Well it is, and the reason is history. So in a moment a little history of downtown Los Angeles, but first an introduction to the shortest railroad in the world — Angels Flight. Angels Flight is 600 feet long, and its two miniature cars climb the eastern side of Bunker Hill on a funicular system in the heart of Los Angeles’ bustling financial district. Even today you can take the one-minute ride for just 25 cents.
How did it get there? Bunker Hill is a small hill in downtown Los Angeles. In the 1870s and 1880s Los Angeles businessman Prudent Beaudry first developed fancy houses and, eventually, hotels and businesses on Bunker Hill. By the time of World War II the area had declined, and in the 1960s the buildings on the hill were cleared for redevelopment. Eventually tall office buildings, condominiums, a museum, hotels and public spaces were built. Today Bunker Hill contributes a substantial part of Los Angeles’ well known skyline.
But back at the turn of the century (the last one, not 1900/2000), Bunker Hill was topped by fancy houses, and people needed to get from the growing shopping and business districts at the bottom of the 315-foot-tall hill to the houses at the top. In 1901 Col. J.W. Eddy persuaded the City Council to grant him a 30-year franchise to construct and operate an incline railway on Bunker Hill. At the corner of 3rd and Hill Streets he quickly built a small funicular railway with two counterbalanced cars. One moved up the hill while the other moved down. They were connected by a cable and their rise and descent were controlled by a geared third track in the middle of the wheels. An electric motor provided the power to overcome friction on the 33% grade and any imbalance in weight between the two cars. At the top and bottom the cars shared one set of tracks. In the middle they passed each other where the single set of tracks split into two.
Legally named the Los Angeles Incline Railway, from the very beginning the little railroad was called Angels Flight in honor of Los Angeles — the City of the Angels. A set of stairs paralleling the rails offered an alternative for the hardy and the pinchpennies who chose to climb rather than ride, so in a sense the little railroad got its nickname from a flight of public stairs and a good pun.
Of course, the entire rolling stock of the little railroad consisted of the two cars, and it was not likely that it would ever be more. The cars were specially built for this funicular system. In addition to having a gear assembly built into them, they also had a "stair step" floor. The cars were always headed up or down hill at the same 33% inclination. If a normal, although perhaps miniaturized, trolley car were used the floor and seats of the car would be at a 30-degree angle. No passenger could safely stand or sit on it. Instead the cars were divided in sections, each of which was level but about a foot or so above the one below it, like stairs. Passengers stood or sat in level comfort inside the inclined car. The cars could not be used for any other funicular unless it had exactly the same slope — otherwise the floor would not be level. The two little cars were even named — Olivet and Sinai — after mountains mentioned in the Bible. Originally painted white, they were later changed to orange and black.
Fares were always cheap. At the beginning one cent got you up. Much later, in the 1930s, the fare was raised to five cents but discounts were offered for group travel. On the other hand the trip was so short — only 600 feet —hat the small fare seems justified. Fares were always collected "at the top," which meant that one "conductor" stationed at the top of the system could collect the fares. After all, only one car (and therefore one set of passengers) could be at the top at one time.
In the beginning the little railroad had few amenities. Early photos show no shelter at the bottom of the incline, and passengers waited in the weather for the car to come down and unload. At the top a shed-like structure offered some protection, but its open sides indicate it was more a sunshade than shelter. By 1910, however, a formal depot waiting room was built at the top. In 1908 the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks had built a decorative arch at the lower end to commemorate its national convention held in Los Angeles that year.
Angels Flight was so successful that it even had imitators. The Court Flight funicular was built at the north edge of Bunker Hill near the old Los Angeles County Courthouse on Court Street. It was not as long as Angels Flight, but steeper, rising 200 feet in about the same horizontal distance, a 45-degree slope. It was unusual in that it had full sets of tracks, top to bottom. In 1943 a fire destroyed much of the Court Flight track and it closed down. Today its site is covered by a freeway.
Far more ambitious was the Mt. Washington Railroad. It was built just to the east of downtown Los Angeles. A 3,000-foot-long funicular with cables, it climbed to the 900-foot-high summit of Mt. Washington. Conceived by a real estate speculator to help develop his choice view lots and a hotel at the summit, it operated until 1922. A commuter could ride the trolley car from downtown to the funicular’s depot and then up the hill to a view lot house or a dinner at the Mt. Washington Hotel.
The most spectacular incline of all was the Mount Lowe railroad. Built by "Professor" Thaddeus Lowe, the incline ran from a station at Rubio Canyon to the peak of Echo Mountain, 2,650 feet at grades varying from 48% to 62%. From there the railroad ran small but conventional cars over a steep, sharply curved track all the way to the summit of Mount Lowe, climbing another 1,500 feet in just 3.6 miles. The views from the hotels Lowe built at each station were spectacular, and the summit of Mount Lowe was a prime outing for Los Angeles families of the 1890s.
Two incline railways were built on Santa Catalina Island in 1904 to move visitors up from the beach to the hotel and down to a lovely beach, but most of the facility burned in 1915.
In 1981 an incline railway was built at a resort in the City of Industry to carry golf carts to portions of a golf course. In 1997 the opening of the Getty Center in the hills of West Los Angeles debuted a cable-driven incline railway which carries visitors from the parking garage near the freeway to the museum and facilities at the top of the mountain.
Time was kind to Angels Flight which operated with some mechanical improvements until 1969. Bunker Hill changed around it, going from fancy Victorian neighborhood, to transient housing, and back to modern commercial uses. By 1969 redevelopment and other transit had rendered Angels Flight an anachronism. It was dismantled, but some of it was stored as a result of a campaign by loyal riders and enthusiastic supporters who wanted the little railroad rebuilt.
In the 1990s increased development on Bunker Hill and a new sense of history and community made it possible for the Shortest Railway in the World to be rebuilt. Relocated about a half block from its original site and using much of the stored original equipment, the little railroad was rebuilt much as it was originally designed and rededicated in 1996. Today the one-minute, 600-foot-long ride on the World’s Shortest Railway can be enjoyed for just 25 cents — still a bargain any way you look at it.
There are many Internet web pages about Angels Flight, Bunker Hill and funicular railroads in general. Here are some interesting ones:
Two brief histories of Angels Flight:
WWW.USC.EDU/ISD/ARCHIVES/LA/PUBART/DOWNTOWN/FIGUEROA/ANGELS.HTML
WWW.ELEVATOR-WORLD.COM/MAGAZINE/ARCHIVE01/9706-001.HTM
The reconstruction of Angels Flight:
WWW.WGN.NET/~ELSON/LARAIL/ANGELSFLIGHT.HTML
A description of Opening Day of the rebuilt Angels Flight:
ENGLISH.GLENDALE.CC.CA.US/ANGFLT.HTML
A historic photo of J.W. Eddy and the Angels Flight:
WWW.ERHA.ORG/ANGELSFLIGHTCARDBACK.GIF
Information about the BPOE arch:
WWW.ELKS.ORG/HISTORY/ANGELS.HTM
An enthusiast’s view of the modern Angels Flight:
OURWORLD.COMPUSERVE.COM/HOMEPAGES/FRANZ/PICPAGE3.HTM
A comprehensive history of the inclines and funiculars in Los Angeles:
WWW.GEOCITIES.COM/CABLE_CAR_GUY/HTML/CCLAFUN.HTML#MTL
The story of the Court Street funicular:
WWW.ERHA.ORG/COURT.HTM
The story of the Mt. Washington funicular:
WWW.ERHA.ORG/WASHINGTON.HTM
WWW.BOB-TAYLOR.COM/RAILWAY.HTM
Absolutely everything you ever wanted to know about funicular railroads:
WWW.FUNIMAG.COM/