Water and Power Associates Informing the Public about Critical Water and Energy Issues facing Los Angeles and California

Introduction

This page captures Los Angeles during the Boom of the Eighties, the decade when a relatively small regional city began rapidly expanding into a major urban center. It opens with the Second Street Cable Railway, whose route across Bunker Hill helped open the developing Crown Hill district to easier access, and follows that same period of growth through the streets, hotels, civic buildings, railways, and new communities taking shape across the region.

Two forces played especially important roles in that transformation. The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885 challenged the Southern Pacific’s dominance and helped fuel the great real estate boom of the decade. At the same time, new transportation technology was changing how Angelenos moved through the city. Cable railways could negotiate grades that challenged horse-drawn streetcars, while Los Angeles’ first electric streetcars began operating on Pico Street in January 1887.

The photographs that follow show how widely that growth was spreading. Alongside downtown landmarks such as City Hall, the Los Angeles Times Building, and the Bryson-Bonebrake Block, the page reaches outward to Crown Hill, Boyle Heights, Highland Park, Hollywood, and Compton, which incorporated in 1888. Horse-drawn vehicles still crowded unpaved streets, even as cable railways, steam trains, electric streetcars, and electric power signaled the city that was coming next. Together, these images capture Los Angeles at a turning point between its 19th-century past and the metropolitan city it was rapidly becoming.

The Second Street Cable Railway

Los Angeles' First Cable Car Line, 1885–1889

In 1885, Los Angeles entered a new era of urban transportation with the opening of the Second Street Cable Railway. The line was built to carry passengers from downtown across Bunker Hill to the developing Crown Hill district west of the city center. In doing so, it became Los Angeles' first cable railway and helped demonstrate how improved transportation could open previously difficult-to-reach land to development.

Building the railway required extending Second Street westward through the hills and cutting into the terrain of Bunker Hill. Even after this grading, the line faced an exceptionally steep climb. Between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue, the grade reached 27.7 percent, identified as the steepest cable railway gradient in North America at the time. A powerhouse and car house at Second and Boylston streets operated the continuously moving underground cable that pulled the cars along the route. Testing began on October 8, 1885, and regular service started six days later on October 14.

The railway's life was brief. The company struggled financially, while rainwater repeatedly entered the poorly drained underground cable conduit, damaging cables and pulleys and disrupting service. A severe storm on December 24, 1889, finally damaged the system beyond repair. After only about four years, Los Angeles' first cable railway was finished. Other cable railways continued operating in the city, but electric streetcars soon offered a simpler and more economical alternative.

Historical Notes

During the 1880s, the hills west of downtown were being promoted for residential development. Crown Hill emerged as one of these new districts, and convenient transportation was essential if developers hoped to attract residents to an area separated from downtown by the steep terrain of Bunker Hill.

The Second Street Cable Railway helped make that development possible. Prospective buyers and residents could travel from downtown across Bunker Hill and into Crown Hill without relying on horse-drawn streetcars to negotiate the difficult grades. Stores, hotels, residences, and other development soon began appearing along and near the route.

This photograph captures Crown Hill at an early stage of that transformation. The grocery store and real estate office in the foreground stand against a background of mostly open hills, illustrating the close relationship between transportation and real estate development in late-19th-century Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Second Street Cable Railway was Los Angeles' first cable railway. Regular service began on October 14, 1885, operating over a single-track route between downtown and the developing area west of Bunker Hill. Passing sidings allowed cars traveling in opposite directions to meet along the route. The railway initially operated about 80 trips per day.

The power station and car house at Second and Boylston streets stood near the middle of the line. A stationary steam engine kept a heavy steel cable moving continuously through a conduit beneath the street. Each cable car used a mechanical grip extending through a slot in the roadway to grasp the moving cable and pull the car along.

This system made steep grades practical, but it also required an extensive network of cables, pulleys, conduits, and machinery beneath the street. That mechanical complexity would eventually become one of the major disadvantages of cable transportation.

Historical Notes

The Second Street Cable Railway initially operated about 80 trips per day. From downtown, cars traveled west along Second Street, crossed Bunker Hill, and continued toward Crown Hill.

The line's most difficult section was between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue, where the grade reached 27.7 percent. Cable traction made such a climb possible because the cars were pulled by a continuously moving cable beneath the street rather than by horses.

The two cars visible here also illustrate how traffic could operate in both directions despite the railway being primarily a single-track system. Passing sidings at intervals allowed opposing cars to meet and continue along the route.

Historical Notes

This view shows the downtown end of the Second Street Cable Railway shortly after the line opened. From Second and Spring streets, cars headed west toward Bunker Hill before continuing through the cuts in the hillside toward Crown Hill.

Within only a few blocks, the relatively level downtown street gave way to the most demanding part of the route. The cable car would soon approach the 27.7 percent grade between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue, a climb identified as the steepest cable railway gradient in North America.

The photograph also captures downtown Los Angeles during a period of rapid growth. City Hall, the Hollenbeck Block, churches, and the new cable railway all occupied a compact area that would change substantially before the end of the century.

Historical Notes

The two views show different solutions to the same geographic obstacle. In the 1880s, cable technology allowed streetcars to climb over Bunker Hill. By the early 20th century, growing automobile traffic led Los Angeles to pursue another approach: passing through the hill rather than over it.

Work toward construction of the Second Street Tunnel began in 1916 but was delayed for several years by litigation. Major excavation began in 1921, and the tunnel opened in 1924.

Construction of the tunnel altered the grade and alignment of Second Street, which is why the historic and modern streets do not line up exactly in this comparison. Later redevelopment of Bunker Hill transformed the surrounding landscape even further.

Historical Notes

Building the Second Street Cable Railway required more than laying tracks. Second Street had to be extended westward through difficult terrain, and portions of Bunker Hill were cut away to create a workable route.

Even after the grading, the railway still faced a 27.7 percent grade between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue. That steep section became one of the line's defining engineering features and demonstrated why cable traction was particularly useful in hilly terrain.

The project also helped change the geography of western Los Angeles. By improving access across Bunker Hill, the railway provided a transportation link between downtown and the developing Crown Hill district. The open hills visible beyond the cut would soon begin filling with houses, businesses, and other development.

Historical Notes

Unlike an electric streetcar, a cable car carried no propulsion motor. Power came from a stationary engine at the powerhouse, which kept a steel cable moving continuously beneath the street. A gripman aboard the car operated a mechanical grip extending through a slot between the rails, attaching the car to the moving cable when power was needed.

The system worked particularly well on steep grades, but it required extensive machinery beneath the roadway. Cables, pulleys, conduits, and other components had to be maintained continuously, and damage anywhere along the system could interfere with service.

These disadvantages became increasingly important as electric streetcars improved. Rather than relying on a continuously moving underground cable, electric cars carried their own motors and received power through overhead wires. During the 1890s, electricity increasingly replaced cable traction throughout Los Angeles.

Click HERE to see more in Cable Railways Into Obsolescence – The End of the Second Street Line.

Historical Notes

The Second Street Cable Railway could operate a grip car with a trailing passenger car, increasing capacity while using the same moving cable for propulsion. The deep cut seen here helped reduce the severity of the terrain, although the route still included unusually steep grades.

In the distance, the Belmont Hotel stands atop Crown Hill near the western end of the line. The building originally housed Ellis Villa College, a school for young women that opened in 1884. After a new college building was constructed nearby, the original building was converted into the Belmont Hotel, which opened in 1886.

Both buildings had remarkably short lives. The Belmont Hotel was destroyed by fire in December 1887, and the newer Ellis College building burned in July 1888. Belmont High School later opened on the property, preserving a name associated with this early chapter of Crown Hill's history.

Historical Notes

This colorized view provides a clearer sense of the largely open landscape surrounding Crown Hill during the mid-1880s. The Belmont Hotel can be seen at upper left, while nearby development remained scattered across the hills.

Nearby stood the newer Ellis College building and Second Street Park, both part of the growth taking place west of downtown after improved transportation made the area easier to reach. The Belmont Hotel was destroyed by fire in 1887, followed by the loss of Ellis College to fire in 1888.

The photograph captures a brief moment when Crown Hill appeared poised for substantial growth. The cable railway, hotel, college, park, stores, and new residences were all part of an effort to transform previously sparsely settled hills into an extension of the growing city.

Historical Notes

This comparison shows how thoroughly the landscape west of downtown has been transformed since the cable railway era. Hillsides were graded, streets altered, buildings demolished, and new transportation routes constructed as Los Angeles expanded during the 20th century.

The Second Street Cable Railway itself lasted only about four years. The company struggled financially, and rainwater repeatedly entered its poorly drained underground conduit, damaging cables and pulleys. Service was interrupted for weeks in early 1888 when mud prevented a replacement cable from reaching the powerhouse. Then, on December 24, 1889, a severe storm damaged the system beyond repair. The Second Street Cable Railway became the first operational cable-car line in the United States to be abandoned.

Its short life nevertheless marked an important transition in Los Angeles transportation. Cable cars demonstrated that mechanical transit could overcome terrain that had limited horse-drawn streetcars, while the development of Crown Hill showed how closely transportation and real estate growth were becoming linked. Electric streetcars would soon extend that relationship across a much larger part of Los Angeles.

Click HERE to see more in Cable Railways Into Obsolescence – The End of the Second Street Line.

Crown Hill — Los Angeles’ New West End

In the mid-1880s, Crown Hill was promoted as Los Angeles’ “New West End,” a residential district rising on the hills west of downtown. Developers emphasized its elevated setting, cooling breezes, broad views, and convenient access to the growing business center.

Transportation helped make that vision possible. The Second Street Cable Railway opened in 1885, carrying passengers west from Spring Street, across Bunker Hill, and toward Crown Hill. The Belmont Hotel, which opened the following year, became the district’s most visible landmark. Although the hotel survived for only a short time, these views capture Crown Hill during a brief period when homes, orchards, transportation, and real estate development were beginning to reshape the western edge of Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

In the mid-1880s, the Los Angeles Improvement Company began developing Crown Hill as an upscale residential district west of downtown. Contemporary accounts called the area the city’s “New West End” and promoted its fresh air, views, and convenient location.

The Belmont Hotel, visible on the distant ridge, opened in 1886 in the building that had originally housed Ellis Villa College. Its hilltop location made it a prominent landmark, while the line of Third Street in the foreground shows development beginning to extend west beyond Bunker Hill.

Historical Notes

This view shows Crown Hill while it was still a mixture of suburban development and open countryside. Scattered houses stood among orchards and gardens, offering residents a setting that felt removed from downtown even though the city center was only a short distance away.

The Second Street Cable Railway, opened in 1885, helped connect the developing district with downtown and supported real estate activity west of Bunker Hill. The Belmont Hotel became Crown Hill’s best-known landmark, but its life was brief. On December 16, 1887, a fire destroyed the building, little more than a year after it opened.

Historical Notes

The comparison shows the scale of Los Angeles’ growth since the 1880s. Crown Hill and the Belmont Hotel once marked the city’s expanding western edge, while much of the land between Bunker Hill and the distant ridges remained open or only lightly developed. By 2023, streets, freeways, towers, and closely built neighborhoods had absorbed nearly every part of the earlier landscape.

The Belmont Hotel disappeared after the fire of 1887, and later development reshaped the hill. Belmont High School opened on Crown Hill in 1923, preserving a name associated with the hotel and this early period of neighborhood growth.

Historical Notes

The Belmont Hotel opened in July 1886, just one year after the Second Street Cable Railway made Crown Hill easily accessible. Converted from Ellis Villa College, the city’s first finishing school for young women, the three-story shingled hotel offered outward-facing rooms for breezes and views, verandas, and landscaped gardens. It quickly became a favored destination for tourists and social gatherings among Los Angeles’ elite.

Historical Notes

The Belmont’s architecture reflected the Victorian taste of the boom era—picturesque, asymmetrical, and commanding its ridge-top site. Guests could stroll through croquet lawns, sit in men’s and women’s parlors, or simply enjoy the panoramic views. Rev. John W. Ellis, who had earlier founded Ellis Villa College, retained ownership while leasing hotel operations to R.H. Bryant and his managers, M.E. Clark and Walter Patrick.

Historical Notes

On December 16, 1887, a fire broke out in the Belmont Hotel’s kitchen beneath the water tank. Engines struggled to reach the hilltop, detouring around Bunker Hill, and drew water from nearby Second Street Park. Within two hours the hotel was gone, a $50,000 loss. All sixty guests escaped safely, but the blaze exposed the city’s inadequate hydrants and fire planning. A photographer documented the event, producing what is believed to be the first image of a Los Angeles fire in progress. The Belmont was never rebuilt.

Soon after, the property was reused by the Belmont School for Girls, which itself was destroyed by fire in the late 1880s. By the 1890s the ridge was dotted with oil wells and a pumping plant. In 1921 the Board of Education acquired the site, and Belmont High School opened in 1923, continuing the hill’s role as a civic landmark.

Historical Notes

Looking north from the hotel, one sees widely spaced Victorian homes along the undulating terrain of Crown Hill. This view illustrates the neighborhood’s early suburban character—open land, scattered orchards, and distant mountains—all within walking distance of downtown thanks to the cable railway.

Historical Notes

The view underscores how Crown Hill was marketed: a balance between fresh-air country living and city convenience. Buyers were promised elevated lots with vistas like these, though many of the tracts would soon give way to oil wells in the 1890s.

Historical Notes

Colorized to bring new life to the scene, this view shows the emerging suburb in its most pastoral moment—open hills, Victorian cottages, and unpaved roads. The promise of Crown Hill was short-lived, but photographs like this preserve the optimism of its early years.

Historical Notes

The Belmont Hotel was the first major building to crown the hill that still bears its name. Here it appears like a beacon above scattered homes, its tower visible against the backdrop of the Hollywood Hills. Today, Belmont High School occupies this same site, continuing the landmark presence on the ridge.

Historical Notes

From the hotel’s verandas, visitors could look northwest toward the sparsely settled Hollywood Hills. This perspective highlights how quickly Los Angeles transformed—within a few decades these dirt tracks and open hills would be covered by oil wells, street grids, and dense residential development.

Historical Notes

The 1886 view from the Belmont Hotel shows open fields, distant cottages, and the empty hills of Hollywood. The modern view, taken from near Belmont High School, reveals how completely the ridge and surrounding land were absorbed into Los Angeles’ urban grid. The site’s commanding views remain, but its pastoral character has long vanished.

Historical Notes

Looking south from the Belmont’s rooftop underscores how undeveloped Los Angeles remained in the mid-1880s. Vast stretches of farmland and orchards extended toward what would become Pico-Union and beyond. For hotel guests, the panorama symbolized the boundless possibilities of the growing city—landscape waiting to be filled by the boom.

Historical Notes

Located at the present-day intersection of Glendale Boulevard and First and Second streets, the park was part of an ambitious plan to transform what had been a remote, inaccessible wilderness into the upscale residential district of Crown Hill. Built around 1885 by the Los Angeles Improvement Company -- the real estate syndicate behind the Crown Hill development -- the park would attract potential customers to the site, which could be reached from Los Angeles by the Second Street Cable Railway.

Historical Notes

Arroyo de los Reyes originates near the Catholic school on Glendale Boulevard – right by the 2 off-ramp.  It flowed southward, along Glendale Boulevard, occupied the area now taken by Echo Park Lake, and continued down to 2nd Street, then crossing through downtown LA, about a block or two south of Pershing Square, where it spread and created a big muddy mess.  These flows eventually connected with the Los Angeles River, when they didn’t seep into the ground first.

Historical Notes

The Second Street Park's demise came quickly when the oil boom hit in the early 1890s and a forest of wooden derricks carpeted the neighborhood’s hills.  Area residents would soon flock to two other nearby municipally owned parks, Westlake Park (opened in 1880) and Echo Park (1890).

In the early 1900s, the private park was sold to a real estate syndicate led by Tyler & Co. and J. F. Jones.  The syndicate filled in the former lake bed, graded the tract, and sold it off in 53 individual pieces.

Historical Notes

The Second Street Cable line began service with 80 trips per day, operating out of a power station and car house at Second and Boylston Streets. The line featured the steepest cable gradient in North America, a 27.7% slope between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue.

Historical Notes

Visible residences on Second Street include the matching one-story houses in the foreground: 426 West Second Street (with horse and wagon to its left) and, at right, 428 West Second Street (208 South Olive Street is visible directly next to 428 West Second). Visible residences on Olive Street include: 227 South Olive Street on the hill at far upper right with 235 South Olive Street directly to the left; across the street, towards center is 226 South Olive Street and the duplex behind it (with balconies running the length of both stories) is 230/232 South Olive Street.

Historical Notes

In the 1880s, Bunker Hill's steep slope along 2nd Street in Los Angeles posed significant challenges for transportation. To address this, the Second Street Cable Railway began operation in 1885, boasting the steepest cable car gradient in North America—a remarkable 27.7% incline between Hope Street and Bunker Hill Avenue. This incline was too steep for conventional vehicles or easy pedestrian access, making the cable car an essential link between downtown Los Angeles and the emerging residential and commercial developments atop Bunker Hill.

Historical Notes

The white three-story building with balconies is the Highland Villa, located on the northwest corner of 1st and Hill streets.

Approximately 30, 150-foot tall poles with carbon-arc lamps were installed in Downtown Los Angeles between 1882 and 1885.  These were reported to provide illumination equal to the level of a full moon.

Click HERE to see more in Early L.A. Streetlights.

Historical Notes

This would become the second home of the Los Angeles Times, completed in 1887 after the paper left its original Temple Street office. The surrounding scene, still dotted with houses and small shops, shows downtown Los Angeles before Broadway was fully developed as the city’s main commercial artery.

Historical Notes

The De Turk Stable later became the Tally Ho Stables and eventually housed the first offices of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce. Across the street, excavation had already begun for the new Times Building, which would rise on the northeast corner the following year.

At the upper-left, the 3-story building at the northwest corner of First and Hill is the Highland Villa.

Historical Notes

What was once a dusty corner filled with stables and carriages has long since become part of Los Angeles’ dense Civic Center. The transition illustrates how quickly Broadway transformed from a frontier street into the city’s commercial and institutional heart.

Historical Notes

Publisher Harrison Gray Otis had taken control of the struggling Daily Times in 1884 and reorganized it as the Times-Mirror Company. Under his leadership, the paper became a powerful voice for business and development. The building symbolized the Times’ new influence, though it would also become a target of labor tensions, culminating in its destruction during the 1910 bombing.

Historical Notes

By the late 1880s, the Times was expanding rapidly, and its circulation depended heavily on young carriers like these. Their presence underscored the growing reach of the paper at a time when Los Angeles was transforming into a major American city.

Historical Notes

The building quickly became a landmark, representing both the city’s journalistic ambitions and its growth into a modern metropolis. Just north of the Times, the Chamber of Commerce reinforced the block’s civic importance. At this time, Broadway was still unpaved, but within a decade it would be lined with streetcars and become the city’s busiest commercial corridor.

Historical Notes

The northeast corner where the Times Building once stood is now vacant and awaiting redevelopment. Across the street, the southeast corner was part of the Times Mirror Square complex, vacated by the newspaper in 2018 and now owned by the Onni Group. On the southwest corner stands the First Street U.S. Courthouse, opened in 2016. Today, the intersection reflects both the legacy of the Times and the ongoing reshaping of downtown’s Civic Center.

Historical Notes

In 1888, the Times Building was a proud symbol of the city’s rise; today the same corner awaits its next chapter. The shift from a bustling center of news and commerce to an idle lot underscores the cycles of growth and decline in downtown Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The contrast is striking: the bustling 1887 street scene—with its carriages and landmark architecture—versus today’s vacant parcel. After the bombing, two successive Times buildings rose here, but by the late 20th century the site was cleared again. Long proposed as the “First & Broadway Civic Center Park,” it remains empty as of 2024, a quiet reminder of the explosive history that once shook Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

The Times Building is visible on the northeast corner, with the Tally Ho Stables across on the northwest. On the south side of 1st Street stood the Metropolitan Stables, while in the distance the steeple of St. Vibiana’s Cathedral rose above the scene. Together, the image captures a transitional moment when stables, streetcars, churches, and newspapers coexisted in a rapidly modernizing downtown.

Historical Notes

The first electric street lights in Los Angeles were installed in 1882. Click HERE to see more in Early Los Angeles Street Lights.

Historical Notes

In 1867, Griffith Dickenson Compton led about thirty pioneer families from Stockton to this area, seeking stable agricultural land after the decline of the Gold Rush. The settlement was first called Gibsonville, later Comptonville, and finally shortened to Compton to avoid confusion with the Comptonville located in Yuba County.

Historical Notes

Because Compton lay beside Compton Creek, a seasonal waterway feeding the Los Angeles River, the town frequently experienced flooding during heavy rains.

Historical Notes

By 1887, residents pushed for stronger local governance. Griffith D. Compton donated land for incorporation, with the requirement that part of it be reserved exclusively for agriculture as Richland Farms.
A petition for cityhood was sent to the L.A. County Board of Supervisors in January 1888, then forwarded to the State Legislature. On May 11, 1888, Compton was officially incorporated with about 500 residents. The first City Council meeting followed on May 14, 1888.

Historical Notes

Commercial activity in early Compton centered around a few essential businesses that served local farming families—hardware, general goods, blacksmithing, and food supplies. These early business blocks formed the core of what later became downtown Compton.

Historical Notes

General merchandise stores like Ambrose & Shepard supplied clothing, tools, food staples, farming equipment, and household goods. These were vital one-stop shops for settlers before larger retail districts emerged.

Historical Notes

By the mid-1890s, Compton’s business district had expanded to include specialty shops such as boot makers, variety stores, repair shops, and dry goods merchants. This growing mix of businesses reflected Compton’s evolution from a rural farming community into an active small-town commercial center supporting both local residents and travelers.

Historical Notes

Horse-powered irrigation machines like this were common before electrification and were essential for farming in the region. They enabled farmers to reliably move water from creeks and shallow wells, sustaining crops during dry periods and supporting the area’s early agricultural economy.

Click HERE to see more early views of Compton

Historical Notes

When the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad (aka Santa Fe) charted its own solo course across the continent in 1885 it chose Los Angeles as its western terminus, and in doing so fractured the Southern Pacific Railroad's near total monopoly on rail transportation within the state.

The original purpose of this new line was to augment the route to San Diego, established three years prior as part of a joint venture with the California Southern Railroad, but the Santa Fe would subsequently be forced to all but abandon these inland tracks through the Temecula Canyon (due to constant washouts) and construct its Surf Line along the coast to maintain its exclusive ties to Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Santa Fe's entry into Southern California resulted in widespread economic growth and ignited a fervent rate war with the Southern Pacific.  It also led to Los Angeles' well-documented real estate "Boom of the Eighties." The Santa Fe Route led the way in passenger rate reductions (often referred to as "colonist fares") by, within a period of five months, lowering the price of a ticket from Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angeles from $125 to $15, and, on March 6, 1887 to a dollar! The Southern Pacific soon followed suit and the level of real estate speculation reached a new high, with "boom towns" springing up literally overnight. Free, daily railroad-sponsored excursions (complete with lunch and live entertainment) enticed overeager potential buyers to visit the many undeveloped properties firsthand and (hopefully) invest in the potential of the land.

The Moorish-inspired La Grande railroad station was used as a passenger terminal for Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

Historical Notes

Major advertising campaigns by the SP, Santa Fe, Union Pacific, and other major carriers of the day not only helped transform southern California into a major tourist attraction but generated intense interest in exploiting the area's agricultural potential. Word of the abundant work opportunities, high wages, and the temperate and healthful California climate spread throughout the Midwestern United States, and led to an exodus from such states as Iowa, Indiana, and Kansas; although the real estate bubble "burst" in 1889 and most investors lost their all, the Southern California landscape was forever transformed by the many towns, farms, and citrus groves left in the wake of this event.

Historical Notes

The Los Angeles Public Library was housed on the second floor of the Downey Block from 1872 to 1889.

The Downey Block was demolished in 1904. Since then the corner has been the site of two Federal Buildings: the Federal Building and Post Office (1910 - 1937) and the Federal Courthouse and U.S. Post Office Building (1940 - Present).

Horse-Drawn Streetcars remained the primary mode of public transportation through the 1880s, at their peak rolling through much of the booming city of Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

On September 11, 1886, Charles H. Howland chartered the Los Angeles Electric Railway Company.  It began operations on January 4, 1887 with the line opening from Pico Boulevard and Main Street traveling west to Harvard Boulevard.*##

Historical Notes

The first electric streetcars in Los Angeles began operating on the Los Angeles Electric Railway Company Pico Street line in January 1887. These cars used a two troller system designed by Leo Daft to get electricity from overhead wires. While the cars were capable of transporting people quickly, technical problems, breakdowns and delayed service were frequent. Following a powerhouse boiler explosion in June 1888, operation resumed with horse cars. Soon after the company declared bankruptcy.^^^*

Historical Notes

In 1886, Charles H. Howland chartered the Los Angeles Electric Railway Company, L.A.'s 1st electric trolley system. Four years earlier (1882), he also built the first electric light power plant in Los Angeles, on the corner of Alameda and Banning Streets.

Historical Notes

Charles Howland is also known for starting Los Angeles' first electric utililty, LA Electric Compnay, in 1883. That company would evolve to become LA Gas and Electric Corporation. In 1937, the electric side of LA Gas and Electric Corp. was bought out by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The gas side of the company became Southern California Gas Company.

Click HERE to see more in First Electricity in Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more in Early Power Generation.

Historical Notes

One of the oldest settled areas of Los Angeles, Highland Park is also one of the most scenic due to its location along the Arroyo Seco, between the Mt. Washington hills, the San Rafael hills and the Monterey Hills.*^

Garvanza is considered a sub-district of Highland Park.  The area was named for the garbanzo beans that once flourished there. In 1899, Garvanza was annexed by the City of Los Angeles.

Historical Notes

Opened in 1886, the hotel was located at South Avenue 63 and York Boulevard in Garvanza, a former section of Highland Park.

Historical Notes

Floating some 9,000 feet above the city in a hot-air balloon in 1887, Edwin H. Husher took what may be the first aerial photo of Los Angeles.

By 1887 the City's population had grown to over 20,000 people with most of the new development having taken place south of the orignal Pueblo and LA Plaza as seen in the above photo.

Historical Notes

In 1887, Los Angeles City's population: Approx. 20,000.

In 2013, Los Angeles City's population: 3.9 million.

Historical Notes

This section of Buena Vista is soon to be renamed Justicia running south from Bellevue, which would become Sunset and then ultimately become Cesar E. Chavez Avenue (which here runs diagonally across the bottom of the frame from the lower left corner to the right edge) to Temple. Buena Vista north of Bellevue would become N. Broadway. The Broadway tunnel is still fifteen years in the future, the north portal of which will exit the base of the hill behind these adobes. Mary Hollister Banning's house can be seen on the crest of the hill. It will overlook the north portal. #^*

Historical Notes

Fort Hill (also known as Fort Moore Hill) was a prominent hill overlooking the pueblo of Los Angeles. Its commanding view of the city made it a strategic location.

Fort Moore was an historic U.S. Military Fort during the Mexican–American War. Its approximate location was at what is now the Hollywood Freeway near the intersection of North Hill Street and West Cesar Chavez Avenue, downtown. The hill on which it was built became known as Fort Moore Hill, most of which was removed in 1949 for construction of the freeway. The hill was located one block north of Temple Street and a short distance south of present day Cesar Chavez Avenue, between the Los Angeles Civic Center and Chinatown.

The fort is now memorialized by the Fort Moore Pioneer Memorial, 451 North Hill Street.*^

Historical Notes

Memorial Day originated as Decoration Day, established in 1868 by General John A. Logan and the Grand Army of the Republic to honor Union soldiers who died in the Civil War by decorating their graves. The first large observance took place at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, a date chosen because it was not tied to any specific battle and flowers would be in bloom nationwide. Decoration Day quickly spread across Northern states, becoming an official holiday by the 1890s, while Southern states observed separate commemorations. After World War I, the holiday expanded to honor all American military personnel who died in service, and the name Memorial Day gradually replaced Decoration Day. In 1967, Memorial Day became the official name, and since 1971, it has been observed on the last Monday in May as a federal holiday marked by ceremonies and remembrance of fallen service members.

Historical Notes

Over the past 140 years, the view looking south on Spring Street at 1st Street in downtown Los Angeles has shifted from a dusty frontier town to a dense urban core. In the 1880s, the scene was marked by unpaved streets, horse-drawn carriages, wooden and brick storefronts, and a modest civic energy captured in parades and public gatherings. The Nadeau Hotel, Los Angeles’ first four-story building and an early symbol of the city’s ambitions, stood prominently on the southwest corner—an anchor of the era’s urban hopes. Today, that same corner is occupied by the LA Times Building, a monumental structure reflecting the city’s rise as a media and cultural powerhouse. The streetscape is now defined by tall glass and stone buildings, paved roads with marked crosswalks, traffic signals, and modern infrastructure—ranging from street furniture and landscaping to underground utilities. Yet amid these changes in scale, density, and technology, the original street grid and orientation remain intact, offering a rare and tangible connection between 19th-century Los Angeles and the metropolis it has become.

Historical Notes

The Nadeau Hotel, located on the southwest corner of Spring and 1st Streets in downtown Los Angeles, was built in 1881-1882 by retired freighter Remi Nadeau. It was one of the city’s premier luxury hotels from 1882 until about 1900, rivaling the nearby Hollenbeck House. The hotel was notable as Los Angeles’s first four-story building and the first to feature an electric elevator, reflecting its modernity and status. Designed by architects Morgan & Walls, the Nadeau Hotel featured Italianate architectural details, including arched windows and decorative pediments, and housed numerous small businesses on its busy first floor. It became a central hub for businessmen, political leaders, and visiting celebrities. Remi Nadeau, who had amassed wealth through freighting and real estate, opened the hotel with a grand ball attended by the region’s elite. The hotel also implemented advanced amenities such as a steel dome hot-air furnace by 1897. The Nadeau Hotel stood as a landmark of the growing financial district in downtown Los Angeles until it was demolished in 1932 to make way for the current Los Angeles Times Building.

Click HERE to see more on the Nadeau Hotel.

Historical Notes

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), also known as the Order of Odd Fellows, is an international fraternal organization founded in 1819 that still exists today, with hundreds of thousands of members worldwide. The group is dedicated to principles of friendship, love, truth, and community service. Its "Communications" are formal conventions where members from various lodges gather to conduct official business, elect officers, coordinate charitable activities, and celebrate their fraternity—a tradition that continues in the present day.

Historical Notes

Joseph Pomeroy Widney, M.D. D.D. LL.D (December 26, 1841 – July 4, 1938) was a physician, clergyman, entrepreneur-philanthropist, proto-environmentalist, prohibitionist, racial theorist, and prolific author.

He at one time owned the Widney Block on First Street (near the corner of Temple and Spring Streets), another Widney Block located at Sixth between Hill and Broadway, and a property at the corner of Ninth and Santee streets, where he erected the Nazarene Methodist Episcopal Church. Additionally, he owned a building at 445–447 Aliso Street, where the first college of medicine for the University of Southern California was located from 1885 to 1896.*^

Historical Notes

Click HERE to see more in Early Views of the Historic 300 Block of N. Main Street

Historical Notes

The following historical timeline lists the buildings used by City Council, also known as City Hall, since 1850, when Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality:

◆ 1850 - 1853 - used rented hotel and other buildings for City meetings

◆ 1853 - rented adobe house (aka Rocha Adobe) on Spring Street - across from current City Hall (now parking lot for Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center). The buliding was shared with the County who used it as a Court House.

◆ 1861 - moved into John Temple's Clocktower Market Building, but only stayed for less than a year before the County Court House moved-in

◆ 1861 - 1884 - relocated back to the Rocha Adobe and stayed for over 20 years

◆ 1884 - 1888 - moved to new City Hall Building at South Spring Street and West 2nd Street (site of current Los Angeles Times Building)

◆ 1888 - 1928 - moved to new Romanesque Revival Building on 226-238 South Broadway between 2nd Street and 3rd Street; demolished in 1928 and now site of parking lot between LA Times Parking structure and 240 Broadway.

◆ 1928 - moved to current City Hall Building

Historical Notes

The new City Hall with its rectangular tower was located at 226 So. Broadway. Built in 1888, it was used until 1928 when the current City Hall was completed.

Click HERE to see more early views of the 1888-built City Hall.

Historical Notes

The Bryson-Bonebrake Block was one of the more important office buildings built during the 1880s building boom in Los Angeles. It had six stories, with a typical Queen Anne Style variety of shapes, materials and ornamentation for which architect John Cather Newsom was famous.

Historical Notes

Designed by architects Joseph Carter Newsom and Samuel Newsom,  the Bryson-Bonebrake Block was completed in 1888. The 126-room bank and office building cost $224,000, a staggering sum at the time. Bonebrake was one of the richest men in the city at the time, and he could afford making such an investment. He located the main headquarters of his bank in the Bryson-Bonebrake Block.

Historical Notes

Horse-drawn streetcars remained the primary mode of public transportation through the 1880s, at their peak rolling through much of the booming city of Los Angeles. But soon technological innovation would doom the horse-powered street railway with the introduction of electric cable streetcars.

Historical Notes

Incorporated in 1887, the Los Angeles Cable Railway became the largest transit system in the city at the time, operating approximately 21 miles of track. Its lines ran from Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles westward to Westlake Park and Grand Avenue.

In service from 1889 to the early 1900s, the system moved cars by means of a continuously running underground cable, powered by large steam engines housed at a central powerhouse at 2nd and Boylston Streets. Each car had a gripman who engaged or released a mechanical grip to control movement along the cable, which ran at a constant speed.

The cable system was later renamed the Pacific Railway Company in 1889 and was the last city line to convert to electric streetcars. It was ultimately acquired by Henry E. Huntington in 1902, becoming part of his expanding electric rail empire.

Historical Notes

In 1888 a cable line succeeded the old horse car line which went over the old North Spring Street bridge to Downey Avenue, East Los Angeles. The cables were carried over the Southern Pacific freight yards to the bridge on this old viaduct. Its use was abandoned in 1904 and it was torn down in 1910. Counting this old viaduct as a part of the old North Spring Street bridge, that ancient wooden structure was more than two miles long. Downey Avenue is now the portion of North Broadway east of the Los Angeles River.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles Cable Railway became the largest transit system in the city at the time, operating approximately 21 miles of track. Its lines ran from Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles westward to Westlake Park and Grand Avenue.

Historical Notes

Amazingly, the building with the company name still stands. The new Los Angeles to Pasadena light rail line (The Gold Line) passes directly in front of the building on an elevated structure, with the Chinatown station located just to the left of the cable cars in the photo above.

Historical Notes

At the time, this was one of the most extensive cable-worked railroads in operation in the U.S., its length being about twenty-one miles of single track, worked by three power stations.

Click HERE to see more in an 1891 Scientific American Article on the LA Cable RR Viaduct.

Historical Notes

This dramatic wooden viaduct was part of the Los Angeles Cable Railway system, built in the late 1880s to carry cable cars from downtown Los Angeles across the Southern Pacific freight yards and toward East Los Angeles. The steep incline led to and from College Street and passed near the Capitol Milling Company, which still stands today.

Though often labeled the Spring Street Viaduct—especially in modern references—some contemporary and archival sources refer to it as the San Fernando Street Viaduct. That’s because the portion of North Spring Street north of Temple was originally known as San Fernando Street in the 19th century. The name “Spring Street” became standard in the 1890s, but the older name persisted in some documents.

The viaduct was dismantled in the early 20th century after electric streetcars replaced the cable system.

The Capitol Milling Company building, seen at left in the photo, still stands today at 1231 N. Spring Street near College Street in Chinatown. Founded in the 1850s, it was one of Los Angeles' oldest family-run businesses and operated as a working mill until 1998. The building has since been preserved and adaptively reused. The Metro A Line (formerly Gold Line) now passes directly in front of it on an elevated track, with the Chinatown Station located just a block away.

Historical Notes

Los Angeles Cable Railway was the largest transit venture in the city, operating from Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles out to Westlake Park and Grand Avenue. The opening of the viaduct line over the LA River benefited real estate developers and residents in the Boyle Heights area.

Historical Notes

Notation on the reverse side of photos reads:  "Broad gauge, double track horse car line, which W.H. Workman built to Boyle Hts & sold to cable company." 

Historical Notes

The owners of the Los Angeles Cable Railway Company ran into financial difficulty and had to sell their controlling interest to C. B. Holmes, and associates, of Chicago, Ill. They organized a new company, known as the Pacific Railway Company, capitalized at $5,000,000.00 and finished the construction of the cable lines, which when completed covered many of the LA streets with double tracks.