Old Fire Station 6

By John A. Ackerman
Apparatus Committee

    After Fire Station 6 was vacated by the fire department, it was originally slated to be used as a community and youth center, housing the Central City Action Committee and Angelino Heights Community Organization.  After months of persistent discussion between Councilman Mike Hernandez and our own Isabel Rosas, the LAFD Historical Society will now be able to occupy two of the three apparatus bays and one of the downstairs offices.

    The structure was built in 1929 at 1279 W. Temple, on the same site as an older station built in 1900.  When the Hollywood Freeway was construed in the late 1940s, the station was moved by the State Highway Division at a cost of $51,273.  Total cost of land exchange and building restoration after the move was $117,300.  Its new location was 534 N. Edgeware, where it remains today.

    Station 6 was reopened on March 22, 1949, after a moving process that took more than a year to complete.  During that time, Engine Company 6 operated out of an abandoned gas station across the street, on the northwest corner of Temple and Edgeware.

    On August 6, 1987, a new Station 6 was established by the LAFD at 326 N. Virgil Ave. For a time, old Station 6 was temporarily occupied by the department's Emergency Preparedness Division.

Details of the Moving Process

    It was determined that the brick building, which has a first-floor area of 9,437 square feet, must be moved nearly a hundred yards up a slight hill from its old location on Temple Street.  It would have to be turned 90 degrees to face Edgeware Road.  The mover divided the job into several distinct steps.  First, the hose tower was cut off at the second-floor level.  Then timbers for moving were set on the ground, the main floor headers were shored up and the entire structure was raised four feet.  Next, it was pulled back (to the north) 30 feet, raised four feet higher, pulled back again and moved another 50 feet to the position it now occupies.

    The next scheduled step was the tricky task of turning the building without buckling it.  Finally, it was towed across Boston Street to the new site.  Once lifted, the actual move of the building took two months.