2nd Street Tunnel

The 2nd Street Tunnel is a widely filmed and photographed tunnel on 2nd Street under Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Times described it as "the most recognizable city landmark most Americans have never heard of".^[1] It is 1,500 ft (460 m) long and lined with glossy white-glazed tiles that act similarly to a photographic light box and provide visually interesting, distorted reflections of things placed in it.^[1]


The tunnel was built to relieve congestion on the earlier 3rd Street Tunnel.^[2] Construction began in 1916 and was completed in 1924, with its formal opening on July 25 of that year. The distinctive white tiles, which give the tunnel its glow, came from Germany, which caused controversy at the time due to Anti-German sentiment at the onset of World War I.^[1]


The tunnel runs from South Figueroa Street at the northwest to Hill Street at the southeast. 2nd Street also runs above for two blocks at the surface from Hill Street at the southwest to South Hope Street.


The two entrances are very different in character, automotive columnist Dan Neil describing the contrast of "the grittier east entrance and the glowing aperture of the west side, with flaring buttresses reminiscent of the shell of the Hollywood Bowl."^[1]