If only the Figueroa Street Tunnels still looked this leisurely, I’d happily take them. They are a set of four tunnels through Elysian Park that opened in 1931, carrying northbound traffic on what is now the 110 Freeway aka the Pasadena Freeway. This shot was taken in the 1950s after they became part of the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which was the first freeway in the US.
And in June 2017:
I seem to remember that the tunnels had two way trafic when I was very young. We often went through them on our way to china town. They were lined with shinny white tiles, (and maybe still are), that thru reflections in every direction. I would always ask my Father to honk the horn which made a very loud eco in thet tunnels. When you approached the first tunnel leaving LA. On the lright hand side was a large, complex of delapolated,multi story, wooden tenement houses. I was drawn to this site every time we drove past, wondering what it was like for the children living in these poor conditions. Memories of LA, in my childhood, are vivid and filled with these images, both peasant and sad..