Hollywood Subway
The Hollywood Subway is a former double-track tram tunnel in Los Angeles , California. The route, also known as the Belmont Tunnel , ran from the corner of Beverly Boulevard and Glendale Boulevard to the Subway Terminal Building in what is now Pershing Square . The tunnel was in operation from November 30, 1925 to June 19, 1955 and was used by the trains of the Pacific Electric Railway .
background
In the years after the First World War , the previously profitable local public transport for its mostly private operators became increasingly a loss-making business due to falling passenger numbers and rising costs, and the tariff increases required to compensate for this were not approved by the supervisory authorities. In addition, the trams in the inner cities in particular were increasingly getting stuck in traffic jams. In Los Angeles at that time, the Pacific Electric Railway (PE) tram company was particularly affected.
In 1922, the California Railroad Commission finally issued Ordinance No. 9928, according to which the tram operator Pacific Electric Railway (PE) was obliged to move part of its route to Hollywood underground. To compensate, the company received permission to increase fares from Hollywood to downtown Los Angeles from six to ten US cents. In addition, the PE hoped for considerable savings through fewer personnel, insurance costs, required vehicles and lower maintenance costs compared to the track systems on the roads.
The tunnel
The tunnel was to begin at South Olive Street and from there run parallel to West 4th Street in a northwest direction. Behind South Figueroa Street, it should turn north-northwest together with 4th Street and then run over the intersection with West 3rd Street to the level of Emerald Street and West 2nd Street. There the route should continue in the cut to the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Glendale Boulevard. On the western edge of this incision to power was the new substation Tucola No. 51 planned, opposite with the Toluca Yard a six-track parking facility was to be built. Behind it, the tracks were to merge into the existing tram route along Glendale Boulevard towards Hollywood . The total cost of the 4,325 foot (1,318 m) tunnel should be $ 1.25 million.
The Subway Terminal Building was to join the tunnel to the southeast of South Olive Street . A five-track terminus station was planned in its lowest basement , which was to be accessed by means of concrete ramps from the reception hall on the ground floor. There, in turn, a junction of various tram lines and a bus station were to be created. The building above was to be one of the largest structures in Los Angeles at the time, with 600 offices.
The groundbreaking ceremony took place on May 3, 1924. First, the cut was dredged at the northern end and then the tunnel was driven from there using the core construction method . In addition, work was carried out in the same way in both directions from a further excavation between Figueroa Street and Flower Street. At times a total of around 650 men were employed on the construction site. The breakthrough took place on April 16, 1925, construction work on the Subway Terminal Building began about a month later on May 13, 1925. The subway station was opened on November 30, 1925, possibly before the completion of the office building above.
The tunnel had no intermediate stops and was consistently two-track. The cross-section was a continuously concreted barrel vault , 28 feet (8.53 m) wide in the middle and 21'3 "(6.48 m) high. Inside, ballasted, standard-gauge sleeper tracks were laid. The power was supplied by overhead lines , all of them 15 feet (4.57 m) from the tunnel ceiling with so-called "steady braces" (literally: rigid braces) was suspended and secured against sideways evasion. Every 50 feet (15.24 m) an escape niche was provided, all 1500 feet (457.2 m) an emergency telephone . The 1927 retrofitted train protection consisted of 21 block signals with automatic mechanical emergency braking. Up to 144 trains could run per hour and direction. 210 appropriately retrofitted two-way tram cars were available for operation with train protection .
During the 1930s and 1940s, the tunnel ran a total of 850 daily PE trains to Glendale , Burbank , Hollywood, West Hollywood , Beverly Hills and Van Nuys . Passenger numbers peaked at 65,000 a day during World War II .
Decommissioning and conversion
After the end of the Second World War, the tram lines meant ever higher losses for PE. At the same time, the automobile gained the upper hand as a means of mass transportation. The routes were gradually shut down and replaced by bus routes. On June 19, 1955, the last train finally drove through the tunnel. Then the tracks were dismantled. From then on, the systems served temporarily as storage space for food, microfilms and seized cars. In December 1967, a section of the tunnel between Figueroa Street and Flower Street was excavated and filled in to make way for the new Bonaventure Hotel .
The grounds of the Toluca Yard, including the former substation and tunnel portal, lay fallow after the track system had been dismantled. At some point the tunnel was occupied by homeless people and graffiti artists, and after 2000 it was finally bricked up. In 2002, the site was finally bought by a local real estate company. It is building an apartment complex with 276 apartments there.
In the 1980s, the tunnel entrance appeared in a number of films, including in Wrong Game with Roger Rabbit as the entrance to the Toon City, in the series V - The extraterrestrial visitors come as the entrance to the headquarters of the Resistance and in the music video "Under the Bridge" the Red Hot Chili Peppers , in Colors - colors of violence and in the science fiction film Predator 2 .
Additional information
literature
- Crump, Spencer A .: Ride the Big Red Cars: How Trolleys Helped Build Southern California , Trans-Anglo Books, Costa Mesa, CA, 1970.
References
- The Electric Railway Historic Association of Southern California (ERHA): Hollywood Subway . (English)
- The Electric Railway Historic Association of Southern California (ERHA): Subway Terminal . (English)
- Pacific Electric Subway (private page with some photos and general map, English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Garrett, Mark Evan: The Struggle For Transit Justice - Race, Space, and Social Equity in Los Angeles ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dissertation), University of California, Los Angeles, 2006, p. 310ff.
- ↑ after ERHA four, after this photo six tracks
- ↑ The Subway Terminal Building shortly after its completion , platforms in the basement and the switch area (photos from the online catalog of the Los Angeles Public Library .)
- ↑ According to ERHA , the last carrier was used on October 24, 1925.
- ↑ Photo of a suspension ( Memento of the original from July 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
- ↑ Line plan (only relevant excerpt) ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Garrett, Mark Evan: The Struggle For Transit Justice - Race, Space, and Social Equity in Los Angeles ( Memento of the original from February 17, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Dissertation), University of California, Los Angeles, 2006, p. 359ff.
- ↑ Food and Car Storage (Photos from the Los Angeles Public Library's online catalog .)
- ↑ Photos from 2000 and 2004 .
- ↑ Meta Housing Corporation: Northwest Gateway Apartments ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Construction status January 2007 .
Coordinates: 34 ° 3 '36.6 " N , 118 ° 15' 32.8" W.