[ca.1937] View looking north on Broadway towards Eleventh. Julia Morgan designed the Mission-Revival style Herald-Examiner Building (1111 South Broadway) which opened in 1914. In 1962 the Morning Examiner (founded in 1903) merged with the Evening Herald Express (founded approximately 1871) creating the Herald-Examiner newspaper. The building was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #178 in 1977 and closed in 1989. (Herman J Schultheis Collection) https://buff.ly/3TEpiWC. Thank you to LAPL Photo Collection. Today it's home to Arizona State University.
The Pike, 1936. Great photo. Love everyone's attire, the signage, the architecture, and so forth.
Wednesday, March 6, 2024
But the reason I post it is to illustrate how many songs, hit songs of the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and beyond have celebrated death. Kids wouldn't heed any message or lyrics from
I thought of the song after considering the lyrics to the 1967 song by British band, Procol Harum's song, "Whiter Shade of Pale."
We skipped the light fandango
turned cartwheels 'cross the floor
I was feeling kinda' seasick
the crowd called out for more
the room was humming harder
as the ceiling flew away
when we called out for another drink
the waiter brought a tray
and so it was that later
as a mirror told its tale
that her face at first just ghostly
turned a whiter shade of pale
She said: "There is no reason
and the truth is plain to see"
but I wandered through my playing cards
would not let her be
one of sixteen vestal virgins
who were leaving for the coast
and although my eyes were open
they might just as well've been closed
and so it was that later
as the miller told his tale
that her face at first just ghostly
turned a whiter shade of pale..
I remember Dad talking affectionately and nostalgically about Angel's Flight and what it was. His basic answer to a kid was: it's a trolley. But I had no sense of the geography of things in downtown Los Angeles.
The history of Angel's Flight is a kind of veneer on the history of Bunker Hill. Wikipedia gets that started here,
Historically, Bunker Hill was a large hill that separated the Victorian-era Downtown from the western end of the city. The hill was tunneled through at Second Street in 1924, and at Third and Fourth Streets. In the late 20th century, the hill was lowered in elevation, and the entire area was redeveloped to supplant old frame and concrete buildings with modern high-rises and other structures for residences, commerce, entertainment, and education.
Bunker Hill is bordered on the west by Figueroa and bordered on the east by Main Street. But that makes no sense. Actually, this map below has Bunker Hill outlined in a perforated red line, and that seems accurate to me.
basically the Civic Center, the Walt Disney Music Hall, the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, the Moss Courthouse at First and Hill, the Water and Power Building, and the Broad Modern Art Museum. So the
There are lots of great shots of Angel's Flight and appearances of it in movies, like the one starring Lon Chaney, The Indestructible Man, 1956. It appears here at the 40:39 mark. This scene caught Chuck's eye and so he told me about this film. It's a good one.
The funicular has operated on two different sites, using the same cars and station elements. The original Angels Flight location, with trackage along the side of Third Street Tunnel and connecting Hill Street and Olive Street, operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969, when its site was cleared for redevelopment.
At the 7-minute mark in this 1965 movie, Angel's Flight, a woman boards Angels Flight to go up to Bunker Hill.
The charm of Angel's Flight is that it lifted you up to Bunker Hill. What was so great about Bunker Hill, you ask?
It shows up in the 1952 film noir, The Turning Point, starring William Holden, at the 18:09 mark. Lots of other great Downtown Los Angeles landmarks to check out too.
The movie, BTW, was inspired by the Kefauver Committee's hearings, 1950-1951, dealing with organized crime which were of enormous public interest in 1950 and 1951, and which inspired quite a few film noir moments, as it happened.
Several locations of historical interest in Downtown Los Angeles can be seen in this film. The original Angel's Flight funicular railway is part of one scene. The Hotel Belmont can also be seen. Neither of these landmarks remains. Other buildings that can be seen are the San Fernando Building in the Bank District and a Metropolitan Water District building at 3rd and Broadway.
View of Angels Flight as it passes over Clay Street in 1955.
The demolition of the buildings around Angels Flight, 1962. Thanks to Wikipedia. While the hotels south of Angel's Flight were demolished in 1962, Angel's Flight itself was torn down in 1969 and relocated in 1996 further south to connect Hill with the California Plaza.
[1965] Angels Flight, 3rd Street tunnel and Bunker Hill. (Milton Martinez - Herald Examiner Collection) https://buff.ly/3v3L8ZV.
Well, no date is given for this shot, but it's a good one. The descriptionreads, "From the station at the top, a view straight down the track with both cars at the midway point. Beyond is 3rd Street with cars and pedestrians." Exciting eh?
Interesting that Nelly Furtado also sang this song. I don't like her version, I guess because I'd always been a fan of her early song, "I'm Like a Bird," 2000. Furtado, a Canadian, is a pop singer, but has tones like the British blue-eyed soul singer, Amy Winehouse, 1983-2011, who I liked.