L.A. Redux: The City Then and Now

For 40 years, two 14-passenger wooden cable cars, known as Court Flight, carried Civic Center workers and other passengers up and down Bunker Hill between Broadway and Hill Street.

Operating from 1904 to 1944 just north of 1st Street and south of Temple Street, the trams charged a 5-cent fare and saved riders from climbing 141 steps up a 200-foot grade. Advertising urged riders to “take this car for the highest point in the city from which the finest view of the city, mountains and the islands of the ocean can be had.”

Court Flight, next door to the Hotel Broadway, was operated by Sam Vandergrift for 28 years. Vandergrift sat behind the the control levers seven days a week--never seeing a motion picture or ball game, according to historical accounts. Ben L. Hamilton took over operation of the trams in 1933 after Vandergrift died.

Another inclined railway, the better-known Angel’s Flight, operated a few blocks away at 3rd and Hill streets. It traveled up a 325-foot grade and operated from 1901 to 1969.

Bunker Hill has since been graded down where Court Flight once was, and a parking garage has been constructed under the Court of Flags, a park-like area that connects the Los Angeles County Law Library and the Hall of Records.