Observe The Pacific Electric across the street from Cole’s- to see the building in it’s entirety. It once housed the offices and a depot for the pacific electric railway line. An above ground railway system that connected the counties of Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. The line was ran by Henry Huntington and the building first bore his name.
The Huntington had a waiting area for train passengers on the ground floor- it was furnished with mahogany and marble and had huge 20 foot high ceilings.
The building itself housed the Pacific electric offices and the eighth and ninth floors was a designated private area for the Jonathan Club - a social group of well to do businessman that is still in Los Angeles today. The floors had fancy amenities- including a ballroom, roof garden, a turkish bath and gymnasium.
Mr. Huntington himself was a member of the Jonathan club- and perhaps the social distractions were part of the problem with his railway. He had built so many subdivisions to take his customers too by rail, but did not provide transportation between those divisions. By the time cars became the norm- the pacific electric system had not improved and the car culture of Los Angeles slowly became what it is today. The building is now high end lofts what remains is a Los Angeles Icon on it’s ground floor- cross the street to Cole’s.
The building is now a private loft style living space.
http://www.pacificelectric.org/
