- City:
- Los Angeles, CA
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels, Sanitation and Water Disposal
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA), Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1937
- Contractor:
- Bent Brothers Inc.
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
In February 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) granted Los Angeles, CA, $304,000 to begin street realignment and improvements necessary for the construction of a new railroad station. The project in its entirety was expected to employ 350 to 400 men.
In 1926, Los Angeles voters were given the opportunity to choose between the construction of a network of elevated railways or a new railroad station. They chose the latter by a 61.3 to 38.7 percent margin. Union Station—which would consolidate the city’s existing Central and La Grande Stations—was to be located at the historic Los Angeles Plaza. However, preservationist Christine Sterling and Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler successfully lobbied for its construction across Alameda Street, in Chinatown, instead. As a result, Chinatown was demolished and eventually relocated.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the PWA grant would be used, “in addition to street improvement, for sewer construction and the providing of earth for station site fills and grades. […] Earth for the filling and grading is expected to be excavated from Fort Moore Hill under a contract between the city and County Supervisors, by which the city is to obtain 250,000 cubic yards of fill for the sum of $1.”
Removal of Fort Moore Hill, which began on April 19, 1934, became the first PWA project undertaken in the City of Los Angeles and the second in the county. At the initiation ceremony—attended by several thousand—Mayor Frank Shaw made the following remarks: “This marks two important steps in our progress, the filling in of the foundation for the union station and the removal of another part of Fort Moore hill, long a barrier to traffic and downtown development.”
In 1937, the PWA (officially known as the Emergency Administration of Public Works) funded the construction by Bent Brothers, Inc., of a large concrete bridge carrying railroad traffic to Union Station over Macy St. (now Caesar Chavez Ave.).
Note: The costs listed below covered street improvement, sewer construction, and the removal of Fort Moore Hill; the cost of the Macy St. bridge is not included.
Source notes
“CITY TO GET DEPOT FUND: P.W.A. Grants $304,000 Union Station Project,” Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), February 26, 1934.
"REMOVAL OF HILL STARTED: CITY'S FIRST P.W.A. PROJECT UNDER WAY AS PUBLIC OFFICIALS ASSEMBLE AT FORT MOORE," Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), April 20, 1934.
Macy St./Caesar Chavez Ave. bridge plaque
Site originally submitted by Andrew Laverdiere on December 22, 2014.
Additional contributions by Natalie McDonald.
Site Details
| Federal Cost | Local Cost | Total Cost |
|---|---|---|
| $304,000 | $983,735 | $1,287,735 |
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