I’ve come across plenty of photos of what downtown looked like after Union railway station was built but photos of the area before the land was scraped clean are much rarer. This photograph was taken in 1934. The caption reads: “Site of new Union Terminal (enclosed by lines), where dirt to be removed from Fort Moore Hill will be used for filling in. This great depot will serve all steam railroads entering Los Angeles. Chinatown is seen in foreground of station site.” In other words, we’re telling the Chinese that they’re going to have to move Chinatown a mile to the west because they’re sitting on the land we want to build Union Station on.