DOWNTOWN: Los Angeles City Hall - 200 N Spring Street (LACHM #150)

May 21, 2014. As viewed from Grand Park.

 

Los Angeles City Hall was a massive undertaking when construction started in 1926. Designed by John Parkinson, Albert C. Martin, Sr., and John C. Austin, it stands 32 floors, 454 feet, and is the tallest base-isolated structure in the world. Sand from each of California's 58 counties was used in mixing the building's concrete, and water from all 21 historic missions scattered across the state. Forty-six different types of marble from Europe and America were used to decorate hallways and rooms. The new City Hall officially opened on April 26, 1928 and attracted over 32,000 Angelenos in a parade that stretched over three miles. It was said that Los Angeles had finally arrived when City Hall opened its doors, and the huge crowd made it evident that L.A. was moving into a new chapter of its history, from a small farm community of 100,000 citizens just thirty years earlier to one of the United States' most influential cities with over 1.25 million residents.

 

City Hall towers over L.A., 1927.

 

The original City Hall stood on Broadway, and was built in 1888 when L.A.'s population was barely 50,000. It quickly became far too small to accommodate the city's needs, and strong public support emerged to build a bigger, better administrative complex in the heart of Downtown.

Above the Spring Street entrance: "Let us have faith that right makes might." - Abraham Lincoln.

"Righteousness exalteth a people." - Solomon.

 

Parkinson, Austin, and Martin submitted their preliminary designs for City Hall on September 25, 1925 to the Board of Public Works, which would supervise the entire project. The group strongly approved of the architects' use of modern and Italian Renaissance styles, and appreciated the building's similarities to the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus. The new City Hall would also take some inspiration from Bertram Goodhue's design for the Nebraska State Capitol.

In 1926, height restrictions on new buildings in L.A. limited new structures to 150 feet, but A.C. Martin successfully argued in various newspapers that voters should approve an exemption for the new city hall. His argument was that future government buildings would be over the 150 foot height restriction, figuring the city would eventually do away with it - something that indeed came true, over 40 years later. He also pointed out that the city's courthouse was located at a slightly higher elevation than the new city hall location , and that it would dwarf the very building that Angelenos wanted to symbolize their emergence on the national stage. Still, just to be safe, the architects prepared designs that altered the height to within 150 feet. That autumn, the city electorate voted to pass Proposition 7, creating a charter amendment to allow the City Hall to exceed the height cap.

Architect John Parkinson insisted the architectural style of the new City Hall be "Modern American."

Few people fought harder to bring the City Hall to realization than Mayor George E. Cryer, who successfully persuaded the electorate from 1921 to 1923 to approve $5 million in bonds and $2.5 million for purchasing the land for the project. On March 5, 1926 it would be Mayor Cryer himself who would turn over the first earth on the project site with a gold-plated shovel.

The day the City Hall opened, President Calvin Coolidge pressed a gold telegraph key in the White House that illuminated the Charles A. Lindbergh Airway Beacon atop City Hall, and released a message of support that started, "I wish to extend sincere congratulations to the officials and citizens of Los Angeles upon the acquisition of the beautiful new home for her city government."

The three architects who had been instrumental to forever changing the L.A. skyline were promised to be paid 6% of the final project's cost, which amounted to $315,027 per architect. Adjusting for inflation, that's over $4.36 million in 2014 dollars.

FRANK PUTNAM FLINT

Off of First and Spring, on the south side of City Hall, stands the Frank Putnam Flint Fountain. I'm not sure if it's technically called the Frank Putnam Flint Memorial Fountain, or the Flint Fountain, or something in between. Needless to say, it's a beautiful fountain that doesn't seem to have been used in quite some time. But the larger question remains: why is there a fountain dedicated to a guy who, up until this point in the blog, hasn't been mentioned? And what did he have to do with City Hall?

Frank Putnam Flint Fountain, May 21, 2014.

 

Frank P. Flint was born in North Reading, Massachusetts on July 15, 1862. His family relocated to San Francisco in 1869, and at the age of 25, Flint ventured out on his own to settle roots in Los Angeles. There, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1892 before starting his law practice. He held several high profile positions, including judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles and the United States district attorney for California's Southern District. From March 4, 1905 to March 3, 1911, Flint served as a Republican in the United States Senate. As is mentioned on the plaque below, Flint lobbied Congress to permit the construction of the L.A. Aqueduct and succeeded in getting President Theodore Roosevelt behind his efforts, and effectively, the reluctant House of Representatives. He also secured federal funding for the L.A. Harbor.

 

Plaque on the side of the fountain.

 

Flint re-entered law after leaving the Senate in 1911, and briefly engaged in banking. He was onboard a steamer during a world tour when he died on February 11, 1929 at the age of 66. The city of La Canada-Flintridge is partly named in his honor.

 

So... what does he have to do with City Hall? Virtually nothing. He wasn't even in the Senate when it was built, and had absolutely no input into its construction. Yes, he was key in securing water resources into the city, and helped put together the harbor, but he didn't do anything for City Hall. You'd think the architects or Mayor Cryer would have a fountain dedicated to them, but apparently not. Ah, randomness.

 

 

DOWNTOWN: Angels Flight Railway - 351 S Hill Street (LAHCM #4)

 

Said to be the world's shortest incorporated railway, Angels Flight was first constructed in 1901 with funding from Union Colonel J.W. Eddy, connecting Hill and Olive Street. It was called the Los Angeles Incline Railway, but the name changed to Angels Flight after the Funding Company of California bought the railway from its founders in 1912. The original railway survived until May 18, 1969, when it was dismantled to make way for the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project.

The Original Angels Flight, 1905.

Tues., May 20, 2014. Not in service.

 

On February 24, 1996, the newly reconstructed Angels Flight opened half a block south from its primary site. The original cars were refurbished as well - the Sinai and Olivet. Since then, there have been numerous accidents and closings, and every time I've ventured past it, I've never seen it operating. Still, it's a charming piece of L.A.'s history, and it makes for a nice photo opportunity.



DOWNTOWN: Subway Terminal Building - 417 S Hill Street (LAHCM #177)

 

 

 Long before L.A. Metro built the current subway system it operates, there was another subway that was serving the City of Night, operated by Pacific Electric. The Hollywood Subway, as it was called, had its terminus at 417 South Hill Street, at the Subway Terminal Building (now known as Metro 417). You read that right - there used to be another subway in Downtown!

 

 

Amazingly, most Angelenos today probably don't know that there used to be an impressive mass transit system in place in Los Angeles during the first half of the 20th century. Pacific Electric Railcars hurried up and down city streets, and helped connect an ever-growing urban sprawl. Public support was high for a subway - much like it was decades later, in the 1980s, before the development of the current Metro subway lines - and Pacific Electric answered the call.

 

 

The Subway Terminal Building was designed by Leonard Shultze and S. Fullerton Weaver in an Italian Renaissance Revival style, and opened along with the new subway on November 30, 1925. The building stood 12 floors, contained 600 offices, and was constructed with over 6,000 tons of steel, more than any other building in Los Angeles at that time.

 

The Subway Terminal Corporation, formed by some of L.A.'s most prominent citizens, worked directly with PE to fund the underground work, as well as the construction of the terminal. In all, the corporation paid over $1.1 million for the project, which was built at a rapid pace of 16 hour workdays over a single year.





 

The subway was officially L.A.'s first, a double-track, mile-long stretch from Beverly & Glendale Blvds (where today's Belmont Station Apartments stand) to South Hill Street. Pacific Electric had been ordered to build the subway by the California Railroad Commission under Order No. 9928, in an effort to reduce car traffic in the budding metropolis. Ultimately, of course, cars became all the rage, and the PE essentially disappeared, removing lines and effectively abandoning the Hollywood Subway. The last regular car exited the subterranean tunnel on Sunday, June 19, 1955, carrying the head-sign "To Oblivion." The subway remained untouched and unused until December 1967, when a portion from Flower to Figueroa was filled in with concrete because it was deemed "unsafe." Tours of the surviving portion of the subway were carried out for years, but were discontinued in 2012.

 

The Subway Terminal Building was used for many years as an office building, and was briefly considered for demolition in the early 2000s to make way for a new project dubbed Park Fifth. Fortunately, plans for the new development were rejected, and the historic building remained. Today, it's called Metro 417, and has been refurbished into luxury apartments. It sits right next to L.A.'s second subway, the Metro Red Line, and is literally across the street from the Pershing Square Station.

 

 

 Map detailing the Hollywood Subway route.

 

Subway tunnel construction, 1925.

 

In the 1920s, the letter "U" apparently had not yet been invented.