Lost Hills | Lost LA | KCET

[@huascar66]

Old Los Angeles was a treasure, a real treasure.

[@marcosmith2501]

My Dad spent a few years as a child in Old Los Angeles. Much later, he would occasionally bring us kids to LA on the train. Angels Flight was was a highlight!

[@goombabear]

Thank goodness for rear projection, second unit films. Now we have these films to enjoy for nostalgia and prosterity.

[@josemoreno3334]

My family lived in the Bunker Hill area near Angels Flight in the 1950s.. In fact, I was born there in 1957. Then we moved to Aliso Village. It's sad that it's all gone now and only Angeles Flight remains . My mom saw your video and began to cry knowing now that it's all gone . She said Thank You for this wonderful video. She just turn 94 this July. And my family also said Thank You KCET .

[@Rose-sc7mh]

This is very sweet, so many nice memories.

[@cherylc.5109]

Touching, I also miss old Los Angeles. Progress isn't always better 😢

[@jolliebearforchrist5468]

(HERE IS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST) JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND HE WAS BURIED AND HE ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY BY FAITH IN GOD'S SON THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AND JESUS CHRIST ONLY SALVATION SHALL BE YOURS AND ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD IN HEAVEN WILL AWAIT YOU WHEN YOU DIE THE BIBLE JOHN CHAPTER 3 VERSES 16 THROUGH 21 AS WELL AS 1ST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15 VERSES 1 THROUGH 5 THE BIBLE

[@jolliebearforchrist5468]

@@Rose-sc7mh (HERE IS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST) JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND HE WAS BURIED AND HE ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY BY FAITH IN GOD'S SON THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AND JESUS CHRIST ONLY SALVATION SHALL BE YOURS AND ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD IN HEAVEN WILL AWAIT YOU WHEN YOU DIE THE BIBLE JOHN CHAPTER 3 VERSES 16 THROUGH 21 AS WELL AS 1ST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15 VERSES 1 THROUGH 5 THE BIBLE

[@jolliebearforchrist5468]

@@cherylc.5109 (HERE IS THE GOSPEL MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST) JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS FOR OUR SINS AND HE WAS BURIED AND HE ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY BY FAITH IN GOD'S SON THE LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AND JESUS CHRIST ONLY SALVATION SHALL BE YOURS AND ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD IN HEAVEN WILL AWAIT YOU WHEN YOU DIE THE BIBLE JOHN CHAPTER 3 VERSES 16 THROUGH 21 AS WELL AS 1ST CORINTHIANS CHAPTER 15 VERSES 1 THROUGH 5 THE BIBLE

[@fboness368]

Used to work downtown LA. It always felt weird there on top of Bunker Hill. Those skyscrapers are more like grave markers than buildings.

[@josephconsoli4128]

I'm born and bred in New York, but I've had an obsession with Bunker Hill for many years. I saw it in so many great Film Noir movies that I became fascinated over it. When I first visited LA I went straight there and rode Angels Flight when it first had been put back in use. I needed to experience something that was left from the old Bunker Hill.

[@HHIto]

Long ago, Los Angeles had a lot in common with San Francisco, rolling hills, corner buildings with nice architecture, a lot of little shops with "open for business" with storefronts (open).

[@J_J_P_]

And now SF is a trashpit. I'm glad I moved to LA from SF.

[@mokuu3313]

James Peck we all have different opinions. IMO i think LA is trashier than SF, there’s 50,000+ homeless people in Los Angeles and in LA , communities were straight up demolished for these wide freeways as “progress”. SF still has their rich communities and didn’t bulldoze them for trashy freeways that end up having homeless people living on the side of them.

[@yellowforty]

@@J_J_P_ Don't worry, Los Angeles is working overtime to prove it is worse than San Francisco.

[@dumpsterfire79]

​@@J_J_P_lol that comment did not age well at all

[@JPVillalobos27]

I love all the people that complain and blame politicians and do nothing for their communities.

[@victorparker308]

I was born at The Japanese Hospital downtown Los Angeles in 1954. My childhood growing up in Southern California was wonderful, almost paradise. Would sometimes compare our L.A. lives to relatives we would visit in eastern and southern cities. They were all so jealous, thought we must personally know all the movie stars, & hung out at the beach all the time! However, L.A. & SoCal has changed almost to the point of being a totally differently place. Sometimes I feel like a foreigner in my native land. I miss it terribly at times, but I guess that's "progress".

[@GeneralZapta213]

Still in LA?

[@victorparker308]

Yes still in SoCal for now. Retiring next year & more than likely will be relocating.

[@Moondoggy1941]

My wife's family is 3 generations from Torrance and probably 4 or more but that we do not know. I was born and raised in Orange County in the 60's we had lots of fun.

[@MarinCipollina]

It's a terrible thing to miss a place that's impossible to return to.

[@timgutierrez2211]

As an LA resident born in 1953, I can tell you that this video got me a bit emotional. My DAd was a Deputy US MArshall who worked in downtown LA back in the day and as a boy there were times whe I could go with him to eat at the old Cliftons cafeteria. He would take me around Bunker hill to look around because he loved the area so much. TRhis is the type of charm that LA has to us who grew up there in normal times. It really is a strange relationship to have been there so much and to see it now. I often wonder if the buildings had stayed the same maybe the people would have also. Thank s so much As I watched this video I had a flash back to a TV commercial I saw regularly in the late 1950's or so for a company called Seaboard which financed loans. I recall them on TV as saying they were located on 8th and Hill street in LA. This of course was back in the day when we sent in cereal box tops to get toys. We all have our facotire piecture or location we like to view Bunker hill from also. I wish we could go back in time.

[@briankorbelik2873]

Another thumbs up for Clifton's, during the late 80's and Ost of the 90's, I worked in the Pacific Bell complex, it's actually 3 buildings, and a work friend of mine, and me of course, used to eat Clifton's all the time. And my dad moved to LA in 1940 and heater at Clifton's then. He told me that there used to be two Clifton's downtown, but when I worked there, there was only one.

[@potatobrah0019]

This man is so heartbroken.

[@LuisHernandez-rk2tp]

I grew up in echo park. My mom still owns her house there. Lot of changes coming . Any house that sells is destroyed because now there building apartments. Kind of sad seeing some of this house built in the 40s and now being torn down.

[@erikdelgado9427]

Do yk your property is worth millions

[@cindyrenfroe5212]

Well Los Angeles has changed so much ,,I am from south central ,, Olympic and hoover st and it was nice in the 50,s and 60,s my older brother and younger sister would walk to boyle height,s over the old bridge and we would ride the old trolley cars down Town with our mom to go shopping and to olavera st ,,,now Los Angeles is a mess with drug,s and you name it ,,so sad ,,I wish it could be all cleaned up better ,, enjoyed the video ,,thank,s for the memories

[@Dog.soldier1950]

The building can be moved. Pretty cheap actually

[@mattharker9212]

They are doing the same thing in San Diego. All these old homes erected before the 1940’s are bulldozed and these multi-apartment units go in. No one can afford these ‘new’ apartments , and they all look like something that Russia would bomb. No way these structures will last 80+ years.

[@davidatovar]

No Gorden, my moms still alive at 93 years old lived through the depression and covid and still active the last of and oldest of three children born in the 1930's in San Antonio Texas, tuff as nails, they don't build them like that anymore, she lived on bunker hill and worked in the Bradbury Building, she rode the Red Car, took us downtown to all the places to see and of course Angels Flight. She still recounts memories of long, long ago both pleasurable and tragic. She has seen a lot of change in Los Angeles.

[@robertchilders8698]

Your mom was born at the end of the "great recession"! I remember riding on the Angels Flight eighty years ago Wonderful early memories,! Last lived in L.A. in the late 50s , that's when it started to turn into a hell hole! Watts riots! Among other things,! NEVER RETURNED!

[@rodfranklin3559]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

[@bunkerhillrefrain]

Hello, would you possibly be available to talk to students and researchers at USC who are part of the Bunker Hill Refrain project? We are hoping to add the voices of former residents to a digital recreation of Bunker Hill.

[@karatedavid]

Grandfather grew up in LA in the 40s and 50s. Had a lot of cool stories about old LA like this. Both grandparents were amazed going back in the early 2000s seeing how much was gone.

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

Such a sad story of 'urban renewal' gone wrong... those beautiful old houses were absolutely magnificent. There seems to be more of an understanding these days of the benefits of repurposing old, abandoned buildings instead of demolishing them... particularly period industrial buildings like warehouses etc.. This helps to retain an area's architectural heritage and character, and preserves much loved buildings for future generations to enjoy.

[@maureeng.obrien9259]

THEY SQUASHER ALL OF Y EOLD WORLD BEAUTY THR WE CERTAINLY DID NOT BUILD LOL

[@The3nd187]

I'm torn on the warehouse part. That is actually something that I do not lile seeing driving into downtown on the 10 east.'

[@jimkeskey]

No one cares. Developers want to build and politicians want liberal voters. I hate to make this political, but that's why all three mayors of all three of CA largest cities and the governor of the state want more high density housing. it's VOTES my friend. And the vast majority of apartment dwellers vote blue.

[@monsterpig3270]

I lived at 255 S. Grand Avenue for over 5 years and always felt like ghosts of the past were haunting that area. Always felt like something was missing and a heavy feeling of emptiness.

[@AnitaLau-s5z]

That’s just living in dt Los Angeles

[@melancholiac6666]

the last scene is beautiful i even cried because u know that eventually all of his memories will be lost.

[@cherylc.5109]

You could feel his sadness!

[@jimkeskey]

Yes, it was very telling. Him talking, but no sound. No one is listening. So sad.

[@JULIOHERNANDEZ-cy7sq]

Man I wish I could have lived during that era to see it

[@hell0hkitty]

this is a treasure. i'm 66 born in los angeles, and i was part of all that. this made me tear up. i remember my parents, grandparents lives in los angeles. very nostalgic.

[@techno4ugeeks14]

hell0hkitty amazing ur lucky u grew up in ur era i hate my era

[@victoriamayo5774]

hell0hkitty I am 59 years old, and am sad to loose all the old buildings. 👍🏻❤️🕊

[@mihails.6398]

I am very sorry, I'm from Eastern Europe, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but that hill was simply in the wrong place.

[@peterroxofthefuture]

That's just poetry. Thank you for sharing the living memory of DTLA and Bunker Hill. Keep it up!

[@Super_Chief]

I grew up in Pasadena back in the 1960s. I miss watching the really great programming that KCET always showed. I miss KCET. 😞

[@MrAjpalkow]

Time passes and things change. One can’t help but have heart felt feelings of nostalgia and longing for “the way it used to be” .....,

[@christinash2235]

I've seen most of the episodes of this show and it legitimately made me cry. LA is absolutely haunted and watching all this stuff shows why. I also found out that LA was once a tuberculosis sanitarium in the 19th century...So all of these people died of tb on the street there because the poor couldn't afford the doctors. People were legitimately freaking out because people who had tb came there in droves for the climate to help their lungs. LA is amazing but has such a dark past. I miss it.

[@craigcanoe3]

City Of Hope Hospital in Duarte was orginal for TB patients.

[@aimeeinkling]

There are lots of places in California that had TB wards. My own grandfather came here to California to seek treatment. It's pretty tough to find a sizable town that doesn't have the remnants of a sanitarium in it. These days, people build over them or repurpose them. I worked in a converted ward for a while. Haunted as heck!

[@anibalsosa5727]

Thank you for this great historical video.

[@AllenManor]

I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In my early teens I started noticing how rapidly the city changed -- fields built over, hills leveled for construction, neat old buildings torn down. Even at that young age, I started getting very depressed about it all. But in my early twenties I started traveling around the USA and to Europe and I came to quaint towns and cities full of beautiful architecture but not many people or businesses. These areas had been economically depressed for decades. I realized then that L.A. was one of the greatest economic powerhouses in the history of the world, and where there's money and people, there's going to be a lot of change. In that moment I decided to embrace the dynamic nature of Los Angeles and I have never regretted it. Yes, a lot of great things have been lost, but many great things have been created as well. L.A. is sort of a rich laboratory where anything can and does happen. I love that about my hometown.

[@p2p104]

Exactly! Great response and I agree.

[@jimkeskey]

L.A. is a sh|tho|e. It's greatest years are behind it. The city is shrinking, not growing, because people are disgusted with what it has become.

[@Dusty-y6b]

One way to look at it. But now that a lot of ppl can work from home, then maybe we won’t have to destroy beautiful things for the sake of the Great God Commerce.

[@guyfromkk]

Strange, you are surrounded by tall buildings of multiple density beyond any buildings that preceded it, and yet there are hardly people around the streets beneath those skyscrapers.

[@frederickmfarias3109]

Its growth in part did not follow the normal nature of the ownership of each property. Architects and city planners were “central planners” just as the Fed is the “central planner” for the private banks.

[@celestewentworth2546]

It's empty and sterile.

[@ohxishxitsxdavid]

Beautiful video that really captures the sorrow of the city’s vanishing character.

[@leonewest2239]

It really hurts the “ soul” when a part of your history is destroyed. The city that I live in, had a beautiful wonderful Fred Harvey Hotel and it was “ leveled “ to the ground and an empty un blacktop - dirt lot stood there for many years. Now there is something else there. I was living out of state and did not even know what happened. Several years later we decided to go by the hotel “ for old times sake” and I was so “ horrified” that I cried and cried . Once upon a time I too lived in Los Angeles and I trully understand how you feel .

[@davidparry8514]

Bunker Hill was a treasure but eclipsed by time, modernism and the city feeling the need to move forward culturally.I lived in a store front on Temple St when Bunker Hill was being demo'd...I'd go there at night and steal marvelous architectural elements before the demolition guys got to them.Living downtown was a trip in the 60's.

[@GeneralZapta213]

Temple and what? I'd love to buy you a meal or a beer some time and talk about old LA. Born in the 90s but I love old LA. I feel like its changed a lot even in the passed 20 years

[@davidparry8514]

somewhere slightly east of Alvarado, north side of Temple...do you remember the old storefronts that had the big painting of Mickey Mouse (Chouinard students, I was one of them) on the door?Those were the buildings. I rented mine for $ 25.00 per mo. Cold water only.

[@davidparry8514]

p.s. this was 1967-68

[@oldkidsjonge]

All major US cities were monumental masterpieces, like old European inner cities. Manhattan, Detroit, Los Angeles. I appreciate the American mindset of not letting the past come in the way of the future, and our current world is a testimony of your innovation. BUT, how nice would it have been if your entire legacy could have accumulated, rather than every single one having been torn for the next.

[@TooCooFoYou]

oldkidsjonge That's just history, right there. 50 years in the future many people will look back at the current marks of the city and be in amazement at what we could've done.

[@sammavacaist]

Not enough room to keep it all. That's like living in a hoarded house full of every set of furniture and all the belongings you've ever owned!

[@jimkeskey]

@@sammavacaist CA has plenty of room. You just gotta not want to live in the heart of the city. People are so afraid of living further out these days.

[@ghost-ez2zn]

I'm not from LA, nor have I even spent much time there. But this fascinates me!

[@yellowforty]

When they leveled Bunker Hill It was the beginning of Los Angeles losing its soul.

[@famousbowl9926]

Ehhhh not really..... did u like used to go there? Nahhhh

[@yellowforty]

@@famousbowl9926 Actually yes. You must be very young.

[@Catbooks]

It was.

[@linedanzer4302]

You can say that again. I worked downtown off an on for over 40 years and it is definitely a place with no heart or soul anymore.

[@jaxx-6795]

Indeed heartbreaking!

[@stevew3879]

I was only a small child when Bunkerhill was leveled. But, I came to be very interested in California history and in fact studied it formally in college and has always had an informal interest. All those new buildings, like the Civic Center etc. we’re going in when I was about 10 years old. Then as now I live in the north west San Fernando Valley, and I always enjoy going into downtown to see the new development. But, I was also very much aware of what had to be torn down for that development to get there, and that to me was very sad. Thank you to that person for sharing their memories of the old Bunker Hill, Before it was too late.

[@robt5818]

Thank you for this poignant documentary. "There are no pure memories". This statement rings true when I visit Avalon, Catalina Island. Although quite a bit remains, there is no Steamship, no double-decker glass-bottom boat, no Grumman Goose seaplane, etc.

[@esotouric]

If you enjoyed seeing Gordon Pattison speaking on our Lowdown on Downtown tour, you'll often find him contributing to our Saturday webinar series exploring the rich histories of Downtown Los Angeles.

[@Catbooks]

I remember the magnificent old houses on Bunker Hill, and when it was all slated to be demolished. I was too young to go there by myself but saw them from the Hollywood Freeway and was intrigued. My parents weren't interested, and by the time I was old enough to go there and explore, everything was gone. I'd always heard a number of the Bunker Hill houses were moved to Heritage Square and preserved, so I'm surprised and saddened to find out all of them have been destroyed. LA had little regard for its history. Hopefully it's gotten better now. I moved away decades ago, after growing up there and seeing one landmark after another destroyed.

[@ostrich67]

A few of them were moved, including I think The Castle, but they were torched by an arsonist while they were in a temporary spot.

[@eva5601]

I don't know why there wasn't a historical society set up.

[@truebluereef419]

I remember going to DTLA as a kid with my family in the 80's and love going. I recently went with my 12 year old daughter and man, it has changed. As we were walking up Broadway I would point to a building or shop and tell my daughter what use to be there. Sad.

[@famousbowl9926]

Go by the skid row areas. Buildings left unchaged since the 30s.... ull like it. If not tryone on 1st at the liquor store got the rocks! Smoke rocks baby! Hahaha jkjk

[@neyney2951]

I would love to met this man! I am currently living on hill and 3rd street.. this made me so sad! Bunker Hill was truly a treasure!

[@melvinjohnson2074]

Great filming locations for the film noir genre.

[@40ounce58]

Beautiful video. It’s sad when history is erased. I’ve read articles and stories about Bunker Hill and the people that lived. Mabel Normand even did some movie scenes there at the old Castle Towers Apartment.

[@jorgemacias2785]

I was working in DTLA just around the block in February 2001 when the system failed and sent a car crashing down. One of my friends rendered aid to an 81 year old elderly man who died in the crash. I rode Angel's Flight many times and tried to imagine riding it at its original place and time. Los Angeles treats its history in large part, like its movie stars; it cast it aside like detritus, plows over it then builds something trendy but soulless.

[@jimkeskey]

Although L.A. is bad, Las Vegas is worse. It has ZERO interest in preserving its history.

[@harryfishback8173]

What a lovely video it made me tear up several times such a sad sad loss...

[@jessemacias2]

Nostalgia overload. My eyes got blurry…..

[@jakemaas2068]

My old scout shack is a train station that is now in Heritage Park. I am glad it was saved. At times an old steam train would come by for a movie shoot. Good memories with my fellow scouts from Troop 49.

[@lauralaladarling3775]

Excellent and fascinating, thank you from England. ❤ xxx

[@bencumby9132]

The erasure of Bunker Hill spread downtown with the demolition of the magnificent Richfield Building. A beautiful black terra cotta with gold trim skyscraper, 380 ft tall, including sign. It and the recently restored turquoise green Eastern Columbia building were the two most beautiful downtown.

[@ElDudeBrother]

2:17 breaks my heart. "Nobody there today."

[@JudgeCrater22]

Convenient fire that burned down the Castle.

[@mistersurrealist]

Yeah, it was one of the last things standing there. I'm sure the ones responsible for the fire thought "that old house is in the way of PROGRESS!".

[@FindingNorcal]

California's history is so fascinating ❤❤❤

[@JuliahistoryLover]

Wow, that café said vegetarian Café! The very first shot from the video, I wonder what year that was how cool I didn’t know. They had vegetarian cafés back then. 😃

[@cyberhype5495]

2:15 he was reliving a memory for a moment there...

[@richpolysorbate4328]

My hunch is that had it been left alone it would have become a place for artists and musicians esp. during the 1970's. I wish I could time travel to walk its streets and hear its sounds. At least the old theaters on Broadway haven't been torn down for luxury penthouses. Some of them host events from time to time.

[@kengruz669]

Except some of those large old houses would have reasonably been deemed fire-traps, in terms of living and/or workspaces. And I say this as some who not only lived in L.A. for 10 years but find the erasure of this area incredibly sad and a terrible decision.

[@neighborhoodcatlady6094]

My parents lived in an apartment on Bunker Hill when I was born many years ago. A few years later, we moved to the Valley. We would still go downtown to ride Angel’s Flight and go to Grand Central Market.

[@bunkerhillrefrain]

Hello, would you be possibly be available to talk to students and researchers at USC who are part of the Bunker Hill Refrain project? We are hoping to add the voices of former residents to a digital recreation of Bunker Hill before demolition.

[@valeriegoode9762]

Wow. Great memories.

[@kath5201]

Born in 1956. I lived on 59th St near Crenshaw and Slawson. Walked to Fox Hills Elementary School. Back then, there was nothing to be afraid of....except Dad....LOL..

[@daveweiss5647]

What they did to our cities between the 1950s and 1980s is a disgusting crime against humanity. It was all intentional and a vile disgrace all across America... it fills me with rage to think of what was stolen from us.

[@rppope1006]

Well said and I wasn't even there. I, myself can also feel those viods in areas where I can tell something was taken from me

[@51OAKLANDER510]

It was a test. Today they took away our ability to think on our own. They removed competition and replaced it with control. We don't even have the right to say hello without offending anyone.

[@getschwifty9531]

They're sterilizing America with cold, ugly architecture meant to depress you.

[@cindee1794]

This is so sad. I grew up in Saratoga Springs, NY which is a very historical part of upstate NY. In the 60s they began tearing down the old Victorian mansions and the grand hotels, before the Preservation Foundation was started in the 70s. Fortunately, many of the mansions and a good majority of the downtown area were saved as a result. In one particular part of town they repurposed the homes as part of Skidmore College for both off-campus student housing and classrooms. Many of the homes were also turned into multi-unit apartment buildings or commercial businesses such as funeral homes and doctors' offices with living spaces above the main floor. It's a shame they didn't take that approach with these beautiful old Victorians in L.A.

[@jessebarbaryrouge]

Victorian Los Angeles... What a period

[@patriley9449]

Dubuque Iowa has a similar cable car. I rode it this summer while on vacation. A very unique and most interesting experience.

[@mrjolieguy8673]

So sad & so beautiful Thanks for sharing 👍👍👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👌🏼😉✌🏼

[@thechronicphilosopher6166]

I LOVE TRAINS! BRING IT BACK!!!!!! - Inland Empire/San G Pass/High Desert Resident

[@eldorado1830]

Wow, really a great video I love seeing these old times I can see how it was back in the day.

[@rufusmedrano2962]

I was born in East LA in 1957. I remember Angels Flight as a kid. There’s a lot of things from old LA that I remember. It’s sad that a lot of things were removed in the name of progress

[@JuanHernandez-fl8by]

This puts things in perspective. All of are memories are build on others that have been destroyed or changed like bunkerhill and the native America land before it. Makes me realize that the same is going to happen to are memories, they’ll be destroyed. The Los Angeles we know today will be gone and are grand children’s Los Angeles will be built over it where they’ll make there memories.

[@chrisbrimhall1613]

When LA was a paradise

[@victoriamayo5774]

I feel like the LA I knew is being erased. Just like me.

[@GeneralZapta213]

We should meet up

[@RS-33]

Victoria Mayo Aww don’t say that

[@karwelis1]

i remember going in "the castle" as a kid before it was moved, many years later (around 2003) i finally found out the castle had been moved to heritage square and didnt know it had burned down till i got there. the volunteers showed me that case with what was salvaged after the fire and it was very emotional for me. i couldnt help crying

[@sasharbarnes]

My grandfather was born in Southgate in the 30s, I love asking my aunt (his living sister) how it used to be and I think how much it has changed…

[@annakavalec835]

So much for this video. I remember as a small child seeing an old home burning on Bunker Hill. I miss the old Los angeles.

[@isaimadrid7733]

Well think about all the people who were screwed over in Chavez Ravine for a baseball stadium. That's lost L.A. right there

[@PabloLopezGuatimocin]

So sad all this heinous destruction and greed. Bunker Hill was beautiful, with so much personality, and a real LA icon.

[@stevend.bennett427]

Such an important statement that when something is erased it leaves a void which is its presence.

[@SuperIliad]

:45 on. I came to Los Angeles at the beginning of 1965. South Broadway in the Bunker Hill section, the vestigial business area of Los Angeles, was in its twilight. The original vaudeville establishments had first been re-purposed as first-run movie theaters, and then as burlesque houses, and later again, into seedy, second-run flea pits. The Miracle Mile along Wilshire had taken businesses from the Bunker Hill-Downtown area, leaving in its wake schlock shops, penny arcades, and cheap eateries, while the original May Company store at 8th Street and Broadway remained a dimming reminder of this section’s better days. The original Angels’ Flight (1901-1969) funicular cars were still climbing and descending in between rickety rooming houses and dilapidated tenements. I could pick-out along the sides of the incline locations used in some of my favorite noir movies, such as “The Scar” (“Hollow Triumph”) (1948), and “Act of Violence” (1949). Up the steps from Olive Street stood another brute force film location, the Hillcrest Hotel, looking as it did in “Kiss Me Deadly” (1955) and “The Indestructible Man” (1956). The same went for the oft-used porches of the Sunshine Apartments, a popularly used location, and one of prominence, in “Criss Cross” (1949), “Night has a Thousand Eyes” (1948), “The Turning Point” (1952), and so many other movies of the tough-guy genre. How blest I am to have seen this historic time.

[@adarael]

My family is from Westwood and Dockweiler, in the 40s. I live one block off of Angel's Flight and Pershing Square. LA hasn't lost it's soul. It's just migrated to a lot of other neighborhoods that folks don't associate LA with. Sure, Hollywood is huge, Santa Monica is beautiful, even Long Beach is great. Because that's Los Angeles. We're not the old city, we're the WHOLE of our cities. We're the whole basin. Malibu is as much of Los Angeles as Cerritos is; Glendale as much as Garden Grove. We're all here for the same reason: because it's great. LA doesn't give up. LA takes everyone. This is a great place to live.

[@artdecotimes2942]

But the cake that you create lacks its original recipe, the sand castle is structured with warm water instead of traditional cold, you plug the vehicle in instead of buy a fancy electric headlight and take out the oil bottle. You are living the scraped off version, you see it as historical, but that is not the real world that it was, only a fake creation around it. I remember when citizens would gawk at the hall of justice building, its momentous art deco charm, the massive incredibly grand court that it was, shimmering in white pearl highlights they would cast off the side, Automobiles driving downbelow much safer than today, and more thought of, and cared for, more luxury in a drive but not overhauling into making the automobile a 5 star resort, it is a transport system not a self driving office like we are trying to do today. You missed the color, and you don't remember it, so it doesn't effect you. If you did live it, you would despise the modern city.

[@The3nd187]

Isn't Garden Grove part of OC?'

[@Gl6619]

I kind of felt his sadness when he said “nobody there today” because he could be speaking about Bunker Hill itself…

[@sbrechegno]

Dreams of Bunker Hill...

[@earlhaupenthal2444]

Great video. Even though I never went to bunker hill, we were lucky to have lived then.

[@docdurdin]

Imagine taking a bulldozer to, Trafalgar Square in London, so you could erect a glass bank tower. It's not progress.

[@mattf49006]

Not only downtown..they are killing off old San Pedro now too

[@angelmasionett7150]

Ok thank you sir for sharing this to me. Do

[@sauluribe7082]

Sad , how everything got defaced. not just the charming old houses but nearly the whole hill got leveled natures creation. i wasn't even born then but it would break my heart to see the whole thing being completely abolished that tall hill, both Hill st. and Broadway tunnels.yet i wish i could have seen them.

[@cherylc.5109]

Very sad, all about money.

[@jaxx-6795]

Same… how I wish I could go back in time.

[@vizualmrs]

LAs culture, it's architecture, it's pride. It lost itself

[@RandysFiftySevenChevy]

My whole life I've had my 5 cent ticket from Angels flight from one of my grandfathers day trips he took me on. We spend all day at the Farmers Market then end it with a ride. I did take my kids on it when it reopened and made sure they kept that ticket.

[@robertchilders8698]

When a Angels Flight ticket was 5 cents, you could buy a loaf of bread for 10 cents! You could also buy a hamburger for 10 cents! Where will it ever end?

[@royfr8136]

I have never been to the states. i know of Angel's Flight because of Connelly's novel and the computer games, L.A Noir.... This is a sad story... A lot of history was lost...

[@Squee_Dow]

It's been decades since I left L.A. My heart aches when I "go back" via Google maps and see that it looks like a third world country. I feel angry, depressed, cheated, confused, bereaved, used, and a myriad of other emotions that I can't put my finger on. California and the rest of America had better wake up.

[@mattf49006]

Squee..same here...I know how it makes me feel but I do it anyways...somehow hoping

[@sammavacaist]

People with money are doing just fine in America. No reason for them to wake up.

[@DGLA13]

That's what they said about Bunker Hill because it was largely working class. If you are not wealthy or have political connections you don't have much of a say.

[@720nonstop2]

It look like san Francisco they should left it like that

[@mokuu3313]

Yes exactly , LA is like San Fran

[@kingsfan1022]

Such a great video.

[@kilroyishere6190]

I was born at Queen of Angels hospital..now converted to govt subsidized apartments…Take a drive on the Hollywood Fwy to downtown..See all the Bums/Derelict encampments on every foot of semi flat ground…Rode Angels Flight as kid in early 60s…and later in the 80s working for Pedowood production companies….The City of Angels is now a Prog Cesspool..I left 2 years ago..and immigrated to America…shoulda left sooner…

[@louanncosilmon4378]

I believe it is a sin to erase and lose our history . Also show respect for the people that came before us and worked so hard in the beginning . PLEASE don't let this Angels Flight be lost , Save it at all costs for the future and let the people enjoy . Thank you .

[@MarinCipollina]

You'll be happy to learn that Angel Flights was relocated half a block from the original location and now operates daily. \

[@jimkeskey]

@@MarinCipollina Let bulldoze whatever high rise is in its original location and re-locate Angels Flight to IT'S original location. How about that?

[@MarinCipollina]

@@jimkeskey That's funny.. But nobody is is bulldozing a 50 story high rise glass and steel bank building. Angel Flight is fine right where it is.

[@jimkeskey]

@@MarinCipollina One can dream...

[@MarinCipollina]

@@jimkeskey Well.. They would need to rebuild the old Victorian mansions and rebuild the hill itself.. Those old mansions had been converted to cheap rooming houses by the 1920s.. That lasted through the 1950s. About 75 feet were lopped off Bunker Hill.. Code no longer allows streets with more than 8° elevation.. There used to be no limit, some were well over 20°.. There's still lots of old photos that can be found online.. Fascinating stuff.

[@famousbowl9926]

Im cherishing bieng able to go to my childhood homes.....

[@TheSWolfe]

Does anyone know if the Vegetarian Cafeteria/Furnished Rooms bldg @ 10:07 stood where the Giant Penny used to be? That looks like 3rd/Broadway to me, w/the 3rd St. tunnel in the background but I'm not sure. I lived in L.A. from 1984-1992 & so much has changed just since then, that certain areas are unrecognizable to me, & much more crowded than I recall, when we drive/fly dn for friend/fam visits now. Prior to researching historical dntn L.A., I always wondered where Bunker HIll had went. Now I know why I could never find it, even back in the day LoL. I miss the mean streets of 80's Downtown: Newberry's, Main St. five & dime photo booths, all the once-grand hotels, already run-down by the time I got there, many long gone, taking my little boy to Grand Central Mkt for discounted Van de Camps pastries & side-trips downstairs to the coin-op restrooms, stopping into Clifton's Cafeteria for coffee, mashed potatoes/gravy, & Jell-o cuz that's all we could afford, playing games in the Arcade on Broadway, etc.

[@ElTerrible666]

Make LA great again.

[@spitfirered293]

I am so sorry for what happened to you Sir!

[@IAm-qf2xb]

The wistfulness is penetrating.

[@Joe-cu4hi]

I grew up in Hollywood in early 1960’s and we saw the trolly but did not ride it. Then in early 1970’s we would go through the what looked like beautiful mansions on Normandy a very steep hill all were abandoned, but you could still see the grinder. I often wondered who live there

[@jimkeskey]

If this area had made it through the dark years, those homes would have become ULTRA valuable and trendy today. City government has a mantra: get rid of it before it becomes nostalgic. Sadly, Bunker Hill wasn't old enough to be appreciated and the city pounced on it.

[@ddewittfulton]

@2:43 "Vegetarian Cafe" ! That seems like it's displaced in time! But I suppose Dr. Kellogg's influence was alive and well that far from Battle Creek!

[@jamessveinsson6006]

I heard Laurel Canyon was a great place to live in the 60s through the early 80s. Everybody who was a musician lived up and down the road. I heard stories of musicians walk to each other house of the day.

[@wolfy1987]

Insane, even in the 1950s footage it didn't look like a slum at all. Paint and repairs would've made it looked the historic parts of San Francisco. Never would've known Los Angeles used to be so pretty. Whole city is a massive overpriced slum these days

[@zenoslayer9618]

Sometimes i wish what life would have been like to grow up and live there till adulthood. But moving every 2 or 3 years in a military family

[@ShakespeareCafe]

John Fante brought me here. He ate in hash houses and drank nickel coffees while pounding out enduring stories of Los Angeles in his rooming house. He did not eat in a Food Court

[@0mega.mechan1c.]

Amen. Fante and Bukowski have preserved old L.A. as well as some stuffy conservatory or museum. Maybe even better. When I read them I feel I am being transported.

[@kengruz669]

Interestingly, if you watch the film adaptation of Fante's "Ask The Dust" (which was shot in Africa where they amazingly recreated an area of downtown L.A.), you can see the tunnel and Angel's Flight running in the background.

[@kamelhamlaoui9983]

Me too…. Just started to read his 📕

[@JosePerez-fw1dm]

Interesting part of history but the music makes everything sound so sad

[@techno4ugeeks14]

Jose Perez bcuz it is sad los Angeles has changed for the worst!!