Central Station was the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

's main passenger

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It was formerly on Central Avenue at Fifth Street, in eastern

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

. The primary hub for Southern Pacific's passenger operations in Southern California, it was served by the '' Sunset Limited'', ''

Coast Daylight The ''Coast Daylight'', originally known as the ''Daylight Limited'', was a passenger train on the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, via SP's Coast Line. It was advertised as the "most beautiful ...

'', '' Golden State'', and other named trains. The station replaced the company's previous Los Angeles terminal,

Arcade Depot The Arcade Depot was the main Southern Pacific Railroad passenger railway station, from 1888 until 1914. It was located on Alameda Street, between 5th and 6th Streets, in Los Angeles, California. History The land for the station was furnished t ...

, and was often referred to by the name of the older facility.

History

The Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) was the most used of the three mainline railroads that serviced Los Angeles in the early 20th century (the others being the

Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad The Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad was a rail company in California, Nevada, and Utah in the United States, that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities (Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Angeles, California), via Las Ve ...

and

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

). Southern Pacific began investigating the replacement of the aging

as early as 1913 in anticipation of increased passenger numbers to the state as a result of hosting both the San Francisco

Panama–Pacific International Exposition The Panama–Pacific International Exposition was a world's fair held in San Francisco, California, United States, from February 20 to December 4, 1915. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the completion of the Panama Canal, but it was widely se ...

and San Diego

Panama–California Exposition The Panama–California Exposition was an exposition held in San Diego, California, between January 1, 1915, and January 1, 1917. The exposition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, and was meant to tout San Diego as the first United Stat ...

in 1915.

Passenger trains began operating at the station's new tracks on December 1, 1914. The

station building A station building, also known as a head house, is the main building of a passenger railway station. It is typically used principally to provide services to passengers. A station building is a component of a station, which can include tracks, p ...

opened on May 2, 1915. In 1918, just over 50% of all passenger traffic was provided via Southern Pacific and Central Station. The

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

, which had its main Los Angeles train station (built 1891) damaged in a fire, began operating from the station in 1924. In addition to long-distance trains, the station was served by the two local

electric railway A railway electrification system supplies electric power to Rail transport, railway trains and trams without an on-board Prime mover (locomotive), prime mover or local fuel supply. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling pa ...

s. Pacific Electric Red Cars stopped at the station until 1950, calling at Ceres and Central on the west side of the building. Passengers could get cars to

Sierra Vista Sierra Vista is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the population of the city is 45,308, and is the 27th most populous city in Arizona. The city is part of the Sierra Vista-Douglas Metropolitan Are ...

, Pasadena, Edendale, Long Beach and San Pedro. By 1938, the

Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...

Yellow

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

lines D, U, and 3 stopped in front of the building on Central Avenue. In 1926 voters in Los Angeles voted 51% to 49% to build a

union station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

. All long-distance passenger services were transferred to the new

Los Angeles Union Station Los Angeles Union Station is the main railway station in Los Angeles, California, and the largest railroad passenger terminal in the Western United States. It opened in May 1939 as the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, replacing La Grande S ...

upon that building's completion in 1939. Pacific Electric cars continued to run here until September 1940 when trips were rerouted to the

Subway Terminal Building The historic Subway Terminal, now Metro 417, opened in 1925 at 417 South Hill Street near Pershing Square, in the core of Los Angeles as the second, main train station of the Pacific Electric Railway; it served passengers boarding trains for the ...

. The Central Station was demolished on August 22, 1956.

Design

The station was designed by the firm of Messrs, Parkinson & Bergstrom. Features which governed its design included: * Pedestrian and track

grade separation In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

* Separation of incoming and outgoing passengers * Amenities for waiting passengers * Adequate baggage facilities * An efficient and convenient

train ticket A train ticket is a ticket issued by a railway operator that enables the bearer to travel on the operator's network or a partner's network. Tickets can authorize the bearer to travel a set itinerary at a specific time (common for long-distance ...

office * A centralized information bureau * Additional operational facilities including a power plant, kitchen and dining room, office, private car yards, etc.

References

* Railway stations in Los Angeles Buildings and structures in Downtown Los Angeles Los Angeles Central Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Demolished railway stations in the United States History of Los Angeles Landmarks in Los Angeles Demolished buildings and structures in California Transit centers in the United States Railway stations in the United States opened in 1914 1914 establishments in California 1910s architecture in the United States Railway stations closed in 1939 1939 disestablishments in California Beaux-Arts architecture in California Los Angeles Central Buildings and structures demolished in 1956 Pacific Electric stations {{California-railstation-stub