reporter: we close tonight at a los angeles landmark getting new attention thanks to a small part in a big movie, here's carter evans. reporter: when they weren't watching emma stone and ryan gosling fans of the oscar winning musical "la la land"
might have noticed a few quick shots of this. what appears to be a tiny railroad car heading up an incline in downtown los angeles. welcome to "la la land." this week the mayor of the real "la la land" reminded the world that this miniature
railway is actually one of his city's most historic landmarks. back then in 1901 for just a penny a ride, sinai and olivet the two cars on the world's shortest railway opened for business. angels flight began its first climb upward.
it was called angels flight and designed to shuttle the residents of the city's then exclusive neighborhood of bunker hill down to the shopping districts of downtown. by the 1950s more than 100 million people had ridden the two rail cars but in the late
'60s the hill top neighborhood was razed to make way for modern skyscraper and angel's flight was disassembled and put in storage. the railway had a brief renaissance starting in 1996 but two accidents one of them in 2001 that resulted in the death
of a tourist doomed the cars to stand idle where they haven't carried passengers since 2013. but as anyone who has seen "la la land" can tell you, dreams do still come true here in los angeles. we felt again that sense of romance.
and i was ready to join them. and soon we will all be able to once again when we reopen angels flight later this year here in los angeles. over the next six months a group of engineering firms will add new safety features and rehabilitate the 115 year old
landmark with the goal of reopening it to the public by labor day. and although the track might run for less than 300 feet, its salvation is a historic milestone in a city not known for its reservation of the past. the longest journey to the
shortest ride ever.
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