© 2007 Betsy Malloy Photography - Request a Reprint
Hill Street between 3rd and 4th
Angels Flight Website
In the early 1900s, a posh residential neighborhood crowned downtown's Bunker Hill. To help local residents get up the hill's steep incline, the Angels Flight funicular was built, with two counter-balance cars named Olivet and Sinai easing the trip up and down the steep hill for a fare of only one cent. By the 1960s, urban redevelopment destroyed the neighborhood to make room for a more modern downtown, and the railway was taken down and put into storage.
Billed as the "shortest railroad in the world," Angels Flight was put back into operation in 1996 as part of the California Plaza project, but after an accident in 2001, it was closed and there is no information about when it might re-open.
As a side note, you'll find a stairway next to Angels Flight, a tempting alternative to get to the top of the hill. However, it's quite unfortunate that they have apparently turned into an impromptu outdoor toilet and the smell is quite overwhelming. Try taking the regular sidewalk at either end of the block instead.
Go south to 4th Street and turn left to Broadway. It may not be the one in New York, but it's famous in its own way.