and forty for $7.50.

 On  February 1, 2001 a tragic midday accident killed one person and injured seven and has temporarily closed Angels Flight since then. According to an NTSC investigation, a faulty cable gear mechanism broke, causing one of the cars to crash into the other. The funicular is currently being restored and rebuilt with an improved gear system and is planned to re-re-open in late 2006. 

Through the years, Los Angeles. has changed, but one thing's for sure: Angels Flight is here to stay.

Angels Flight is located at the corner or 4th and Hill streets in Downtown Los Angeles. To get there by car: Take the Harbor Freeway (110), exit 4th St, head east until Hill Street. Parking lots and structures are located nearby. By Metro Rail: Take the Metro Red Line to the Pershing Square station, exit at the 4th street end. By Metro Bus: Take the 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 48 and 304 lines into Downtown L.A. Get off at 3rd St.

Links: