Pacific Electric Railway’s Subway Terminal Building, downtown Los Angeles

Posted on November 9, 2012 by

Pacific Electric Railway's Subway Terminal Building, downtown Los AngelesBuilt by the Pacific Electric Railway, the Subway Terminal Building opened in 1925 and functioned as the terminus for the Hollywood-Glendale-Valley Subway line, which closed in the 1950s. Note the market, proving people shopped downtown for groceries back then. Although it’s hard to say when “then” was, I’d guess by looking at the cars parked in the lot, that this photo was taken in the 40s. For many decades there no supermarkets left in downtown L.A. until Ralphs opened in 2007. Today, the Subway Terminal Building, like so many, is now home to luxury lofts.

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2 responses to “Pacific Electric Railway’s Subway Terminal Building, downtown Los Angeles”

  1. Bill says:
    January 13, 2014 at 1:25 am

    This looks like the mid-1950s. Prior to September 1950 the parking lot had been Pacific Electric’s Hill Street Terminal. Venice Short Line trains began and ended at the Hill Street Terminal until September 17, 1950 when buses took over. In the picture Hill Street has been repaved. The grocery store was originally built in 1925 as a station building for PE’s Hill Street Station, but after one year Pacific Electric decided to consolidate operations next door at its nearly new Subway Terminal. The grocery store was there from 1926 until 1957, when a fire seriously damaged the building. The grocery store was torn down in May and June 1957. Information from 1950s vintage Interurbans publications.

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