1875 exterior photograph of the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad depot at San Pedro Street and Fifth Street in Downtown Los Angeles.

• A Victorian style wooden building with two, three-story square towers, crowned with wrought iron decoration, dormer windows and small decorative balconies. This building was destroyed by fire in November, 1888.

• A sphinx statue stands at right of several doors at the head of a wide set of stairs on the left side of the building.

• A group of about six people are gathered on the platform near the end of a rail car (one is on the car) on the right side of the building.

• The railroad line, which extended to Santa Monica, was taken over by Southern Pacific in 1877 and was converted to electric in 1908. It was then leased to Pacific Electric as the "Santa Monica Air Line" until 1953.

• The railroad line was then used by Southern Pacific for freight only until 1989 and sold to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority in 1990. The portion of the original line West of Flower Street is now used for the Los Angeles Metro Expo light rail line.