Follow us into the old downtown Subway Tunnel... at last!
Gentle reader...
We can't count the number of times someone has asked, their voice all a-flutter with hope, "Say, do you go into the old downtown Subway Terminal tunnel on any of your tours?" And until recently, we always had to disappoint them. Because with rare, and unpredictable exceptions, that fascinating bit of decommissioned transit history has been off-limits for decades, access controlled by the apartment tower which now stands above.
But if you don't ask, you'll never be told yes. And so for years we have regularly inquired about tunnel access, always with hope in our voices. And then one day not long ago, the answer came back...
Yes! Yes, we could bring a small group of urban explorers down below Hill Street to see what's left of the Pacific Electric passenger terminal, offices and the vast tunnel that had shuttled millions of mid-century commuters onto westbound trains before the last old Red Car made its final trip "To Oblivion" in June 1955.
How much do you charge to visit a place every history-loving Angeleno has on their wish list? A whole lot, or nothing at all. We took the latter option, and listed the tunnel outing as one of our free monthly LAVA Sunday Salons and walking tours. An email went out to subscribers to the LAVA newsletter. And before the night ended, the Subway Tunnel Tour was fully booked. (Eventually, there would be a thousand people on the waiting list, which works out to about three thousand crossed fingers.)
Some inaccessible places are more exciting to imagine than to actually see, but not this one. The visit was a true thrill for us and for the lucky folks who held those golden tickets. We hope our illustrated blog post and the photos from LAVA Visionary J. Scott Smith will help provide a virtual experience of this very special tour for everyone who couldn't join us underground. And if we ever do it again, subscribers to the LAVA newsletter will hear it first.
And speaking of virtual experiences, we've again partnered with photographer Craig Sauer to document an L.A. landmark in explorable 3-D. Behold: the newly restored lobby of the old One Bunker Hill, which has a new name (CalEdision) and a preservation-minded new owner.
Finally, we bid farewell this week to a like-minded local radio program that began around the time Esotouric did, and which has been a good companion on our road trips. The last episode of Off-Ramp features preservation pals Chris Nichols' and Charles Phoenix' mash note on getting lost in L.A. We could use more transplants like host John Rabe, who come from somewhere else, but recognize how special this place is, and don't want to tear it all down and start fresh.
We're back on the bus on Saturday with Pasadena Confidential, a most revealing journey though a pretty suburb that hides some weird secrets behind its perfect hedges. Join us, do!
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RECENTLY TOURED
Juliet balcony, bridge and duckweed shadows at Wallace Neff's King Gillette Ranch in the Malibu mountains.
LAVA'S FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR - SUN. 8/13
Four times a year, we gather in the teaching crime labs of Cal State Los Angeles under the direction of Professor Donald Johnson to explore the history and future of American forensic science. On August 13, 2017, join us for Bombs & Decomp, an afternoon of insights into historic investigations and how a body changes after death. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. Click here for more info, or to reserve your seat.
RECOMMENDED READING
As we lift the hood to make some structural changes to our narrative of that mysterious place called Hollywood (next tour date: September 30), what better tome to dip into than Otto Friedrich's lovingly-researched cultural history of the town and industry's golden age? When some transplant makes a snide remark about L.A.'s shallowness, drop a copy on their foot!
COMING SOON
PASADENA CONFIDENTIAL - SAT. 7/8... The Crown City masquerades as a calm and refined retreat, where well-bred ladies glide around their perfect bungalows and everyone knows what fork to use first. But don't be fooled by appearances. Dip into the confidential files of old Pasadena and meet assassins and oddballs, kidnappers and slashers, black magicians and all manner of maniac in a delightful little tour you won't find recommended by the better class of people. (Buy tickets here.)
THE REAL BLACK DAHLIA - SAT. 7/15... Join us on this iconic, unsolved Los Angeles murder mystery tour, from the throbbing boulevards of a postwar Downtown to the quiet suburban avenue where horror came calling. After multiple revisions, this is less a true crime tour than a social history of 1940s Hollywood female culture, mass media and madness, and we welcome you to join us for the ride. This tour usually sells out, so don't wait to reserve. (Buy tickets here.)
CHARLES BUKOWSKI'S L.A. - SAT. 7/22... Come explore Charles Bukowski's lost Los Angeles and the fascinating contradictions that make this great local writer such a hoot to explore. Haunts of a Dirty Old Man is a raucous day out celebrating liquor, ladies, pimps and poets. The tour includes a visit to Buk's DeLongpre bungalow, where you'll see the Cultural-Historic Monument sign that we helped to get approved, and a mid-tour provisions stop at Pink Elephant Liquor. New: souvenir Bukowski's L.A. booklet available. (Buy tickets here.)
RAYMOND CHANDLER'S LOS ANGELES - SAT. 7/29... Follow in the young writer's footsteps near his downtown oil company offices to sites from The Lady in the Lake and The Little Sister, meet several real inspirations for the Philip Marlowe character and get the skinny on Chandler's secret comic operetta that we discovered in the Library of Congress nearly a century after it was written. Plus a stop at Scoops for noirish gelato creations and a visit to Larry Edmunds Bookshop. (Buy tickets here.)
THE LAVA SUNDAY SALON & BROADWAY ON MY MIND WALKING TOUR - SUN. 7/30... Our free cultural lecture series recently relaunched on the basement level of Grand Central Market with a walk to follow. July's Salon: old Bunker Hill and the Second Street Cable Car Rail Road. Free, sold out with waiting list, reservation required.
SOUTH LOS ANGELES ROAD TRIP: HOT RODS, ADOBES, GOOGIE & EARLY MODERNISM - SUN. 8/6... This rare Sunday tour in our California Culture series rolls through Vernon, Bell Gardens, Santa Fe Springs and Downey, and the past two centuries, exploring some of L.A.'s most seldom-seen and compelling structures. Turning the West Side-centric notion of an L.A. architecture tour on its head, the bus goes into areas not traditionally associated with the important, beautiful or significant, raising issues of preservation, adaptive reuse, hot rod kar kulture and the evolution of the city. (Buy tickets here.)
WEIRD WEST ADAMS - SAT. 8/12... On this guided tour through the Beverly Hills of the early 20th Century, Crime Bus passengers thrill as Jazz Age bootleggers run amok, marvel at the Krazy Kafitz family's litany of murder-suicides, attempted husband slayings, Byzantine estate battles and mad bombings, visit the shortest street in Los Angeles (15' long Powers Place, with its magnificent views of the mansions of Alvarado Terrace), discover which fabulous mansion was once transformed into a functioning whiskey factory using every room in the house, and stroll the haunted paths of Rosedale Cemetery, site of notable burials (May K. Rindge, the mother of Malibu) and odd graveside crimes. Featured players include the most famous dwarf in Hollywood, mass suicide ringleader Reverend Jim Jones, wacky millionaires who can't control their automobiles, human mole bank robbers, comically inept fumigators, kids trapped in tar pits, and dozens of other unusual and fascinating denizens of early Los Angeles. (Buy tickets here.)
FORENSIC SCIENCE SEMINAR AT CAL STATE LOS ANGELES - SUN. 8/13... Professor Donald Johnson hosts "Bombs & Decomp," featuring Mike Digby on historic bomb cases and Dr. Elizabeth Miller on decomposition of the human body. Your $36.50 ticket benefits graduate level Criminalistics research. (For more info, or to reserve your seat, click here.)
SPECIAL EVENT: THE 1910 BOMBING OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES WITH DETECTIVE MIKE DIGBY - Sat. 9/23... An all new bus adventure follows in the shadowy footstep of the labor activists who plotted the dynamiting of the Los Angeles Times Building, part of a nationwide plot that played out some of its most dramatic scenes in the heart of historic Los Angeles. Included in the ticket price is a copy of guest host Mike Digby's new book on the Southland's most fascinating bombers. (Buy tickets here.)
Additional upcoming tours: Boyle Heights & Monterey Park: The Hidden Histories of L.A.'s Melting Pot (8/26), The Birth of Noir (9/9), Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (9/16), Hollywood! (9/30).
OUR HISTORIC L.A. PODCAST
Back from hiatus! In Episode #119: Secrets of Llano del Rio and Utopian Los Angeles, we preview the June 17 Desert Visionaries tour with guest hosts Paul Greenstein & Karyl Newman, plus Lummis House, Lytton Savings and Sinatra Bungalow news. Click here to tune in. New: find stories on the map!
AND FINALLY, LINKS
Countdown to oblivion (or preservation?): we weigh in on the five most endangered historic buildings in L.A.
L.A. County Newsroom featurette on LAVA’s Sunday Salon focusing on restoration of the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial.
The eternal historic preservation conundrum: how far back do you go? For the Formosa Cafe, it’s the 1990s.
A slow motion train wreck, and the train is loaded with dust.
Monrovia’s own Aztec Hotel celebrated in French exhibition. We hope it tours!
After a lot of elbow grease, a neglected corner of Elysian Park is once more a place of honor and reflection.
The city of LA accused of eminent domain abuse over landmark, ten-years-vacant Highland Park bank.
Hollywood development aims to move historic bungalows around like pawns on a chessboard, demolish 1930 Deco market.
A haunting (temporary) new look for Angels Flight Railway as work begins on an evacuation stairway.
A preservation threat to 275 of Alhambra’s oldest trees, and a lovely Spanish Colonial Revival chapel.
The landmarked Stendahl Galleries residence in the Hollywood Hills, ground zero for early modern and pre-Columbian art collecting, can be yours. We had a lot of fun when LAVA visited.
Torrance desperately needs an historic preservation ordinance, but is just going through the motions.
Downey finally does something to protect its National Register Rives Mansion, which badly needs an owner who cares.
Two more suspicious fires at Rancho Los Amigos. We’re as sad to lose historic buildings as we are that our homeless neighbors aren’t housed in them.
Five years after wrecking L.A.'s coolest neon sign, Felix Chevrolet is sold.
A sad, and complicated, time for our city, as the L.A. Times may be leaving its namesake building. Will they remove the historic eagle, globe and other decorative features around which the magnificent Globe Lobby was designed? Meanwhile, renderings call for demolition of William Pereira’s late modern addition. His work matters.
yrs,
Kim and Richard
Esotouric