Central Station was the

Southern Pacific Railroad The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Railroad classes#Class I, Class I Rail transport, railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was oper ...

's main passenger

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output devices for a computer * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together ** Battery terminal, electrical contact used to ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

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

Sunset Limited The ''Sunset Limited'' is a long-distance passenger train run by Amtrak, operating on a route between New Orleans and Los Angeles. Major stops include Houston, San Antonio and El Paso in Texas, as well as Tucson, Arizona. Opening in 1894 thr ...

'', ''

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 beautifu ...

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

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 largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

), though their main Arcade Depot had fallen into a state of disrepair by 1913. Southern Pacific began investigating the replacement of the aging station as early as that year 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 s ...

and San Diego

Panama–California Exposition The Panama–California Exposition was a World's fair, world 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 t ...

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, ...

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 is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

, 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 Railway electrification is the use of electric power for the propulsion of rail transport. Electric railways use either electric locomotives (hauling passengers or freight in separate cars), electric multiple units ( passenger cars with their own ...

Pacific Electric The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned Public transport, mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electr ...

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, 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 (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

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, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

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

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

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 (Los Angeles), Pershing Square, in the Historic Core, Los Angeles, core of Los Angeles as the second, main train station of the Pacific Ele ...

. 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 tr ...

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

train ticket A train ticket is a transit pass 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 fo ...

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 Demolished buildings and structures in Los Angeles Demolished railway stations in the United States 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 1939 disestablishments in California Beaux-Arts architecture in California Buildings and structures demolished in 1956 Pacific Electric stations Former Union Pacific Railroad stations Railway stations in the United States closed in 1939 {{California-railstation-stub