Notice the Spanish Colonial and Art Deco terminal that opened here on May 7, 1939. Union Station opened on May 7, 1939, and its blend of Spanish Colonial Revival, Mission Revival, and Art Deco styles created one of the most beautiful interiors in American architecture. The main waiting room, 52 feet high with hand-painted wood-beam ceilings, travertine floors, and original leather chairs that have barely changed since opening day, was designed to make arriving in Los Angeles feel like arriving somewhere that mattered.
The station was built where the old Chinatown stood; the entire neighborhood was demolished to make way for it, and its residents were displaced to a new Chinatown a few blocks north. At its peak during World War II, this station processed more than a million passengers a month as soldiers and workers poured into Southern California's defense industries. Movies have been filmed here constantly since the day it opened — Blade Runner, The Dark Knight Rises, Silver Streak, and dozens of others.
Notice the hand-painted beams fifty-two feet above the waiting room floor.