BGuthrie Photos: CA -- Los Angeles -- Union Station

CA -- Los Angeles -- Union Station:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. USTATE_130723_020.JPG: Union Station: Riding the Rails into History: Union Station, a monument to the entwined elements of history and transportation, is the last of the great train stations built in the nation, and the major entry point to Los Angeles, critical to making the city the nation's second-largest. For more than a century, the mighty transcontinental railroads helped to transform Los Angeles from an isolated town of 10,000 into a modern megalopolis. In 1869, the Golden Spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, joining the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific into a seamless transcontinental route. The same year, General Phineas Banning built the first railway south of the Tehachapi Mountains, the Los Angeles & San Pedro Railroad. On the locomotive, a sign painter lettered "LOS ANGELOS," an error discovered too late to correct for the maiden run. Banning's railway covered the 22 miles from San Pedro to downtown. The line, and its station at Alameda and Commercial Street, were turned over to Southern Pacific three years later to entice the big railroad to come to Los Angeles. On Sept. 5, 1876, after a fight that split the city and left seven San Joaquin Valley farmers dead in a feud over land rights, the Golden State's golden spike connecting north and south was driven at Lang Station, in what is now Santa Clarita. The Southern Pacific-called "the Espee" for its initials, and "The Octopus" for its stranglehold on state politics, finally chugged into Los Angeles. For about ten years, the Southern Pacific and Union Pacific operated as one. But fire and circumstances scattered operations throughout three different stations. One of them, Central Station, drew the nation's avid attention in 1931.
2. USTATE_130723_023.JPG: when a woman arrived from Phoenix with trunks containing the dismembered bodies of two friends. Railroad officials detained Winnie Ruth Judd because they thought she was smuggling contraband deer meat in the leaking trunks. Headlined as the "trunk murderess," Judd was convicted. Many Rail Lines, Many Stations: In the 1880s, the Santa Fe battled the Southern Pacific for a foothold in the West; more than once, their workmen faced off with rifles. The Southern Pacific paid the Santa Fe $500,000 a year to make San Bernardino its terminus, instead of Los Angeles. In 1885, the agreement fell apart and the Santa Fe bought a local railway. That brought a third railroad line into the city and triggered a half-century-long conflict. Travelers benefited from the vicious fare wars. Thousands of settlers came to Los Angeles, some on tickets that, for a few hours in 1887, sold for one dollar. After 30 years of fighting a joint terminal, the presidents of all three railroads buried the hatchet. Only after three appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court did the three railroads grudgingly agree to pay for the new terminal, named Union Station to symbolize their reluctant cooperation. On May 3, 1939, a half-million people attended the opening of Union Station, which took six years and $11 million to build. Crowds rubbernecked at the ornate 52-foot ceiling, the banks of deep waiting-room chairs with leather cushions, and the sumptuous Harvey House restaurant.
3. USTATE_130723_026.JPG: All Aboard, Again: Soon, 64 passenger trains a day were passing through, with names like the Super Chief, the Sunset Limited, and the City of Los Angeles. Actress Mae West arrived aboard the Super Chief and after posing for photographers, she was met by a handsome deputy, sent by her friend, District Attorney Buron Fitts. Fitts had ordered the man to give her a big kiss, saying "This is from Buron" -- to which West issued her classic bawdy rejoiner, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?" Throughout World War II, dramas of departure and homecoming were played out thousands of times a day at Union Station, as troop trains came and went around the clock. But by 1971, when Amtrak took over passenger operations, competition from airlines and automobiles had reduced the station to an average of seven passenger trains a day, just as long distance trucking had put a dent in railroads' freight business. With the past as prologue, Union Station was revived as a dining and shopping mall, and as a transit hub. Amtrak, bus lines, the Red Line subway, Metrolink trains, van pools and taxi and shuttle services converge every day, again bringing commuters and tourists into the City of Angels.
4. USTATE_130723_042.JPG: In memory of Arthur Gilbert Arnoll Born 1884 Died 1936 Secretary and General Manager Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce 1924-1938
5. USTATE_130723_078.JPG: Movies/Entertainment: Before the station was even officially open to the public, Hollywood was making commercial use of this nearby treasure. the first train to run out of Union Station was a special train traveling a 10,000 mile circuit around the nation to promote the film, "Union Pacific." Paramount Studio gathered movie celebrities together at the station to inaugurate the event. Later in the 1940s and 50s, the station continued to serve the movie industry. Films such as "Criss Cross" starting Burt Lancaster and "Union Station" with William Holden utilized the unique interiors of the station as dramatic settings. During this period, the studio also served as the gateway to Hollywood for its stars, stars-to-be, and fans. The most famous stars are said to have snuck off incoming trains at the suburban Pasadena stop to avoid being mobbed by crowds at Union Station. Other significant films which have been filmed on location here have included "The Way We Were" with Robert Redford, the futuristic film "Blade Runner" with Harrison Ford and "Guilty by Suspicion" starring Robert DeNiro. In fact, the panels containing this exhibit were originally constructed in the main waiting area for the "Blade Runner" movie. Today the station continues to be used for filming. Recent visitors to the station might have viewed scenes in progress for any of the following films: "Bugsy," "The Owl," "House Party II" and "All I Want for Christmas." In addition to movie filming, many television products, music videos and commercials use the station's distinctive interiors. The cover photographs for Bonnie Raitt's "Takin' My Time" album were shot here. And don't be surprised to see familiar views of Union Station appearing on "Unsolved Mysteries," "Ferris Bueller," "Hunter", or even in upcoming AT&T, Miller Life, Budweiser, United Parcel and Toyota advertisements.
6. USTATE_130723_088.JPG: Construction and Opening Day: The opening of the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal in May 1939 was celebrated by three days of pageantry and parades, and marked the end of over twenty-four years of planning and political intrigue. The need for a "Union" Station -- one which brought together the three railroad companies serving Los Angeles -- was identified by the City as early as 1915. Then, in 1921 the California Railroad Commission ordered the railroad companies: Santa Fe, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake (later the Union Pacific) and Southern Pacific to fund and build such a facility. Alternate sites were considered throughout downtown Los Angeles including expansion of the existing Central Station (at Central Avenue and Fifth Street) and the expanded development of the Santa Fe railroad's "La Grande" Station (at Santa Fe Avenue and Second Street). Both of these sites, however, were relatively small and constricted. The City and Mayor supported a larger site closer to the emerging Civic Center and, with the support of the Los Angeles Times, the "Plaza" site on Alameda Street was selected by the citizens in a 1926 ballot. From 1926 to 1932 the design and construction of the facility was further delayed as issues regarding funding and site selection were debated in the U.S. Court of Appeals, the California Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court. By 1932, the Depression also became a major factor as the reduction in passenger travel made such a venture economically questionable. In that year, the stalemate was broken with the City offering $1 million to help improve roads and other facilities around the proposed new station. Some on the Council considered the allocation of these funds as a "railroad giveaway," but from that day forward it was felt the project was assured. Plans were drawn and in 1934 demolition proceeded on more than fifty buildings in what was then the city's Chinatown section. New Chinatown was created on North Broadway to provide a focus for the displaced neighborhood. Work was halted on the station in 1935 when the U.S. Postal Service condemned a portion of the site, south of Macy Street, for construction of a new Postal annex. Negotiations led to locating the new Postal Annex on the north side of Macy Street, and construction resumed. Finally completed in 1939 at the cost of $11 million, the opening of the station became the focus of citywide festivities and unified support. From May 3rd to 5th, events included a parade down Alameda Street (viewed by half a million people) with floats keyed to the theme "Railroads build the Nation," dedications by Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron and California Governor Culbert Olsen, and a pageant entitled "Romance of the Rails" which depicted the history of Southern California. The last of America's great railroad stations was now ready for service.
7. USTATE_130723_100.JPG: Album cover photograph from "Takin My Time," recorded by Bonnie Raitt with Warner Bros. Records.
Wikipedia Description: Union Station (Los Angeles)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Union Station in Los Angeles, which opened in May 1939, is known as the "Last of the Great Railway Stations" built in the United States, but even with its massive and ornate waiting room and adjacent ticket concourse, it is considered small in comparison to other union stations. It was formerly designated the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal (LAUPT), but its current owner, Catellus Development, officially changed the name to Los Angeles Union Station (LAUS).

The facility served as a backdrop for the 1950 film Union Station, which starred William Holden and Nancy Olson. Many television shows and motion pictures have incorporated the station as a backdrop, including Blade Runner, Speed, Star Trek: First Contact, Pearl Harbor, The Italian Job, The Island, Drag Me to Hell and the Fox television series 24.

Union Station is located opposite L.A.'s historic Olvera Street.

Architecture:

Union Station was partially designed by the father and son team of John Parkinson and Donald B. Parkinson, or the Parkinsons, assisted by a group of supporting architects, including the famous Jan van der Linden. The Parkinsons also designed Los Angeles City Hall. Their firm designed many landmark Los Angeles buildings from the late 19th century onward. The structure combines Dutch Colonial Revival Style architecture (the suggestion of the Dutch born Jan van der Linden), Mission Revival, and Streamline Moderne style, with architectural details such as eight-pointed stars.

Enclosed garden patios are on either side of the waiting room, and passengers exiting the trains were originally directed through the southern garden. The lower part of the interior walls is covered in travertine marble, and the upper part is covered with an early form of acoustical tile. The floor in the large rooms is terra cotta tile with a central strip of inlaid marble (including travertine, somewhat unusual in floors since it is soft).

Attached to the main building to the south is a small masterpiece[neutrality disputed], the remarkable station restaurant designed by southwestern architect Mary Colter (the last of the "Harvey House" restaurants to be constructed as a part of a passenger terminal). Although now usually padlocked and stripped of many interior furnishings, the topology of its rounded central counter dynamically thrust forward, its streamlined booths, and the inlaid floor patterns still constitute a busy and evocative sense of place[neutrality disputed]. The influential sci-fi film Blade Runner used shots of the waiting area as the 2019 police department.

History:

The station originally served the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, Southern Pacific Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad, as well as the Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway (LARy). Established on the site of L.A.'s first Chinatown, it saw heavy use during World War II, but later saw declining patronage due to the growing popularity of air travel and automobiles.

Now Union Station is once again heavily visited, especially since the construction of the Metro Red Line and Purple Line subway station and Gold Line light rail station. Union Station also serves as a terminus for 4 of Amtrak's long distance trains, is a major station on Amtrak California's Pacific Surfliner, and serves as the hub for Metrolink's passenger trains.
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