View source for Subway Terminal Building

{{Short description|Building in California, United States}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox station
 | image          = SubwayTerminalBldg.1.jpg
 | caption        =  Subway Terminal Building, 2008
 | style          = Pacific Electric 
 | address        = 417, 415, 425 S. Hill St.,<br />416, 420 424 S. Olive St<br />[[Los Angeles]], California
 | opened         = {{Start date|1925|12|01}}
 | rebuilt        = 
 | closed         = {{End date|1955|06|19}}
 | coordinates    = {{coord|34.0498689|-118.2509694|display=title,inline}}
 | tracks         = 5 (subway) <!-- ? (Hill Street) -->
 | other_services_collapsible = yes
 | other_services_header      = Former services
 | other_services = {{Adjacent stations
   | system = Pacific Electric
   | header1 = Subway Terminal
   | line1 = Glendale–Burbank   | left1 = Edendale
   | line2 = San Fernando       | left2 = Sunset Junction
   | line3 = Hollywood          | left3 = Sunset Junction
   | line4 = Owensmouth         | left4 = Sunset Junction
   | line5 = Sherman            | left5 = Sunset Junction
   | header10 = Hill Street station
   | line10 = Westgate          | left10 = Vineyard
   | line11 = Sawtelle          | left11 = Vineyard
   | line12 = Venice Short Line | left12 = Vineyard
   | line13 = Redondo via Playa del Rey | left13 = Vineyard
 }}
| route_map       = {{Subway Terminal Building|inline=y}}
| nrhp            = {{Infobox NRHP | embed=yes
   | name            = Subway Terminal Building
   | nrhp_type       =
   | caption         =
   | nearest_city    =
   | area            =
   | built           =
   | architect       =
   | architecture    = [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Italian Renaissance Revival]] 
   | added           = August 2, 2006
   | visitation_num  =
   | visitation_year =
   | refnum          = 06000657
   | designated_other1        = Los Angeles
   | designated_other1_date   = July 27, 1977
   | designated_other1_number = 177
   | mpsub           =
   | governing_body  =
 }}
}}
The historic '''Subway Terminal''', now '''Metro 417''', opened in 1925 at 417 South Hill Street near [[Pershing Square (Los Angeles)|Pershing Square]], in the [[Historic Core, Los Angeles|core of Los Angeles]] as the second, main train station of the [[Pacific Electric Railway]]; it served passengers boarding trains for the west and north of Southern California through a mile-long shortcut under [[Bunker Hill, Los Angeles|Bunker Hill]] popularly called the "[[Hollywood Subway]]," but officially known as the Belmont Tunnel. The station served alongside the [[Pacific Electric Building]] at 6th & Main, which opened in 1905 to serve lines to the south and east. The Subway Terminal was designed by [[Schultze and Weaver]] in an [[Renaissance Revival architecture|Italian Renaissance Revival]] style, and the station itself lay underground below offices of the upper floors, since repurposed into the Metro 417 luxury apartments.  When the [[B Line (Los Angeles Metro)|underground Red Line]] was built, the new [[Pershing Square (LACMTA station)|Pershing Square station]] was cut north under Hill Street alongside the Terminal building, separated from the Subway's east end by just a retaining wall. At its peak in the 20th century, the Subway Terminal served upwards of 20 million passengers a year.

==History==
[[File:Hill Street electric car station.jpg|thumb|left|Hill Street Station, {{circa|1924}}]]

===Hill Street Station===
The site was established as Hill Street Station, the downtown terminus of the [[Los Angeles Pacific Railroad]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Interurbans Special 60: Lines of The Pacific Electric Southern & Western Districts |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/pacificelectric/PE-Tunnel-Terminal.pdf |access-date=31 August 2021 |publisher=[[Interurban Press|Interurbans]] |date=1975 |page=9 |location=Glendale, CA |oclc=2119913}}</ref> Pacific Electric acquired the property along with the railroad's other assets in the Great Merger of 1911, which saw the consolidation of most of the area's local railways.

===Success===
As street traffic grew in downtown Los Angeles, the Pacific Electric Railway undertook its most ambitious project, a dedicated right of way into downtown through a tunnel; the first hub, [[Pacific Electric Building|Main Street Station]], which served passengers boarding trains to the south and east, was reached by trains sharing the streets.

To loosen traffic congestion that clogged the streets, the California Railroad Commission in 1922 issued Order No.&nbsp;9928, which called the [[Pacific Electric]] to build an [[Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard|electrified tunnel]] to bypass downtown's busy streets.<ref name="PEWHS">{{cite web |url=http://www.erha.org/pewhs.htm |title=Pacific Electric Hollywood Subway |website=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California |date=<!--undated--> |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->}}</ref> Plans for the second station for electric trains to the north and west of the region—the “Hollywood Subway”—as the project came to be known, were drafted as early as February 1924, and ground was broken in May of the same year.<ref name="PEWHS" /><ref name=erj-1924sep06>{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/stream/electricrailwayj641mcgrrich#page/349/mode/1up |title=Tunnel Digging Is Begun in Los Angeles: The Hollywood-Glendale-San Fernando Valley tunnel will eliminate 1,000 daily car movements from streets in the congested district. An expenditure of approximately $3,500,000 is planned. The length will be 5,025 ft. |journal=Electric Railway Journal |date=September 6, 1924 |volume=64 |number=10 |pages=349–351 |first=Clifford A. |last=Elliot}} [https://archive.org/details/electricrailwayj641mcgrrich Other versions] via [[Internet Archive]].</ref>

After eighteen months of building and $1.25&nbsp;million spent (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|1250000|1925}} }} adjusted for inflation), the Subway Terminal opened to the public on December&nbsp;1, 1925.<ref name=lat-1925dec01>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94400120/ |title=What Was and What is in Trolley Travel: Fete Marks Subway Opening Pacific Electric Bore Hailed as Start of New Era When First Train Moves New Electric Tunnel Opens |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 1, 1925 |page=A1 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->}} {{free access}}</ref><ref name="PEWHS" />

[[File:Pacific Electric car at Subway Terminal ca1930.jpg|thumb|left|Passengers boarding a train from an underground platform, {{circa|1930}}]]
The Belmont Tunnel, under Bunker and Crown hills, led from the station onto the [[Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard|Toluca Electric Substation and Yard]] at the Beverley viaduct over Glendale Boulevard, near [[Westlake, Los Angeles, California|Westlake]] and Echo Park. It channeled trains through Westlake to all over Hollywood, Westwood, Santa Monica, North Hollywood, Glendale, Burbank, West Hills, and San Fernando. It cut off {{convert|7|mi|km|spell=in}} or more off similar journeys on rails running along Alameda Street and Exposition Boulevard, which led trains to the other electric train terminal and headquarters, the [[Pacific Electric Building]], from the south and east of Southern California.

Thirty-one feet below Hill Street, the Subway Terminal underground enclosed six platforms, the tower where engineers fetched their schedules, and overhead electric cables that powered the trains.  The station lay underneath a waiting room and concessions in a mezzanine level, ticketing and retail shops on the ground floor, and business offices on the upper floors.  The station was built in unfinished concrete and fitted with art deco lamps.  The mezzanine's waiting room was trimmed in terra cotta tiles and hosted at least one soda fountain and a newspaper stand.  On the ground floor, to the back where passages went down to the mezzanine level, columns and recessed ceilings were finished in Italianate styled terra cotta, and front lobbies boasted marble floors and columns, and skylights, in a grand style.

The Subway was widely met with success, as it rivaled Main Street Station as the busiest in Southern California, from the 1920s to the 1950s. Faster than the automobile and at a 6¢ fare (${{Format price|{{Inflation|US|0.06|1944|r=2}} }} adjusted for inflation), ridership reached an all-time high during World War II: in 1944, electric trains carried an estimated 65,000 passengers in and out of the Subway Terminal each day, which adds up to more than 20 million per year.<ref name="PEWST">{{cite web |url=http://www.erha.org/pewst.htm |title=Pacific Electric Subway Terminal |website=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California}}</ref>

===End of electric rail===
[[Image:Subway Terminal Building, Los Angeles.JPG|thumb|right|Subway Terminal Building from northeast]]
After the parent corporation, [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], sold Pacific Electric Railway to [[Pacific City Lines]] (a subsidiary of General Motors), trains were replaced with motor buses; Pacific Electric service from the Subway was shut down in 1955. The last electric train to carry passengers, adorned with a banner reading ''To Oblivion,'' left the Belmont Tunnel on the morning of June&nbsp;19, 1955.<ref name="PEWST" /> Shortly thereafter, Southern Pacific lifted the tracks from the yard and tunnel, sealed up the Subway Terminal, disconnected the Toluca Electric Substation, and abandoned the properties.<ref name="PEWST" /><ref name=lat-1955jun17>{{cite news |title=Streetcar Tunnel Will Cease Service Sunday: Mile-Long Bore's 30-Year Career Doomed by New Bus Line to Glendale and Burbank |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 17, 1955 |page=6 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |via=Newspapers.com |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94399613/}} {{free access}}</ref>

===Office building===
[[Image:Entrance to Subway Terminal Building.jpg|thumb|Entrance to Subway Terminal Building before the current owners stripped layers of paint covering the stone.]]
The upper floors of the Subway Terminal remained as an office building for many years. The tunnel below remained unbreached along its whole length until December 1967, when part of the tunnel under Flower Street was filled in.<ref name="PEWST" /> In 1974, a piling for the [[Westin Bonaventure Hotel|Bonaventure Hotel]] was built through the spot.  The tunnel could be seen from the bottom level of the hotel's parking garage, which became an entrance into the eastern half of the tunnel for graffiti artists.

When the [[B Line (Los Angeles Metro)|Metro B (formerly Red) Line]] was built underground, the [[Pershing Square (LACMTA station)|Pershing Square station]], running north and south under Hill Street, was built at the east end of the old train station, whose tracks ran to the west. The two stations, together forming the shape of a ‘T’, are separated by the eastern wall of the old station.

===Conversion to Metro 417===
In 2007, the Subway Terminal Building, Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #177, was renovated into Metro 417, a luxury apartment building owned by [[Forest City Enterprises|Forest City]] and built by Swinerton Builders.  Concerns were raised for the historic Florentine exterior when a 76-story skyscraper, [[Park Fifth]], was initially proposed on the former site of the Philharmonic Auditorium behind the building.  In 2014, the new owner, San Francisco real estate investment firm MacFarlane Partners, announced that the Park Fifth development was going ahead with 650 units in a high-rise apartment building instead. In 2020, an outdoor paseo (path) was built between the new complex and the Metro 417 apartments with tables, chairs, and lighting, preserving the historical setting of Metro 417.<ref name=lat-2014oct23>{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-property-report-park-fifth-20141023-story.html |title=Park Fifth development to fill in missing piece in downtown L.A. |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=October 23, 2014 |last=Vincent |first=Roger}}</ref>

The developers of Metro 417 have exposed the natural stone exterior, stripping off layers of paint. They restored the lobbies to their original showcase conditions in marble and brass and have curated the historic terra cotta trim of the intermediate spaces.  The passenger ramps to the train station underground have been dismantled; the station itself has been cut off from the access tunnel and tower by a block curtain wall and is separated from the [[Pershing Square (LACMTA station)|Pershing Square station]] by a single structural barrier.
{{clear}}

==See also==
{{Portal|Los Angeles}}
* [[Pacific Electric Building]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Crump |first=Spencer |title=Ride the big red cars: How trolleys helped build southern California |year=1977 |publisher=Trans-Anglo Books |isbn=0-87046-047-1 |oclc=3414090}}
* {{cite episode |url=https://www.kcet.org/shows/visiting-huell-howser/episodes/subway |title=Subway Terminal Update |series=Visiting...With Huell Howser |station=[[KCET]] |airdate=November 17, 2008 |season=16 |number=17 |first=Huell |last=Howser |author-link=Huell Howser}} A 2008 public television documentary about the history of the Subway Terminal Building and the Belmont Tunnel.

==External links==
{{commons category|Metro 417}}
* [http://www.metro417.com The Metro417 building]
* [http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/subwayarea.htm A Tour of the Subway Terminal Area]
* [https://esotouric.com/pe-shed/ Demotion Comes to the Pacific Electric Railway Company’s historic trolley shed]

{{LAHMC}}
{{Registered Historic Places}}

{{Pacific Electric Railway}}

[[Category:Skyscraper office buildings in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Pacific Electric stations]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Residential skyscrapers in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments]]
[[Category:Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Abandoned rapid transit stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States opened in 1925]]
[[Category:1925 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1920s architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:Italian Renaissance Revival architecture in the United States]]
[[Category:Renaissance Revival architecture in California]]
[[Category:Railway stations located underground in California]]
[[Category:Railway stations in the United States closed in 1955]]