Watts Station

33.943055555556 - 118.243Koordinaten: 33 ° 56 '35 " N, 118 ° 14' 35 " W

Watts Station is a railway station was built in 1904 in Watts, a neighborhood of Los Angeles in California. The building was one of the first buildings in Watts and served many years as a main stopping point for the Red Car of the Pacific Electric Railway from Los Angeles and Long Beach. It was the only building that remained intact when the Watts riots, the shops were burnt down at 103rd Street. That does not probed building in the central part of the then Charcoal Alley baptized road was the station has become a symbol of continuity, hope and renewal for the district. It has now been declared a Historic - Cultural Monument and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Construction and operation as a station for the Red Cars

Watts was built on the site of the old Rancho La Tajuata. 1902 tried the Watts family, after the district was later given his name to speed up the development of the area by the Pacific Electric Railway, a ten- acre tract of land signed over to the 1904 Watts Station was built. The station has been used for more than 50 years as a main stop for the operation of the " Red Cars " between Los Angeles and Long Beach. The station building is a single storey timber-framed structure made of wood, the base of which is divided by 2200 square feet in three rooms .. The station was one of the first building erected in Watts and is one of the few preserved buildings from the early years of the district. The building later served as a model for railway stations that were built in La Habra, Covina and Glendora.

The opening of the station attracted new residents, so that the growing neighborhood was called Watts Station. The building remained a station on the Pacific Electric depot, until in the 1950s the operation of the Red Cars has been set.

Lively history

From the outset, the station had a glorious history. Among the incidents that occurred here were:

Symbol of hope at the Charcoal Alley

In August 1965, the Watts riots in the destruction of the buildings on both sides of the 103rd Street - the main thoroughfare in Watts - led, was Watts station in the center of the section of road between Compton and Wilmington Avenue, due to the heavy destruction under the name " charcoal Alley "(Eng. roughly: " Street of charcoal ") was known. An eyewitness reported: " Both sides of the 103rd Street are now burned. The thoroughfare was a sea of flames, which aired so unbearably hot that I thought my skin would be scorched. " According to another account of the unrest along the " Charcoal Alley " the buildings were burned to the road down to the ground. Amidst the rubble and the extensive destruction in the course of the road, as reported by the Los Angeles Times that the station was the only building that remained intact, while the shops along the street going up in flames. That the old railway station built of wood survived the riots, whether as a result of intentional or spared by chance, led to the building to the " symbol of continuity, of hope and renewal" for the residents of the neighborhood was.

Designation as a monument and the reconstruction

Four months after the riots, the building of the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission was declared a Historic - Cultural Monument (HCM # 36). 1974 Watts Station in the National Register of Historic Places was recorded. In the 1980s, after the station had been vacant for many years, presented the Community Redevelopment Agency $ 700,000 available to restore the original appearance of the building. The station was re- used from 1989 as a customer service office of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and as a small museum of the history of the district.

In 1990, the operation of the railway traffic between Los Angeles and Long Beach along the old route of the Pacific Electric was resumed by the Blue Line. The old train station is not used to handling of passengers of the Blue Line, but the trains stop at a new station right next to it, the station 103rd Street / Watts Towers. With the resumption of rail traffic through the Blue Line but also the evils are returned that were during operation of the Red Cars on the agenda. From 1990 to June 2007, 87 motorists and pedestrians were killed on the crossing of the Blue Line; it is one of the most accident-prone railroads in the United States.