Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard is a designated historic monument located within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The tunnel, substation, and yard are remnants of the former Pacific Electric Railway's line that ran between the Subway Terminal Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the residential district of Westlake. The monument occupies a vacant lot roughly one mile west of downtown.
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[edit] Location
The Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard is located at 1304 West 2nd Street, in the Los Angeles district of Westlake. The property is bounded by 2nd Street and the Beverly Blvd. viaduct to the north, Lucas Avenue to the west, Emerald Street to the south, and Toluca Street to the east.
[edit] History
[edit] 1920s - 1950s
Although the tunnel, substation and yard are regarded by many Angelenos as yet another example of urban decay, few realize that the property has a rich history dating back to the early 1920s. Responding to the traffic congestion that clogged the streets of Los Angeles's bustling downtown, the California Railroad Commission in 1922 issued Order No. 9928, which called for the Pacific Electric to construct a subway allowing passengers to bypass downtown's busy streets altogether.[1] Plans for the "Hollywood Subway," as the project came to be known, were drafted as early as February of 1924, and ground was broken in May of the same year.[1]
After 18 months of construction and $1.25 million in expenditures, the Subway officially opened to the public on December 1, 1925.[1] The trains, which traveled a distance of slightly over one mile, transported passengers between the tunnel's mouth near the intersection of Beverly and Glendale Blvds. in Westlake, and the Subway Terminal Building, located at the corner of Fourth and Main Streets in the heart of Los Angeles's downtown. Trains were powered by a new substation - Toluca No. 51 - which was constructed in the yard adjacent to the tunnel's opening and provided all of the electrical energy needed for the Subway's operation.
The early years of the Subway were widely met with success, as the Hollywood Subway emerged as one of Los Angeles's most popular modes of public transit throughout the 1920s and 1930s. Ridership hit an all-time high during the World War II-era; in 1944 - considered to have been the Subway's peak - trains carried an estimated 65,000 passengers through the tunnel each day.[2]
The unprecedented growth which characterized the Los Angeles region in the postwar years ultimately led to the closure of the Hollywood Subway in the 1950s. Angelenos's increasing dependence on the automobile as well as the emergence of a complex network of freeways throughout Southern California drastically reduced ridership, forcing Pacific Electric to dismantle its Subway in 1955. The last train to carry passengers - carrying a banner reading "To Oblivion" - traversed the tunnel on the morning of June 19, 1955.[2] Shortly thereafter, Pacific Electric removed the tracks and trains from the tunnel, closed the Subway Terminal Building and Toluca Substation, and left the site abandoned.
[edit] Movie location
The tunnel has served as a movie set for a large number of TV shows and movies.
- Served as the entrance to Toontown in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
