VENICE: It was back in December that there was a visit to that three-bedroom prefab home designed by New York-based firm Resolution: 4 Architecture. And it looks pretty much done (a dog was spotted in the house, a sure sign of a finished prefab). [Curbed Staff]
DOWNTOWN: Via the InBox: "Oh my goodness--so exciting! I just went by Angels Flight, and one of the cars was cruising downhill! No passengers that I could see. Maybe they're testing the cars to open the railway sometime, actually, really "soon?" I hope so! I would love more details..." Testing has been going on for some time, so probably best to temper the excitement about the downtown funicular, which is still not in operation. We can offer an update on the always puzzling name. Why is there no apostrophe, which would change the meaning of Angels Flight? (And what a terrible name considering someone died on the ride.) John Welborne, president of the Angels Flight Railways Foundation, gave an answer some time ago about the apostrophe. He emails: "The 1901 white curved metal arch at Hill Street, with the little angel statue at its apex, appears to spell “ANGELS” with no apostrophe. However, in a well-known 1906 “trade card,” Colonel Eddy (or his printer) used an apostrophe in the name. Various antique, third-party-published, postcards say: “Angels Flight,” “Angel’s Flight,” or “Angels’ Flight.” A 1940s sign on the Station House has no apostrophe, and the signs atop the cars then – as now – have no apostrophe. In the Introduction to his new book, Los Angeles’s Angels Flight (Arcadia Publishing, August, 2008), Jim Dawson writes: “From the beginning, there was confusion about whether the railway’s name had an apostrophe, which would have made it the flight of one angel, but in time, ‘Angels Flight’ became the preferred spelling.” [Curbed InBox]
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