Angels Flight

Angels Flight is a short funicular railway on Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California, connecting Hill Street at 351 South Hill Street with California Plaza above. Colonel James Ward Eddy and engineer Lee Goodwin Peddie built the original line, which opened on December 31, 1901, to carry residents up the steep hill to the elegant Victorian homes of the neighborhood. The two counterbalanced cars, named Olivet and Sinai, run on a track roughly 298 feet long, and the line is often cited as one of the world's shortest railways. The ride rose to fame through its appearances in film noir and later movies such as Criss Cross, M and La La Land. During the 1960s urban renewal program, the Community Redevelopment Agency cleared Bunker Hill, and Angels Flight closed in 1969 and was dismantled, with its parts stored for later reuse. The railway was rebuilt about a half block south of its original site and reopened in 1996. In 2001 a fatal accident killed one passenger, and the line closed for years for safety investigations and engineering upgrades. It reopened in 2010 and had further closures, including another in 2013 related to a derailment, before being reopened under new operators, and the Angels Flight Railway Foundation has managed its operation. The cars are painted orange and black, and the arches and station buildings preserve the look of the original. The structure is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The approach to the experience is simple: visitors ride the cars, which run in opposite directions and pass in the middle of the incline. Interpretive information is limited, but a nearby plaque and the station give some background. The upper station sits near the Museum of Contemporary Art and The Broad, and the lower station is across from Grand Central Market, so the funicular works as a short historic link between the two destinations.