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tunnel’s portal near the intersection of traversed the tunnel on the morning of

issue A brief history Beverly and Glendale Blvds. in Westlake June 19, 1955. Shortly thereafter, Pacific
with the Subway Terminal Building, Electric removed the tracks from the Bel-
x
ion
of the Belmont
located at the corner of Fourth and Hill mont Tunnel, closed the Subway Terminal
F
lu


Tunnel and yard
Streets in the core of downtown. Building and Toluca Substation, and left
From the day of its opening, the the site abandoned.
ture
Hollywood Subway proved to be a suc- —Wikipedia
Cul
The Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substa-
cessful operation and quickly emerged
tion and Yard is a designated historic
as one of Los Angeles most popular
monument located within the city limits
means of transit.
of Los Angeles, California. The tunnel,
The construction of an extensive freeway
substation and yard are remnants of the
system throughout Southern California
former Pacific Electric Railway’s line
ultimately led to the closure of the
Belmont yard photos by Mark C. Harvey
that ran between the Subway Terminal
unless otherwise noted
Hollywood Subway in the 1950s. As
Building in Downtown Los Angeles and
Angelenos became increasingly reliant
the residential district of Westlake. The
on the personal automobile, ridership on
monument occupies a vacant lot roughly
the Subway plummeted and forced the
one mile west of downtown.
struggling Pacific Electric company to
abandon their operation in 1955. The last
Subway officially opened to the public on
subway car to carry passengers—carrying
December 1, 1925. Traveling a distance
a banner reading “To Oblivion”—
of slightly over one mile, the subway
transported passengers through the Belmont yard paint layers chip
by ‘Otherthings’*
Belmont Tunnel, which connected the
Sham by MakeOne
Belmont Tunnel view
by ‘Otherthings’*
*Photos from Flickr user Otherthings used under a creative commons license.
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