Angels Flight
Encyclopedia
Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California
Bunker Hill, in the downtown area of Los Angeles, California, is a short, developed hill with its peak located roughly around 3rd Street. It is located directly east of the Harbor Freeway...
district of Downtown Los Angeles, California
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles is the central business district of Los Angeles, California, United States, located close to the geographic center of the metropolitan area...
. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet .
The funicular has operated on two different sites, using the same cars and iconic station elements. The original Angels Flight location, with tracks connecting Hill Street and Olive Street, operated from 1901 until it was closed in 1969, when its site was cleared for redevelopment. The second Angels Flight location opened nearby to the south in 1996, with tracks connecting Hill Street and California Plaza. It was re-closed in 2001, after a fatal accident, and took nine years to commence operations again, on March 15, 2010. It has been running safely since, except for another closure from June 10, 2011 to July 5, 2011, with 25 cents the cost of a one-way ride.
The original Angels Flight
Built in 1901 with financing from Colonel J.W. EddyJ.W. Eddy
Colonel James Ward Eddy was the builder of Angels Flight funicular railroad in Los Angeles, California.Eddy was born in Java, New York and matriculated at Genesee College in Lima, New York...
, as the Los Angeles Incline Railway, Angels Flight began at the west corner of Hill Street at Third and ran for two blocks uphill (northwestward) to its Olive Street terminus. Angels Flight consisted of two vermillion "boarding stations" and two cars, named Sinai and Olivet, pulled up the steep incline by metal cables powered by engines at the upper Olive Street station. As one car ascended, the other descended, carried down by gravity. An archway labeled "Angels Flight" greeted passengers on the Hill Street entrance, and this name became the official name of the railway in 1912 when the Funding Company of California purchased the railway from its founders.
The original Angels Flight was a conventional funicular, with both cars connected to the same haulage cable. Unlike most more modern funiculars it did not have track brake
Track brake
Track brakes are a form of brakes unique to railborne vehicles. The braking force derives from the friction resulting from the application of wood or metal braking shoes directly to the tracks...
s for use in the event of cable breakage, but it did have a separate safety cable which would come into play in case of breakage of the main cable. It operated for 68 years with a good safety record.
The only fatality that involved the original Angels Flight occurred in the autumn of 1943, when a sailor attempting to walk up the track was crushed beneath one of the cars.
In November 1952, the Beverly Hills Parlor of the Native Daughters of the Golden West
Native Sons of the Golden West
-History:The Native Sons of the Golden West was founded July 11, 1875 by General A. M. Winn, a Virginian, as a lasting monument to the men and women of the Gold Rush Days...
erected a plaque to commemorate fifty years of service by the railway.
- The plaque reads:
— Built in 1901 by Colonel J.W. Eddy, lawyer, engineer and friend of President Abraham LincolnAbraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, Angels Flight is said to be the world's shortest incorporated railway. The counterbalanced cars, controlled by cables, travel a 33 percent grade for 315 feet. It is estimated that Angels Flight has carried more passengers per mile than any other railway in the world, over a hundred million in its first fifty years. This incline railway is a public utility operating under a franchise granted by the City of Los Angeles. —
In 1962, at its first meeting, the city's new Cultural Heritage Board designated Angels Flight a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument
Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments are sites in Los Angeles, California, which have been designated by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission as worthy of preservation based on architectural, historic and cultural criteria.-History:...
(No. 4), along with four other locations. Los Angeles was early in enacting preservation laws, and the first sites chosen each were "considered threatened to some extent," according to the history of the board, now the Cultural Heritage Commission.
Dismantling
The railway was closed in 1969 when the Bunker Hill area underwent a controversial total redevelopment which destroyed and displaced a community of almost 22,000 working-class families renting rooms in architecturally significant but run-down buildings, to a modern mixed-use district of high-rise commercial buildings and modern apartment and condominium complexes. All the components of Angels Flight were placed in storage in anticipation of the railway's restoration and reopening.Reconstruction
After 27 years in storage, the funicular was rebuilt and reopened on February 24, 1996 a half block south of the original site. Although the original cars, Sinai and Olivet, were used, a new track and haulage system was designed and built, a redesign which had unfortunate consequences five years later. As rebuilt, the funicular was 91 meters (298 feet) long on an approximately 33-percent grade. Car movement was controlled by an operator inside the upper station house, who was responsible for visually determining that the track and vehicles were clear for movement, closing the platform gates, starting the cars moving, monitoring the operation of the funicular cars, observing car stops at both stations, and collecting fares from passengers. The cars themselves did not carry any staff members. Angels Flight was added to the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
on October 13, 2000.
Accident
On February 1, 2001, Angels Flight had a serious accident that killed a passenger, Leon Praport age 83, and injured seven others, including Praport's wife, Lola. The accident occurred when car Sinai, approaching the upper station, reversed direction and accelerated downhill in an uncontrolled fashion to strike car Olivet near the lower terminus.
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) conducted an investigation into the accident, and determined that the probable cause was the improper design and construction of the Angels Flight funicular drive and the failure of the various regulatory bodies to ensure that the railway system conformed to initial safety design specifications and known funicular safety standards. The NTSB further remarks that the company that designed and built the drive, control, braking, and haul systems, Lift Engineering
Lift Engineering
Lift Engineering, more commonly known as Yan Lifts, was a major ski lift manufacturer in North America. Founded in 1965 and based in Carson City, Nevada, the firm came under scrutiny by state safety officials after a fatal accident in 1985, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July...
/Yantrak, is no longer in business, and that the whereabouts of the company's principal is unknown.
Unlike the original, the new funicular used two separate haulage systems (one for each car), with the two systems connected to each other, the drive motor and the service brake
Brake
A brake is a mechanical device which inhibits motion. Its opposite component is a clutch. The rest of this article is dedicated to various types of vehicular brakes....
by a gear train
Gear train
A gear train is formed by mounting gears on a frame so that the teeth of the gears engage. Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, this provides a smooth transmission of rotation from one gear to the next.The transmission of...
; it was the failure of this gear train which was the immediate cause of the accident as it effectively disconnected Sinai both from Olivet’s balancing load and from the service brake. There were emergency brake
Emergency brake
On trains, the expression emergency brake has several meanings:* The maximum brake force available to the driver/engineer from his conventional braking system, usually operated by taking the brake handle to its furthest postion, through a gate mechanism, or by pushing a separate plunger in the cab*...
s which acted on the rim of each haulage drum, but due to inadequate maintenance the emergency brakes for both cars were inoperative, which left Sinai without any brakes once its physical connection to the service brake was lost. Contrary to what might be expected, the new funicular was constructed with neither safety cable nor track brakes, either of which would have prevented the accident; the NTSB was unable to identify another funicular worldwide that operated without either of these safety features.
During the 17 to 26 months that the emergency braking system was not operating, the braking system was tested daily, but since the service brake and emergency brake were tested simultaneously, there was no way to tell if the emergency brake was functioning without looking at the brake pads or hydraulic pressure gauges during the test. The test was always performed with the Sinai car traveling up-hill, which meant that when the power was cut and the brakes applied (as part of the test), Sinai’s momentum caused the car to continue moving up-hill a short distance (slackening the cable) and then to roll back from gravity, jerking the cable tight.
If the emergency brakes had been functional, then they would have caught Sinai when the cable snapped tight, but without the emergency brakes, the force of the jerk caused by the daily test was directed through the spline (the part that failed) and to the service brake. In addition, it was found that the original design called for the spline to be made of AISI 1018 steel on one drawing, and of AISI 8822 steel on a different drawing, but it is unlikely that this ambiguity in the design contributed to the accident.
Besides the design failures in the haulage system, the system was also criticised by the NTSB for the lack of gates on the cars, and the absence of a parallel walkway for emergency evacuation. The funicular suffered serious damage in the accident.
Evaluation
The death and injuries could have been avoided if any one of the following had taken place:
- The 1996 renovation had included installing track brakes or safety cables.
- The biannual oil analysis tests had not been discontinued in May of 1998 (which would have shown rising levels of particulate material in the oil and may have caused a full inspection of the system to take place).
- A single haulage system, similar to the first Angels Flight, had been used rather than the system that had separate cables for each car.
- The emergency brake hydraulic solenoid valve had been installed according to the design (as normally open).
- The technician installing the solenoid valve had contacted the engineer for a new design when the solenoid did not fit, instead of forcing it in with pliers (A valve with the dimensions called for in the design was no longer manufactured, and tool marks on the valve show that it was forced in).
- The daily brake test had included testing the service brake and emergency brake separately instead of testing them simultaneously (which made it impossible to confirm that they were both working).
- The daily brake test procedure had included looking at the brake pads and the hydraulic pressure in the emergency brake system to confirm it was operating.
- The pressure gauges for the hydraulic brake systems had been placed on the operator's control panel instead of in the equipment cabinet.
- The daily brake test had involved applying the brakes more gradually so that the up-hill-bound car would not have the momentum to produce slack in the cable and roll backwards, jerking the cable tight.
- The splines (the part that failed) had been designed to be extraordinarily strong to withstand the excessive force that occurred when the brake test was performed and the emergency brake was inoperative (which resulted in the force of the cable being pulled tight to be directed to the service brake through the splines, rather than to the emergency brake which was before the splines).
Repaired
On November 1, 2008, both of the repaired and restored Angels Flight cars, Sinai and Olivet, were put back on their tracks and, on January 16, 2009, testing began on the railway. On November 20, 2009, another step in the approval process was achieved. On March 10, 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission approved the safety certificate for the railroad to begin operating again.The City of Los Angeles commissioned conductor David Woodard to compose and perform a memorial suite, named "An Elegy for Two Angels," to honor Leon Praport and the funicular's quaintly named cars Sinai and Olivet. It was first performed by the 'Los Angeles Chamber Group' in 2001.
Reopening and Temporary Closing
Angels Flight reopened to the public for riding on March 15, 2010. The local media covered the event with positive interest. Only a month after re-opening, Angels' Flight had had over 59,000 riders. Today it connects the Historic Core and Broadway commercial district with the hilltop Bunker Hill California Plaza urban park and the Museum of Contemporary Art - MOCAMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is a contemporary art museum with three locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near Walt Disney Concert Hall...
. The cost of a one-way ride is currently 25 cents.
On June 10, 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered Angels Flight to immediately cease operations due to wear on the steel wheels on the two cars. Inspectors determined that their 15-year-old wheels needed replacing. It reopened on July 5, 2011 after eight new custom-made steel wheels were installed on the two cars.
Visual arts
- Angel's Flight is the title of a famous 1931 oil painting by Millard SheetsMillard SheetsMillard Owen Sheets was an American painter and a representative of the California School of Painting, later a teacher and educational director, and architect of more than 50 branch banks in Southern California.-Early life:...
that hangs as part of the permanent collection in the Los Angeles County Museum of ArtLos Angeles County Museum of ArtThe Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
. It shows two young women on the funicular's upper platform looking down on the nearby houses of Third Street, but the funicular cars themselves are out of the frame. - Edmund Penney's 15-minute documentary, Angels Flight Railway, shot in 1965 and during the funicular's last days in 1969, is a lyrical memorial to the landmark railway.
Movies
- The Angels Flight debut on film was probably Good Night, Nurse!Good Night, Nurse!Good Night, Nurse! is a 1918 short comedy film written and directed by Roscoe Arbuckle, and starring Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. The action centers in a sanitarium Arbuckle's character was brought to by his wife, involuntarily, to be operated on by Keaton's character for his alcoholism.- Cast :*...
(1918), but it got its first real close-up in a 1920 one-reel comedy of errors, All Jazzed Up, in which a bride honeymooning in Los Angeles can't stop thrill-riding up and down on Angels Flight. Her husband leaps from one car to the other to reunite with her at the end. - The opening scene of Impatient MaidenImpatient MaidenImpatient Maiden is a drama film directed by James Whale, starring Lew Ayres and Mae Clarke, and released by Universal Pictures. The screenplay was written by Richard Schayer and Winifred Dunn, based on the novel The Impatient Virgin by Donald Henderson Clarke.-Cast:*Lew Ayres as Dr...
, directed in 1932 by James WhaleJames WhaleJames Whale was an English film director, theatre director and actor. He is best remembered for his work in the horror film genre, having directed such classics as Frankenstein , The Old Dark House , The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein...
of FrankensteinFrankensteinFrankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel about a failed experiment that produced a monster, written by Mary Shelley, with inserts of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Shelley started writing the story when she was eighteen, and the novel was published when she was twenty-one. The first...
fame, is shot all around Angels Flight, including the Third Street steps and the Olive Street Station. - A scene in Hollow TriumphHollow TriumphHollow Triumph, also known as The Scar in the United Kingdom, is a film noir released in 1948. It was directed by Steve Sekely and stars Paul Henreid and Joan Bennett.-Plot:...
(1948) features Paul Henreid escaping from pursuers on one of the cars. - There is a scene in Robert Siodmak's 1949 film noir Criss CrossCriss Cross-People:*Kris Kross, an American rap duo*Criss Cross Jazz, a jazz label*Chris Cross, bassist for the UK band Ultravox*ChrisCross, an American comic book artist...
where the gangsters are planning the armored car heist. Angels Flight's cars can be seen through a window going up and down, first in daylight, then in darkness, to illustrate the passage of time. - Joseph LoseyJoseph LoseyJoseph Walton Losey was an American theater and film director. After studying in Germany with Bertolt Brecht, Losey returned to the United States, eventually making his way to Hollywood...
's 1951 film MM (1951 film)M is a 1951 American remake of Fritz Lang's film of the same name, shifting the action from Berlin to Los Angeles and changing the killer's name from Hans Beckert to Martin W. Harrow. The remake, directed by Joseph Losey with David Wayne playing Peter Lorre's role, was not well received by critics...
features Angels Flight in several shots. - Angels Flight appeared several times in the opening scenes of the 1953 color film The Glenn Miller StoryThe Glenn Miller StoryThe Glenn Miller Story is a 1954 American film directed by Anthony Mann and starring James Stewart in their first non-western collaboration.-Plot:...
in full operation. - In Cry of the Hunted (1953), Jory (Vittorio GassmanVittorio GassmanVittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI , popularly known as Il Mattatore, was an Italian theatre and film actor and director...
), a prisoner being transported, escapes and rides the Angels Flight to evade capture. - Angels Flight is shown in Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me DeadlyKiss Me DeadlyKiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...
(1955) and The Indestructible ManIndestructible ManIndestructible Man is an American black-and-white science fiction film, an original screenplay by Vy Russell and Sue Dwiggins for producer-director Jack Pollexfen and starring Lon Chaney, Jr.. It was produced independently, and picked up after completion for distribution in the United States by...
(1956). It is also seen in detail in The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies (1965). - Angels Flight is used several times in the 1961 Kent Mackenzie film The ExilesThe Exiles"The Exiles" is a science fiction short story by Ray Bradbury. It was originally published as "The Mad Wizards of Mars" in Maclean's on 15 September 1949 and was reprinted the following year by Fantasy Fiction, Inc...
, which dramatizes the lives of several real Native Americans living on Bunker HillBunker HillBunker Hill may refer to:* A hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts** Battle of Bunker Hill, a battle American Revolutionary War fought near the hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts** Several American ships named after the Battle of Bunker Hill, including:...
in 1958 (when the film was shot).- The DVD of The Exiles also includes a short film, The Last Day of Angels Flight, taken on and around Angels Flight on the day it closed in March 1969.
- The DVD also had the 1956 Kent Mackenzie short film called Bunker Hill: A Tale of Urban Renewal.
- Angel's Flight is a low-budget 1965 film noirFilm noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
about a Bunker Hill serial killer, shot on and around Angels Flight in both the downtown and Bunker Hill neighborhoods. - In the 1966 movie, The Money TrapThe Money TrapThe Money Trap is a 1965 drama film starring Glenn Ford , Elke Sommer and Rita Hayworth and directed by Burt Kennedy.-Plot:Joe Baron is a cop with financial troubles because of his wife Lisa's constant spending. One day, a burglar is reported shot at the home of a doctor...
, Glenn FordGlenn FordGlenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
rides down Angels Flight while tailing the daughter of a suspect, with the camera showing the view as a passenger would experience it. - In City of Angels it is seen in the background when Seth (Nicolas CageNicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
) walks through the market near the end of the movie.
Television
- Perry MasonPerry MasonPerry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
(Raymond BurrRaymond BurrRaymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...
) and Della StreetDella StreetDella Street was the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.-Description:...
(Barbara HaleBarbara HaleBarbara Hale is an American actress best known for her role as legal secretary Della Street on more than 250 episodes of the long-running Perry Mason television series and later reprising the role in dozens of made-for-TV movies....
) ride Angels Flight in the 1966 episode of Perry MasonPerry Mason (TV series)Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
entitled "The Case of the Twice-Told Twist" in which Mason's car was stripped in a parking lot adjacent to the upper end of the funicular. - Angels Flight was shown at the opening to an episode of DragnetDragnet (series)Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
, with Jack WebbJack WebbJohn Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
's voice-over: "...for five cents, ride the shortest railway in the world." - The soap operaSoap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
featured Angels Flight in its closing credits. - On October 13, 2010, Stephanie Forrester (Susan FlannerySusan FlannerySusan Flannery is an American soap opera actress. She is known for her role Stephanie Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful and for her role as Dr. Laura Spencer Horton on Days of our Lives ....
) and Brooke LoganBrooke LoganBrooke Logan Forrester is a fictional character from the CBS Daytime soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful. She has been portrayed by Katherine Kelly Lang since the series debuted in March 1987, although Catherine Hickland and Sandra Ferguson briefly filled in on two occasions when Lang was on...
(Katherine Kelly LangKatherine Kelly LangKatherine Kelly Lang is an American actress. She is known for her role as Brooke Logan Forrester on The Bold and the Beautiful .-Personal life:...
) rode Angels Flight in The Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the BeautifulThe Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
, . - On November 23, 2010, NBC's The Biggest LoserThe Biggest LoserThe Biggest Loser is an American reality game show that debuted on NBC October 19, 2004. The show features obese people competing to win a cash prize by losing the highest percentage of weight relative to their initial weight....
featured the ride in part of a challenge in which the contestants have to either walk the stairs for 5 points or take the train for 1 point. The winner, accumulating 100 points, won a 2011 Ford Edge. - On January 4, 2011, it was shown in the opening minutes of the Season 3 premier of SouthlandSouthland (TV series)Southland is an American drama series created by writer Ann Biderman and produced by Warner Bros. Television. It premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009...
on TNT, with the character Ben Sherman running up the stairs parallel to the tracks. - On May 3, 2011, a foot chase in the NCIS: Los AngelesNCIS: Los Angeles (season 2)This is a list of episodes for the second season of the police procedural drama NCIS: Los Angeles. The second season of NCIS: Los Angeles premiered on September 21, 2010 in the same time slot as the previous season and the eighth season of NCIS premiered before.- Cast :Eric Christian Olsen is now...
episode entitled "Plan B" featured Angels Flight.
Fiction
- There are at least five novels titled Angel's Flight or Angels Flight, all with scenes that take place on the funicular and use it as a symbol of some kind.
- The first novel was Angel's Flight by Don RyanDon RyanDon Ryan was a Democratic Party member of the Montana Senate, representing District 10 since 2000.-External links:* official MT State Legislature website* profile*Follow the Money - Don Ryan** campaign contributions...
, published in 1927. - Angels FlightAngels Flight (novel)Angels Flight is the eighth novel by American crime author Michael Connelly, and the sixth featuring the Los Angeles detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.-Plot summary:...
was both the name and locale of the 1999 Harry Bosch crime novel by Michael ConnellyMichael ConnellyMichael Connelly is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch and criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. His books, which have been translated into 36 languages, have garnered him many awards...
.
- The first novel was Angel's Flight by Don Ryan
- Raymond ChandlerRaymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
fictionally visited Angels Flight in the 1938 novella The King in Yellow and the 1942 novel The High WindowThe High WindowThe High Window is a 1942 novel written by Raymond Chandler. It is his third novel to feature Los Angeles private detective Philip Marlowe.-Plot introduction:...
. - Among other novelists who describe and mention Angels Flight in their works are John FanteJohn FanteJohn Fante was an American novelist, short story writer and screenwriter of Italian descent. He is perhaps best known for his work, Ask the Dust, a semi-autobiograpical novel about life in and around Los Angeles, California, which was the third in a series of four novels, published between 1938...
, and Linda L. RichardsLinda L. Richards- Biography :Richards was born in Vancouver, Canada, and reared in Vancouver, Los Angeles, California, and Munich, Germany. She started January Magazine in 1997 as an experiment in Web technologies in support of the computer books she was writing at the time....
in "Death was the Other Woman" the 1990 private-eye mystery set in 1930's noir Los Angeles. - Angels Flight was in Piccolo's Prank, the 1965 children's book by Leo PolitiLeo PolitiLeo Politi was an Italian-American artist and author who wrote and illustrated some 20 children's books, as well as Bunker Hill, Los Angeles , intended for adults...
. - Angel's Flight was mentioned in the video game "L.A. Noire" as a landmark.
- "Angel's Flight" is the title of a 2009 Mercy Allcutt mystery by Alice Duncan.
Music and other
- There are references to Angels Flight in the song "Strange Season" on Michael PennMichael PennMichael Penn is an American singer, songwriter and composer. He is the eldest son of actor/director Leo Penn and actress Eileen Ryan, and the brother of actors Sean Penn and the late Chris Penn.-Career:...
's 1992 album Free-for-AllFree-for-All (Michael Penn album)Free-for-All was singer-songwriter Michael Penn's second full-length record, released in 1992 on RCA. There were no big hit singles of the strength of his only top 40 hit, 1989's "No Myth", but the album did feature two songs that reached the Top 20 on the Modern Rock Charts; "Long Way Down " ,...
, and the cover features images of the line and a ticket stating, "Good for one ride". - An Elegy for Two Angels, by David Woodard, a memorial suite honoring Leon Praport and the funicular's quaintly named cars Sinai and Olivet, performed on March 15, 2001.
- Angels Flight was also the name of a 1980's-1990's Hair metal band based in McKinney, Texas.
- In the game Tony Hawk's American WastelandTony Hawk's American WastelandTony Hawk's American Wasteland, abbreviated to THAW, is a video game that was released for the PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360, Nintendo GameCube and PC on October 18, 2005. Part of the Tony Hawk series, the game was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision.The PC version of the game was ported and...
, Angels Flight is a gap where the player can grind up or down the rails, the gap being called "Angel Going Up!" or "Angel Going Down!" - The game L.A. NoireL.A. NoireL.A. Noire is a 2011 crime video game developed by Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games. It was released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows. It was released as a 3-disc game for the Xbox 360 console, which prompts the player to switch to another disc at certain points in the...
features Angels Flight as one of 30 landmarks across the city. It is the location of the Street Crime side mission, "Shoo-Shoo Bandits"
See also
- Bunker Hill, Los Angeles
- Historic Core, Los Angeles
- List of funicular railways
- List of heritage railroads in the United States
- List of Registered Historic Places in Los Angeles
- List of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments in Downtown Los Angeles