Local Doors Open Open Partner Since 2022
Visit Los Angeles Union Station as it celebrates 85 years. Enjoy behind-the-scenes “hidden gems” tours including the Ticket Concourse and the former Fred Harvey Restaurant. The 90-minute tours, led by Los Angeles Conservancy, will take place at 10:00 am and 1:00 pm. Registration is required.
Doors Open California – Statewide Behind-the-Scenes Tours | California Preservation Foundation
Completed in 1939, Los Angeles Union Station is widely regarded as “the last of the great train stations.” The Station was designed by the father-and-son architect team of John and Donald Parkinson with an innovative blend of Spanish Colonial, Mission Revival and Art Deco architecture now commonly referred to as Mission Moderne.
Attendees will visit the Ticket Concourse with its glazed bronze doors and 110-foot-long ticket counter made of American black walnut. Suspended 10 feet above are six bronze chandeliers designed by Phoenix Day. The surrounding wainscot is composed of geometric tiles created by Gladding McBean. Next up, the former Fred Harvey Restaurant, designed by Mary Colter, known for her distinctive Southwestern design. Her style can be seen in the floor design with inlaid cement tile replicating a Navajo blanket.
Union Station was designated Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument No. 101 in 1972 and listed in the National Register of Historic Places and California Register of Historical Resources in 1980.
This tour is led by the Los Angeles Conservancy, a nonprofit membership organization whose mission is to work through education and advocacy to recognize, preserve, and revitalize the historic, architectural, and cultural resources of Los Angeles County. Union Station is one of the Conservancy’s award-winning weekly historic tours of downtown Los Angeles.