Angels Flight

The Angels Flight® Railway Foundation is the seventh private operator of the railway, having assumed stewardship in 1996. The following describes the railway’s ownership history. Colonel James Ward (JW) Eddy was born in 1832 and served in the Civil War. Today, Colonel Eddy rests in peace at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Colonel Eddy was born in Java, New York, in 1832, and he died in California in 1914. The two Angels Flight® Railway cars have been here in Los Angeles since 1901 (1905 if dated from the rebuilding that resulted in these exact vehicles). That rebuilding was in connection with Col. Eddy’’s constructing a trestle over Clay Street so the cars would be going up a constant grade. Clay Street is only a memory now. The City of Los Angeles removed much of the Railway’’s old neighborhood — actually, All of the old neighborhood… except for Angels Flight® (moved several hundred feet south). Even Bunker Hill Avenue is gone, only a memory on Bunker Hill. In 1901, the Third Street Tunnel opened beneath Bunker Hill. So did the Angels Flight® Railway. In May of 1901, Col. J.W. Eddy had sought and received City Council approval to build a funicular by the tunnel. “Funicular” is from a Latin word, “ funiculus ,” which means a slender rope or cord that connects. A funicular is an incline railway. Col. Eddy started building Angels Flight® on August 2, 1901. The Railway opened December 31, 1901. On the Railway’s 1901 Opening Day, more than 2,000 people rode between Hill and Olive Streets. Angels Flight® passed to its second private owner in 1912 when Colonel Eddy sold to the Funding Company of Los Angeles. In addition to the 1905 remodel, the railway benefited from the addition of a new station house and the Hill Street Arch in 1908. In 1914, the Funding Company of Los Angeles sold Angels Flight® Railway to Continental Securities Company. Engineer Robert Moore began service as the General Manager that year. Moore served Angels Flight® and its passengers for 38 years, from 1914 to 1952. In 1952, Moore retired and sold Angels Flight® Railway to Lester Moreland and Byron Linville. In 1953, Moreland’s family purchased Linville’s interest in the railway, becoming the sole owner. Linville was a prominent banker at Security First National Bank who had developed affection for Angels Flight®. Linville shared a common interest in the workings and history of Angels Flight® with Moreland. Moreland was an electrical engineer with the Department of Water and Power who parked on Bunker Hill so he could ride Angels Flight® on his way to and from his office downtown. Regularly riding Angels Flight®, Moreland got to know Moore. Moore realized that Moreland had a real interest in Angels Flight® Railway’s preservation and was fully capable of operating it. When Moore decided to retire, he chose to sell Angels Flight® to Moreland and Linville. Angels Flight® was sold to them on August 23, 1952. The Moreland legacy of railway stewardship lasted until the City’s redevelopment agency forced a sale to the City in 1962. The alternative to the Moreland’s selling to the City was condemnation—to allow the City to “improve” Bunker Hill with “urban renewal.” Condemnation is the same as “taking by eminent domain.” After the City’s redevelopment agency forced the Morelands to sell Angels Flight® to the City in 1962, the City then hired another private entity to run it. The City made Sidney Smith of the Oliver & Williams Elevator Company the railway operator. The Oliver & Williams Elevator Company ran Angels Flight® from 1962 to 1969. While Sidney Smith and his company ran Angels Flight® in the 1960s, Bunker Hill’s old buildings were demolished all around it. On Sunday, May 18, 1969, Sinai and Olivet (the funicular cars) took their last trips on their tracks at the Third Street Tunnel location. The next day, the dismantling of the Angels Flight® Railway got underway. The two cars were hauled off to storage—first at 1200 South Olive Street at the warehouse