Elusive Angels Flight Set to Get Its Rail Cars

That’s great news Ed! I’ve been wanting to ask what’s up with this for awhile… we need Eric’s downtown Q & A so I can ask those types of questions.

Can’t wait to ride it!

I will believe this when it actually happens. Every time they say it will be reopened, another delay occurs and the public is left waiting. For years now they have been “working” on the railway, but other than the bright orange paint, I have yet to see any signs of a reopening.

In it’s first eight years of operation, the flight featured open air trams. I don’t know if these were named Olivet and & Sinai, but they were fabricated where Phillipe’s now is located, what then was Ralph Bailey’s Artistic Brass and Iron Works.

One wonders what happened to them after the 1910 reconstruction.

I still may die of old age before this happens. Also, as I recall, the 1901 version of Angels Flight crossed Clay Street at grade. In 1902, the line was rebuilt on a trestle. At that time, the original cars, which were too small, were replaced.

Senorlargo: that may have been the other downtown funicular, Court Flight. That funicular ran along Court Street, which was a diagonal street in the Civic Center, roughly where the Court Of Flags now stands.

However, I’m no expert, and I could be wrong.

Court Flight ascending from Broadway to top of Pound Cake Hill opened in 1904. It was parallel to First Street (Tom Bradley) about 300 feet to the north. It fell victim to WWII when they couldn’t hire anyone to operate it due to the war effort. It closed down in 1943. The cars were later sold to a private party in Woodlandhills.

There were other incline railways: One on Mount Wahington, another at Playa del Rey and a third on Catalina Island. Today there is one at Industry Hills Golf Course and maybe one at Magic Mountain in Valencia.

The Los Angeles Incline Railway was originaly constructed in the fall of 1901. Exactly when it became known as Angels’ Flight is uncertain. I have a postcard picturing the flight dated 1906 and it is labelled as Angels’ Flight. Whatever, it was reconstructed to include the trestle and wooden cars in 1910. In the photo division of the Library of Congress, one can find a section containing landscape panoramas. These are all approximately 180 degree wide-field photos taken in various cities around the U.S. A few were taken in downtown L.A. a century ago. One was taken from the high observation tower above the flight. The center of the view looks down Third Street. I can provide a PDF of the image for anyone who may wish to receive it. Just message me: publisher@Visions-of-L-A.com

It is a shame that “Progress” has robbed the people of L.A. and her visitors of this wonderful, historic experience. I hope we are moving beyond just returning the cars. This tragedy is an example of over zealous engineering attempt to “upgrade” something workable with a “Clever” high-tech solution that led to disaster. Sometimes our College Educated people of brilliance seem to be compelled to make there mark like my dog tagging a fire hydrant. Put the cars back on opposite ends of the same rope and make it work.