Angel’s Flight Back on Track After a Redesign Job

Angel’s Flight, the city’s late, lamented 325-foot-long incline railway, is closer than ever to climbing up and down Bunker Hill once again, thanks to a decision Thursday by the Cultural Affairs Commission.

The revival of Angel’s Flight, which opened in 1901 and made its last nickel trip up the hill at 3rd Street in 1968, has been closely tied to the fate of California Plaza, an 11-acre commercial redevelopment project atop Bunker Hill that ran afoul of the Cultural Affairs Commission earlier this year.

When it is completed, the California Plaza complex will span Olive Street between 3rd and 4th streets. Buildings on both sides of Olive will be connected by a vast bridge that will support shops, restaurants and an outdoor amphitheater as well as serving as the uphill terminus for Angel’s Flight.

Bridge Redesigned

Commission members had objected to the design of the bridge, fearing it would turn Olive Street below into a dreary, unsafe 300-foot-long tunnel.

On Thursday, Bunker Hill Associates, developers of California Plaza, came back to the commission with a design that would leave more of Olive Street open to the light and would adorn the unlighted portion with neon sculpture.

The commission also wanted Angel’s Flight to end at a point high enough to be seen from surrounding streets. The developers responded with a design that raises the upper terminal from an elevation of 370 feet to 385.

The scheme, approved unanimously by the commission, now goes to the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. If approved by the CRA, as expected, work on the next phase of California Plaza, the second of three office towers, can begin. The first stage includes an office tower between Olive and Grand and the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The third phase will incorporate Angel’s Flight along with the third tower and is not expected to be completed before the mid-1990s. Officials of the CRA last year estimated the cost of rebuilding Angel’s Flight at a minimum of $2 million. The cost will be shared by the CRA and the developer, who will be responsible for constructing the railbed and operating the railway.

It won’t be the same old Angel’s Flight, but close enough, officials promise.

The rebuilt version will travel up and down Bunker Hill about half a block south of the original route alongside 3rd Street. The grade will be about the same--a 33-degree ascent--and the length of the journey will be about the same as the original. The uphill route will start on the west side of Hill Street across from the Grand Central Market and adjacent to the Angelus Plaza senior citizen housing project.

The two cars will look like the orange-and-black wooden originals, although the new ones probably won’t be made of wood. The originals, dubbed Olivet and Sinai, are to be restored and displayed, one at a planned Angel’s Flight Museum at California Plaza and the other at Heritage Square, a Victorian Village north of downtown.

And, just like the old days, it will cost you to ride Angel’s Flight. No doubt more than a nickel, although CRA officials are talking about “a nominal fare.”