Hollywood Subway
The Hollywood Subway, as it is most commonly known, officially the Belmont Tunnel, was a subway tunnel used by the interurban streetcars (the "Red Cars") of the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran from its northwest entrance in today's Westlake district to the Subway Terminal Building, in the Historic Core, the business and commercial center of Los Angeles from around the 1910s through the 1950s. The Subway Terminal was one of the Pacific Electric Railway’s two main hubs, the other being the Pacific Electric Building at 6th and Main. Numerous lines proceeded from the San Fernando Valley, Glendale, Santa Monica and Hollywood into the tunnel in Westlake and traveled southeast under Crown and Bunker Hill towards the Subway Terminal.
This article is about the tunnel for the streetcars of the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles. For the current subway line running under Hollywood, see B Line (Los Angeles Metro).
Belmont Tunnel /
Toluca Substation and Yard
The two-track tunnel, 1.045 miles (1.682 km) long, cut roughly eight miles (13 km) off rail travel through some of the most heavily congested areas in the United States. At its peak, this tunnel hosted 880 Red Cars per day, and served upwards of 20 million passengers a year.
The tunnel's northwest entrance, the shed of what was formerly an electric substation, and the site of the former yard, are just downhill from 299 South Toluca Street, in Westlake. Together they form a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument, the Belmont Tunnel / Toluca Substation and Yard. The monument site is bounded by 2nd Street and the Beverly Boulevard viaduct to the north, Lucas Avenue to the west, Emerald Street uphill to the south, and Toluca Street to the east. Currently, the Belmont Station Apartments stand in front of the tunnel entrance.
The Hollywood Subway and electric substation are used in a large number of TV shows, films, and other creative genres: