Los Angeles Bunker Hill History
History of Bunker Hill in Los Angeles:
The historic Bunker Hill Victorian era neighborhood of Los Angeles has been erased except for the Angels Flight funicular. Few physical traces of the original neighborhood remain except for some rare photographs and the Historic Bunker Hill Art Collection of 25 paintings that were painted on location by famed artist Arden von Dewitz. (Click: “Bunker Hill Collection page 1, page 2, and page 3” site boxes above).
How Bunker Hill got its name:
In 1867 the land atop Bunker Hill was converted into a real estate development and streets were laid out atop the hill and built to connect the promontory to the developed flatlands below. Bunker Hill Avenue was named in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Revolutionary War battle fought in Boston, and eventually Bunker Hill became the name of the entire hilltop community.
Bunker Hill was the most fashionable residential district of 1890’s Los Angeles:
The modest two-story structures built in the Bunker Hill's early years gave way to grand Queen Anne Victorian Mansions and by the 1890s, Bunker Hill had become the city's most fashionable residential district, attracting bankers, doctors, lawyers, and members of the city's social elite.
Angles Flight Funicular and Bunker Hill crowding:
To improve access between the Bunker Hill promontory homes and the flatland business district below Angels Flight Funicular was constructed on Second Street. However, as Angels Flight was completed in 1901 the neighborhood's fashionableness had peaked and, apartment houses and commercial buildings soon began crowding out the Victorian Mansions.
Bunker Hill’s fate:
Downtown business interests complained that the hill impeded the flow of traffic to the western suburbs and several tunnels and the Pacific Electric subway were constructed. Bunker Hill new construction virtually stopped after 1920. Los Angeles adopted the Bunker Hill Urban Renewal Project in 1959 and within a decade the neighborhood was gone except for Angels Flight which continues to scale the hillside today.
Rediscovering Bunker Hill:
You can revisit the lost nostalgic era of Bunker Hill including Angles Flight, neighborhoods, the city streets, and the Victorian homes and gardens captured in the “Historical Bunker Hill Art Collection” of 25 paintings that were painted on location by famed artist Arden von Dewitz. (Click: “Bunker Hill Collection page 1, page 2, and page 3” site boxes above).
