The history of Bunker Hill Tower
In 1867, Prudent Beaudry, a wealthy entreprenuer who later became mayor of Los Angeles, purchased at public auction, 20 acres of the hillside that would become Bunker Hill.
Because of the hill’s commanding views, he knew that it would make for an opulent subdivision. He developed the peak of Bunker Hill with lavish two-story Victorian mansions, apartments and hotels that became famous as homes for the upper-class, educated residents of Los Angeles.
But the steep topography of the hill, rising 100 feet into the air, presented a physical barrier.
In 1901, another entreprenuer, Col. James Ward Eddy, constructed Angel’s Flight, a short incline railway system of two counterbalanced cable cars moving up and down parallel tracks along the steep grade between Third and Hill Streets and the top of fashionable Bunker Hill.
Angels Flight reopened in March, 2010, it is once again back in service taking people up and down the hill to work, shopping, or lunch at the Grand Central Market.
Built in 1968, Bunker Hill Tower was one of the original buildings in the extensive Bunker Hill Redevelopment Project. The project was proposed by the City of Los Angeles in 1955 and is scheduled to end in 2015.
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