In 1909, you could ride to the top of Mt. Washington for a nickel.
I've lived on Mt. Washington since 2009, and I still think this is the best story on the hill. For ten years, a cable railway pulled two little cars up Avenue 43 from Marmion Way to the summit. It was built for one reason: to sell the hill.
A ride built to sell lots
Back then, the top of Mt. Washington was hard to get to. Developer Robert Marsh had land to sell up there, and buyers needed a way up.
So he borrowed an idea from Angels Flight downtown. With electrical manufacturer Arthur St. Clair Perry as his silent partner, he built the Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway. Service began in May 1909.
The plan was simple. Get people to the top, let them see the view, and sell them a lot. It worked. Seven lots sold as soon as the railway started running, and by December of that year, every finished home had sold.
Florence and Virginia
The railway had two cars, and they had names. Florence was named for Marsh's daughter. Virginia was named for Perry's daughter. Each one seated 24 people.
That's Virginia in the photo at the top, waiting at the station at the bottom of Avenue 43 in 1910.
The cars were counterbalanced on a steel cable about 3,000 feet long, so as one went up, the other came down. A 40-horsepower electric motor at the top did the work. In places the grade hit 42 percent, and the cars moved at about 4 miles an hour. A 1909 Los Angeles Times article said the trip took less than five minutes.
The fare was five cents each way. Residents could buy ticket books that brought it down to two and a half cents a ride.
The hotel at the top
At the summit, Marsh built the Mount Washington Hotel, a mission-style hotel with 18 rooms, each with its own bath. It opened in early 1910.
The hotel had a short life, and the building had a few more lives after it. The hotel closed in the summer of 1921. That September, it reopened as the Mt. Washington Military School. By 1923 it was a hospital for people with emphysema, and that closed by early 1925.
In 1925, Paramahansa Yogananda bought the property, and it became the international headquarters of the Self-Realization Fellowship. It still is today, and the building is a city Historic-Cultural Monument.
Why it stopped
By 1919 the cable was worn out, and the city ordered the railway shut down until it could be made safe. It never ran again. By 1930 the tracks were gone, and Avenue 43 had been paved for cars.
The old station at the bottom of Avenue 43 is still there. The city named it a Historic-Cultural Monument in 1983.
What it means if you live here now
The railway is gone, but the reason it existed hasn't changed. People came up the hill for the view and the quiet, and they still do.
The steep streets that made a railway necessary are the same streets I walk buyers through today. Hillside homes here need a closer look at foundations, drainage, access, and fire zone rules, and I've put those details on my Mt. Washington guide.
If you're thinking about buying or selling on the hill, let's talk.
Questions about the Mt. Washington railway
Did Mt. Washington have a railway?
Yes. The Los Angeles and Mount Washington Railway was a cable incline that ran up Avenue 43 from Marmion Way to the summit of Mt. Washington from 1909 to 1919.
Why was the Mt. Washington incline railway built?
Developer Robert Marsh built it to bring buyers to the top of the hill so he could sell lots and homes there.
What happened to the Mount Washington Hotel?
The hotel closed in 1921. The building was then the Mt. Washington Military School, and later a hospital. In 1925, Paramahansa Yogananda bought the property, and it became the international headquarters of the Self-Realization Fellowship.
Is anything left of the railway?
The station building at the bottom of Avenue 43 still stands and is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument (No. 269).
Photo: University of Southern California Libraries and California Historical Society.