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L.A. historians are hosting a special film noir screening next month to help reopen downtown's historic Angels Flight Railway.
Bunker Hill's charming, vintage trolley has been closed to the public for over two years for safety concerns. And while engineers and the L.A. Fire Department have concluded that safety issues have been addressed, the two-car funicular remains out of commission due to bureaucratic red tape, according to L.A. historians Richard Schave and Kim Cooper. To help get the railway running again—and raise money for insurance, electricity and maintenance—Schave and Cooper have organized a special fundraiser at Broadway's beautiful Million Dollar Theatre on Thursday, November 5.
The evening will feature talks from other L.A. historians, rare images and film clips of Angels Flight through the decades and a screening of the rarely-seen film noir classic M (Joseph Losey, 1951), which features Angels Flight and other historic sites around downtown like The Bradbury building.
The event will take place from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. and tickets can be purchased online with all proceeds going to benefit the Angels Flight Railway.
As part of the effort to save the historic railway, the Angels Flight Friends and Neighbors Society have created a mobile app for iPhones and Androids. The app features the history of the funicular, photos, videos, a downtown L.A. events calendar and more.
And here's a clip from Losey's M—a remake of Fritz Lang's 1931 film—to get you in a noir mood in the meantime:
