La Grande Station

Infobox Station
name= La Grande Station
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image_caption=The "California Limited", led by engine No. 53, makes a stop at La Grande Station, circa 1899.
address=2nd Street and Santa Fe Ave
Los Angeles, California
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line= Santa Fe Railroad
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closed= 1939
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La Grande Station was the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway's (Santa Fe) main passenger terminal in Los Angeles, California, until damage from the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 forced its closure.cite web| author=Southern California Institute of Architecture| url=http://www.sciarc.edu/v5/about/freightyard.php| title=On the History of the Santa Fe Freight Depot, Los Angeles| year=2004| accessdate=2006-05-12| ] When Union Station opened in 1939, Santa Fe moved all of its passenger services there.

History

Santa Fe opened La Grande Station on July 29 1893. [cite web| author=Rasmussen, Cecilia; Times staff writer| title=Union Station Helped Turn a City Into a Metropolis| url=http://www.railfan.net/lists/rshsdepot-digest/200209/msg00005.html| accessdate=2006-05-12| ] [cite web| author=Brehm, Qathryn| title=Los Angeles Downtown Arts District: History| url=http://www.ladad.com/EarlyHistory.htm| accessdate=2006-05-12| ] The station was unique for Southern California in its Moorish-inspired architecture.

After the 1933 Long Beach earthquake, the station's dome was removed. The station continued to serve as Santa Fe Railway's LA passenger terminal (sans dome) until the opening of the new LA Union Station on May 7, 1939. The station was located at 2nd Street and Santa Fe Ave, just south of the First Street viaduct built in 1929 and on the west bank of the LA River.Fact|date=February 2007

In popular culture

Many Hollywood movies were filmed at the stylish station. Laurel and Hardy's film "Berth Marks" (1929) was one of the first sound movies shot on location. Other movies that used Santa Fe's La Grande Station included "Choo Choo" 1931 (Our Gang - Little Rascals), "Swing Time" 1936 (Fred Astaire) and "Something to Sing About" 1937 (James Cagney).

References

External links

* [http://atsfrr.net/resources/Stern/Index.htm La Grande Station 1914 remodel plans] (Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society)
* [http://www.ulwaf.com/LA-1900s/SpecialReports/LaGrande.html Los Angeles in the 1900s: La Grande Station]