With just two more days (!!!) until Downtown L.A.’s restored Angels Flight Railway returns to service, we found ourselves consumed with the urge to ride a funicular.
Since Angels Flight isn’t available, we set a course for points south and the nearest best thing: Dana Point’s funicular service which plies the steep grade between the cliffside parking lot at the Dana Headlands and Strand Beach below. We hiked down to the beach from the conservation area to the south, then rode the funicular up and down and up again, until the urge abated.
As charter members of the Angels Flight Friends and Neighbors Society, we naturally compared Dana Point’s convenient conveyance with our beloved Angels Flight.
The Dana Point Funicular is free (a condition of permitting the development of an adjacent gated community containing some remarkably ugly multimillion dollar homes), was established in 2009, is unmanned and entirely enclosed, is accessed through elevator-style doors set in a plain cinderblock station with all the charm of a public restroom, and has three reviews on Yelp.
The restored Angels Flight will cost $1, opened in 1901, has a human operator, is open to the elements and boasts a handsome Edwardian station house, hoop arches and lower gate all in vibrant orange with black trim, and has appeared in dozens of films and television programs.
But while it lacks the vintage movie star allure of Angels Flight, the Dana Point Funicular does a swell job carting families and their beach gear down to the shore and back, and we recommend the ride should you find yourself in the O.C.
Or, as with Angels Flight, enjoy a virtual ride, with our compliments.