Lazy Fridays #5

Lazy Friday's #5: Angel's Flight

Keeping with the Downtown L.A. theme this week, I wanted to introduce you to Angel's Flight.

Angels Flight was originally opened in 1901 by Colonel J.W. Eddy, and is known as the "Shortest Railway in the World." It connected Hill Street with Olive Street in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of Downtown L.A. The railway did not receive its name until 1912, when it was officially acknowledged as Angels Flight (a nod to the cities name Los Angeles, which translates from Spanish to The Angels, and as recognition to the name that hung over the Hill Street entrance).

The railway opened in 1901 and ran until 1969, when it was closed due to redevelopment in the area surrounding. The pieces of the railway were put into storage in hopes of a restoration and reopening. Angels Flight was reopened in 1996 half a block from the original site, but closed following a fatal accident in 2001. The Flight has now been opened for a third time as of March 2010, and has run safely since the reopening.

I remember taking the railway during a class field trip to Downtown in second grade about a year before it was closed. It's a cool ride to take and with the original 1901 tramcars being used, it feels a little like being a part of history. It certainly has a way of feeling like 1901, with the tram fare being twenty-five cents, probably making it the cheapest transportation you will ever take in Los Angeles.

So if you spend an afternoon in Downtown, take a time to see something that has seemingly made its way down the path of history: Angels Flight. Enjoy!