Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California
Encyclopedia
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. Due to the skyscrapers built on it, the hill stands out from the rest of the Los Angeles basin
.
, purchased a majority of the hill's land. Because of the hill's excellent views of the Los Angeles Basin
and the then-attractive Los Angeles River
, he knew that it would make for an opulent subdivision. He developed the peak of Bunker Hill with lavish two-story Victorian
houses that became famous as homes for the upper-class, educated residents of Los Angeles. Angels Flight
, dubbed "The World's Shortest Railway", took residents from the top of the hill to the bottom of the 33% grade and thus to the main business district. Much like today's Bunker Hill, the land of the hill was zoned for dense uses, and was therefore always a very busy area.
Initially a residential suburb, Bunker Hill retained its exclusive character through the end of World War I
, but in the face of increased urban growth fed by an extensive streetcar system, its wealthy residents began leaving for enclaves on the west side and Pasadena
. Bunker Hill's houses were increasingly sub-divided to accommodate renters. Still, Bunker Hill was at this time "Los Angeles's most crowded and urban neighborhood." By World War II
the Pasadena Freeway
, built to bring shoppers downtown, was taking more residents out. Additional post-war freeway construction left downtown comparatively empty of both people and services. The once-grand Victorian mansions of Bunker Hill became the home of impoverished pensioners.
The project is the longest redevelopment project in Los Angeles history, and is scheduled to end in 2015. The majority of the skyscrapers on Bunker Hill were built in the 1980s, with a new skyscraper or two being finished nearly every year. However, the momentum died down in the 1990s, shortly after the fifty-two story, Two California Plaza
was finished. In 1999, the vacancy rate for downtown commercial skyscrapers was 26%, one of the highest in the nation for that time. Planned office towers were canceled, including California Plaza Three, and the 4-towered Metropolis (brought back to life in 2005).
Many of the older buildings and the early high-rises surrounding Bunker Hill are undergoing adaptive reuse
from commercial to residential. This trend began in 2000, when the Los Angeles City Council passed an Adaptive Re-Use Ordinance, allowing old unused office buildings to be redeveloped as apartments or "lofts." Developers realized there was a high level of pent-up demand for living in or near downtown, by both artists and employees of various firms in the financial district and government workers in the Civic Center, and that they could profit by supplying housing to meet such demand.
Because of the popularity of the New Urbanism
in California, the city has required developers to build mixed-use residential buildings as much as possible. This means that the first floor of such residential developments are devoted to commercial retailers, so that residents do not have to constantly drive around for all their shopping trips and buildings present a more welcoming facade to passersby on the sidewalk.
Contributing to the resurgence of Bunker Hill has been the construction of public venues, such as the new Walt Disney Concert Hall
and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
, and the Museum of Contemporary Art
. In February 2007 $2.05 billion was approved for the Grand Avenue Project
, which over the next 10 years will bring in over 2,000 new residential units, over 400 of them being affordable units for all degrees of low-income
families; 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) of office space; a Mandarin Oriental hotel; 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of retail and entertainment space; and a 16 acre (65,000 m²) park connecting City Hall to Bunker Hill. Office space and residential units will be in several skyscraper
s ranging between 35-55 stories each. Nearby planned projects include LA Live on Figueroa Street
and Olympic Boulevard
in South Park (the southern end of the Bunker Hill area).
The Angels Flight
tramway (which was rebuilt in 1996 near where it was originally located), which was shut down after a fatal accident in 2001, reopened March 15, 2010 to provide a link between Bunker Hill and the revitalized downtown area. One sign of the success of the downtown renaissance is that the office vacancy rate for the fourth quarter of 2004 was 16%, compared to 19% for 2003, and 26% for 1999.
On the topic of building affordable housing for very low-income to moderate-income, Principal City Planner Jane Blumenfeld said, "We are trying to make it attractive to build [downtown] and get this added affordable housing that we normally wouldn't have. We need an adequate amount of lower income housing so that in 20 years Downtown doesn't become an exclusive neighborhood."
today, especially in the film noir
genre, because of its rundown Victorian homes, its rambling hillside apartments and flophouses, its funicular Angels Flight
, and its mean (or at least mean-looking) streets. It was used extensively in such crime films as Cry Danger
(1951),Kiss Me Deadly
(1956), Criss Cross (1949), Joseph Losey
's M
(1951) and Angel's Flight (1965). Director Curtis Hansen recreated Bunker Hill in another hilly neighborhood altogether in his Oscar Award winning L.A. Confidential
(1997). Kent Mckenzie's neo-realist and semi-documentary feature The Exiles
(1961) depicts the lives of a tribe of urban Indians on Bunker Hill in the late 1950s. Angels Flight
and its Third Street neighborhood, circa 1930s, were recreated in South Africa for the filming of Ask the Dust
(2006), based on the novel by John Fante
, which was set in the district in the 1930s. Bunker Hill is also the title of (and referenced in) the 1992 song from the Free-For-All
album by Angelino transplant Michael Penn
and a B-Side-song of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers
. Jim Dawson
's 2008 book Angels Flight
includes several chapters, complete with many dozens of early photos, on Bunker Hill and its literary and film background.
The 2nd Street Tunnel
under Bunker Hill is widely used in film and advertising.
operates fire Station 3 (Civic Center/Bunker Hill) is in the area.
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...
area of Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, is a short, developed hill with its peak located roughly around 3rd Street. It is located directly east of the Harbor Freeway. Due to the skyscrapers built on it, the hill stands out from the rest of the Los Angeles basin
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
.
History
Early development
In 1867, a wealthy developer, Prudent BeaudryPrudent Beaudry
Prudent Beaudry served as the 13th Mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1874 to 1876. A native of Quebec, he was the second French Canadian, and third French American mayor of Los Angeles.-Early life:...
, purchased a majority of the hill's land. Because of the hill's excellent views of the Los Angeles Basin
Los Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
and the then-attractive Los Angeles River
Los Angeles River
The Los Angeles River is a river that starts in the San Fernando Valley, in the Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains, and flows through Los Angeles County, California, from Canoga Park in the western end of the San Fernando Valley, nearly southeast to its mouth in Long Beach...
, he knew that it would make for an opulent subdivision. He developed the peak of Bunker Hill with lavish two-story Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
houses that became famous as homes for the upper-class, educated residents of Los Angeles. Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
, dubbed "The World's Shortest Railway", took residents from the top of the hill to the bottom of the 33% grade and thus to the main business district. Much like today's Bunker Hill, the land of the hill was zoned for dense uses, and was therefore always a very busy area.
Initially a residential suburb, Bunker Hill retained its exclusive character through the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, but in the face of increased urban growth fed by an extensive streetcar system, its wealthy residents began leaving for enclaves on the west side and Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
. Bunker Hill's houses were increasingly sub-divided to accommodate renters. Still, Bunker Hill was at this time "Los Angeles's most crowded and urban neighborhood." By World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the Pasadena Freeway
Pasadena Freeway
The Arroyo Seco Parkway, formerly known as the Pasadena Freeway, is the first freeway in California and the western United States. It connects Los Angeles with Pasadena alongside the Arroyo Seco. It is notable not only for being the first, mostly opened in 1940, but for representing the...
, built to bring shoppers downtown, was taking more residents out. Additional post-war freeway construction left downtown comparatively empty of both people and services. The once-grand Victorian mansions of Bunker Hill became the home of impoverished pensioners.
The Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project
In 1955, Los Angeles city planners decided that Bunker Hill required a massive slum-clearance project. Thinking big, the top of Bunker Hill was cleared of its houses and street-car tunnels (one tunnel was replaced by a bridge) and then flattened as the first stage of the Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project to populate Bunker Hill with modern plazas and buildings. When the height limit of buildings for Los Angeles was finally raised (previously buildings were limited to 150 feet), developers built some of the tallest skyscrapers in the region to take advantage of the area's existing dense zoning. In approving such projects, the city sought to project a modern, sophisticated image, and this is largely the impression one receives from visiting the area today.The project is the longest redevelopment project in Los Angeles history, and is scheduled to end in 2015. The majority of the skyscrapers on Bunker Hill were built in the 1980s, with a new skyscraper or two being finished nearly every year. However, the momentum died down in the 1990s, shortly after the fifty-two story, Two California Plaza
Two California Plaza
Two California Plaza is a skyscraper in the Bunker Hill District district of downtown Los Angeles California. The tower is part of the California Plaza project, consisting of two unique skyscrapers, One California Plaza and Two California Plaza...
was finished. In 1999, the vacancy rate for downtown commercial skyscrapers was 26%, one of the highest in the nation for that time. Planned office towers were canceled, including California Plaza Three, and the 4-towered Metropolis (brought back to life in 2005).
Bunker Hill today
Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse refers to the process of reusing an old site or building for a purpose other than which it was built or designed for. Along with brownfield reclamation, adaptive reuse is seen by many as a key factor in land conservation and the reduction of urban sprawl...
from commercial to residential. This trend began in 2000, when the Los Angeles City Council passed an Adaptive Re-Use Ordinance, allowing old unused office buildings to be redeveloped as apartments or "lofts." Developers realized there was a high level of pent-up demand for living in or near downtown, by both artists and employees of various firms in the financial district and government workers in the Civic Center, and that they could profit by supplying housing to meet such demand.
Because of the popularity of the New Urbanism
New urbanism
New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
in California, the city has required developers to build mixed-use residential buildings as much as possible. This means that the first floor of such residential developments are devoted to commercial retailers, so that residents do not have to constantly drive around for all their shopping trips and buildings present a more welcoming facade to passersby on the sidewalk.
Contributing to the resurgence of Bunker Hill has been the construction of public venues, such as the new Walt Disney Concert Hall
Walt Disney Concert Hall
The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, California is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the...
and Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called "COLA" and the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States...
, and the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum 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...
. In February 2007 $2.05 billion was approved for the Grand Avenue Project
Grand Avenue Project
The Grand Avenue Project is a project currently under development designed to revive downtown Los Angeles, like L.A Live. The $3 billion project, which is to be built on Grand Avenue next to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, is designed to give Los Angeles a thriving city center. It has been compared...
, which over the next 10 years will bring in over 2,000 new residential units, over 400 of them being affordable units for all degrees of low-income
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
families; 1 million square feet (93,000 m²) of office space; a Mandarin Oriental hotel; 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of retail and entertainment space; and a 16 acre (65,000 m²) park connecting City Hall to Bunker Hill. Office space and residential units will be in several skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
s ranging between 35-55 stories each. Nearby planned projects include LA Live on Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street
Figueroa Street is a street in Los Angeles County, California named for General José Figueroa , governor of Alta California from 1833 to 1835, who oversaw the secularization of the missions of California...
and Olympic Boulevard
Olympic Boulevard
Olympic Boulevard is a major arterial road in Los Angeles, California. It stretches from 4th Street on the western end of Santa Monica to East Los Angeles—farther than Wilshire Boulevard and most other streets....
in South Park (the southern end of the Bunker Hill area).
The Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
tramway (which was rebuilt in 1996 near where it was originally located), which was shut down after a fatal accident in 2001, reopened March 15, 2010 to provide a link between Bunker Hill and the revitalized downtown area. One sign of the success of the downtown renaissance is that the office vacancy rate for the fourth quarter of 2004 was 16%, compared to 19% for 2003, and 26% for 1999.
Mix of housing options
While developers are primarily building market-rate housing on Bunker Hill today, the City of Los Angeles has very strict laws, rules, and ordinances established that promote the inclusion of all income levels into the residential mix. Some examples include incentives for the creation of affordable housing (rather than market-rate housing), the preservation of existing affordable housing, the development of affordable housing by the city itself (rather than waiting for private developers), and others. The city has written documentation regarding the development of affordable housing.On the topic of building affordable housing for very low-income to moderate-income, Principal City Planner Jane Blumenfeld said, "We are trying to make it attractive to build [downtown] and get this added affordable housing that we normally wouldn't have. We need an adequate amount of lower income housing so that in 20 years Downtown doesn't become an exclusive neighborhood."
Bunker Hill in popular culture
In the 1940s and 1950s, Bunker Hill was a popular film setting, much like South Los AngelesSouth Los Angeles
South Los Angeles, often abbreviated as South L.A. and formerly South Central Los Angeles, is the official name for a large geographic and cultural portion lying to the southwest and southeast of downtown Los Angeles, California. The area was formerly called South Central, and is still widely known...
today, especially in the film noir
Film noir
Film 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...
genre, because of its rundown Victorian homes, its rambling hillside apartments and flophouses, its funicular Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
, and its mean (or at least mean-looking) streets. It was used extensively in such crime films as Cry Danger
Cry Danger
Cry Danger is a 1951 film noir thriller shot in twenty-two days in Los Angeles, including the Bunker Hill section of the city. The film was directed by Robert Parrish, a former child star and later editor in his debut as a director.-Plot:...
(1951),Kiss Me Deadly
Kiss Me Deadly
Kiss 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...
(1956), Criss Cross (1949), Joseph Losey
Joseph Losey
Joseph 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 M
M (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...
(1951) and Angel's Flight (1965). Director Curtis Hansen recreated Bunker Hill in another hilly neighborhood altogether in his Oscar Award winning L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential
L.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
(1997). Kent Mckenzie's neo-realist and semi-documentary feature The Exiles
The Exiles (1961 film)
The Exiles is a film by Kent MacKenzie chronicling a day in the life of a group of twenty-something Native Americans who left reservation life in the 1950s to live in the district of Bunker Hill, Los Angeles, California...
(1961) depicts the lives of a tribe of urban Indians on Bunker Hill in the late 1950s. Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
and its Third Street neighborhood, circa 1930s, were recreated in South Africa for the filming of Ask the Dust
Ask the Dust (film)
Ask the Dust is a 2006 film based on the book Ask the Dust by John Fante. The movie was written and directed by Robert Towne. Tom Cruise served as one of the film's producers. The film was released on a limited basis on March 17, 2006...
(2006), based on the novel by John Fante
John Fante
John 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...
, which was set in the district in the 1930s. Bunker Hill is also the title of (and referenced in) the 1992 song from the Free-For-All
Free-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 " ,...
album by Angelino transplant Michael Penn
Michael Penn
Michael 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:...
and a B-Side-song of the band Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
. Jim Dawson
Jim Dawson
Jim Dawson is a Hollywood, California-based author and self-proclaimed "fartologist" who has written three books about farting, including the best-selling 'Who Cut the Cheese?'-Biography:...
's 2008 book Angels Flight
Angels Flight
Angels Flight is a landmark funicular railway in the Bunker Hill district of Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has two funicular cars, Sinai and Olivet ....
includes several chapters, complete with many dozens of early photos, on Bunker Hill and its literary and film background.
The 2nd Street Tunnel
2nd Street Tunnel
The 2nd Street Tunnel is a widely filmed and photographed tunnel on 2nd Street under Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California. It has been described as "the most recognizable city landmark most Americans have never heard of"...
under Bunker Hill is widely used in film and advertising.
Fire service
Los Angeles Fire DepartmentLos Angeles Fire Department
The Los Angeles Fire Department is the agency that provides fire protection and emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles....
operates fire Station 3 (Civic Center/Bunker Hill) is in the area.
Notable residents
- Otto J. Zahn, Los Angeles City Council member in the 1920s and pigeon racer
External links
- 1947project's On Bunker Hill history blog
- Esotouric's literary bus and walking tour John Fante's Dreams of Bunker Hill
- Regarding the office vacancy rate for fourth quarter 2004
- Grand Avenue Reconfiguration Project Committee
- Evolution of Bunker Hill