Angels Flight

Los Angeles as a city is nestled at the foot of the Santa Ana and Santa Monica mountain ranges, and if you look up the city on Wikipedia, the photograph available shows the downtown skyline with a spectacular view of mountains in the background. This is a view that is almost never enjoyed by anyone here ever, due to either smog, or haze, or the fact that the mountains are actually not as close as they look. That particular picture makes LA look like some mountain town.

While it's obviously not as crazy as San Francisco, there are parts of LA that are hilly. In the first decade of the twentieth century, around the city of Los Angeles, playing on the popularity of the railroad, a series of "shortest rail-lines ever" were introduced. They were trains that ran on rails that acted primarily as elevators.

They ferried people from the top of a hill to the bottom of a hill, and vice versa, so those people wouldn't have to walk along any stairs. They were known as the "One Penny Rail" for a while, as their price was seen as low enough. "Angels Flight" was also a common moniker.

Eventually they were all closed, mostly one by one, and then the last few remaining during a particularly rough financial patch in the city's history. As financial prospects for the city brightened, they agreed to re-install some of the tiny trains.

I believe this is the only one as of now. We got to ride it, and a ride is still a very affordable twenty-five cents.