Photo: Futterer, Holyland Exhibition, 1960. Shot from Fellowship Parkway, looking at the Silver Lake side of the 2 Freeway site, after homes and Red Car tracks removed. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
Photo: Futterer, Holyland Exhibition, probably 1955. Prior to track removal. (Click on photo to enlarge.)
In 1955, Pacific Electric decommissioned the Glendale Line. The Glendale Line survived longer than many other trolley lines, because the private right-of-way through our neighborhood allowed the trains to move faster (without car traffic) than on City streets.
The State declared eminent domain, taking homes in the paths of the freeways under construction throughout Los Angeles. The above photos provide a record of the homes removed for construction of the 2 Freeway near the Whitmore Stop. According to neighbors present at the time, many homes were moved to other parts of the neighborhood; around Allesandro Elementary School and Elysian Valley.
The Holyland Exhibition lost all but 6 feet of their lush front yard on Allesandro Way, which was moved right up to the building's front doorstep. The top photo also shows where the state cut into the adjacent hillside to make room for the 2 Freeway. In the coming days we'll review neighbors' ground level view of the destruction and radical landscape changes.
We're reviewing the photographic history of our neighborhood surrounding the 2 Freeway, in anticipation of the EIR for the 2 Freeway Terminus Project.
