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Overview

This Arcade Depot replaced the Southern Pacific's first in Los Angeles, the River Station, opened in 1876. The Arcade Depot operated from 09/1888 until 1914.

Building History

The Southern Pacific Railroad's second Los Angeles depot--popularly known as the "Arcade Station"--operated from 1888 until 1914. An article "Lost Train Depots of Los Angeles History," published by KCET said of it: "Built on the former site of William Wolfskill's pioneering orange groves, the depot was flanked by gardens and landscaping meant to showcase Southern California's salubrious climate. A fully-grown Washington fan palm, moved from a site nearby, stood outside the station's entrance, symbolically welcoming newcomers to a supposed subtropical paradise. The depot itself was a massive, wooden Victorian structure reminiscent of European train stations. Five hundred feet long, the depot's rail shed featured skylights and an arched roof that soared 90 feet above the platforms below. Upon its opening, theLos Angeles Times praised the Arcade Station as 'second to none on the Pacific Slope.'" (See KCET, "Lost Train Depots of Los Angeles History," accessed 02/14/2017.)

An early article in the Los Angeles Times said of the station in 1887: "The new depot of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company will be situated on Alameda street, between Fourth and Sixth Streets. It will be 1900 feet in length and 300 feet wide. The property is valued at $200,000. The road will come into Alameda street past Fourth, and thence out about Sixth Street, eastward through the Shearer tract to and across the river to the Mayor Workman tract. The depot will be for passengers only. It will be an arcade, with half a dozen or more tracks, and will hold several trains of cars. somewhat similar to the one in Sacramento, but larger and more beautiful. There will be no hotel upon it, though a spacious dining-room will be built for the accommodation of the traveling public."

The station was finished in the fall of 1888. G.W. Frink, President of the Southern Pacific, wrote in the Los Angeles Times on 09/17/1888: "The Southern Pacific Grand Arcade Passenger Depot, now about completed, is located on the Wolfskill Orchard tract, at the foot of Fifth street." (See "Notice to 27,000 Odd Fellows," Los Angeles Times, 09/17/1888, p. 12.)

Building Notes

In 1897, A.D. Shepard was the Southern Pacific Company’s (SP) Assistant General Manager and Freight Agent. G.F. Herr was the city ticket agent. Herr’s city ticket and freight office was located at 229 South Spring Street. Passenger stations operated at the Arcade Depot, on the northeast corner of East 5th Street and Central Avenue; the 1st Street Station, on the northwest corner of East 1st Street and North Alameda; the Commercial Street Station at 609 North Alameda; the Naud Street Station, at the junction of North Main Street and North Alameda; and the River Station, 1501 San Fernando Street. The SP’s Freight Station had an address of 1401 San Fernando Street. Shops and yards of the SP existed in 1897 between College Street and the Los Angeles River. (See Maxwell’s Los Angeles, California, City Directory, 1897, p. 866.)

Demolition

The Arcade Station was razed in 1914.

PCAD id: 5912