Pacific Electric Subway/Belmont Tunnel

[Gokhan]

Tour of the northern (Belmont) section of the former LA subway (Belmont Tunnel) on March 19

I got this information because the organizer of the tour Erin Johnson (www.facebook.com/erin.johnson.7587) saw Alan K. Weeks' pictures of the former subway I posted on Facebook. I didn't know that there was actually a door to the northern section of the Belmont Tunnel on the painted mural there. This is the very first time public will be allowed in this section of the tunnel since the Belmont Station apartment complex has been built and the tunnel portal was closed. It's on Saturday, Match 19, and tickets are $35. Pass it to interested parties.

www.atlasobscura.com/events/obscura-society-la-cartwheel-art-tours-animal-alley

[johanragle]

It's too bad they'll only let people peek inside due to liability reasons.

[Gokhan]

Mar 3, 2016 17:58:31 GMT -8 johanragle said:

It's too bad they'll only let people peek inside due to liability reasons.

Thanks for noticing that. I didn't realize that they wouldn't actually let people inside.

[Gokhan]

And the length of the Pacific Electric Subway is ...

0.854 miles.

There is almost no information regarding this and it's often incorrectly stated as about one mile, over one mile, and so on. I looked at the 1955 topographic map for the route of the subway and then used Google Earth to measure its length. Bonaventure Hotel, of which underground parking garage has permanently blocked the subway, is sitting exactly 1/3 the way from the eastern portal. This was also often incorrectly reported as 1/2 the way. The following are the exact distances within 20 ft and also included are the maps. I also realized that the March 19 tour won't allow people in the 0.542-mile-long western section of the subway, which is the western 2/3 of it, but only have people take a look from the door with some lighting.

Eastern portal at the western wall of the Pacific Electric Subway Building at 4th and Hill Streets: 0 ft (0.000 miles)
Bonaventure Hotel eastern wall: 1,350 ft (0.256 miles)
Bonaventure Hotel western wall: 1,645 ft (0.312 miles)
Western portal at Belmont Substation: 4,509 ft (0.854 miles)

Eastern-section length: 1,350 ft (0.256 miles)
Blocked-section length: 295 ft (0.056 miles)
Western-section length: 2,864 ft (0.542 miles)

Total length: 4,509 ft (0.854 miles)