Figueroa Street Tunnels

The set of four tunnels bored through the Elysian Hills on Figueroa Street are among the most photographed pieces of infrastructure in Los Angeles. The first three tunnels opened by nineteen thirty-one, and a fourth followed in the mid nineteen thirties, to handle growing traffic between downtown and the northeast neighborhoods. The tunnels were built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style that dominated Los Angeles civic architecture of the era, their arched portals decorated with ornamental tile and cast-concrete detailing.

For most of the twentieth century they carried automobile traffic through what would otherwise be a steep, winding climb. Route Sixty-Six once passed through them. Today the tunnels still carry traffic on the Arroyo Seco Parkway, their elegant portals a gateway to the Elysian Park neighborhood.