The Angel City Helistop has been a landmark in the Southern California aviation scene since August, 1965. It will be 50 years in August, 2015 that the helistop has been used for a variety of helicopter related services for the greater Los Angeles area. The agile helicopter is an alternate means of transportation that has been used by the banks for document and check transfers, the filming industry for movies, and TV, and timely news gathering, cargo and people transfer.
The helistop is situated atop the Citibank highrise tower in Echo Park, California with an approximate building height of 138 ft. above the ground. It has always been a bank occupied building beginning with the first owners, California Federal Savings and Loan and now with Citibank. The current owner is the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel whose main headquarters are in the building.
From the very beginning, before the Internet, the helicopter played a role in the development of the Los Angeles basin by moving important bank documents, bank loans, and checks from Cal Fed bank branches all over Los Angeles and the Echo Park headquarters out to local airports to be flown to the Federal Reserve. Over the years, the helistop services have diversified and it is used as a central location for television news service, movie and TV film production, and delivery charter service that transport time sensitive documents, people, and cargo to areas within a 150 mile range of this central location. It has also been used as an alternate drop location for organ harvesting teams. There are no scheduled helicopter services and no helicopters based at the helistop. The flights are on an as needed basis. This is a secure and safe helistop location and it is available to the police or fire department should an emergency situation arise.
The flight path is north and south along Glendale Blvd. Approaching the landing site from the north, landing into the wind and taking off to the south down Glendale Blvd. to the Fwy 101. The flight path does not go over residential areas. The pilots are instructed to always “Fly Neighborly” while arriving or departing the area. This means that they perform all approaches and landings with safety and noise abatement in mind. The advantage of this site is that the helistop is already high above the neighborhood.
Angel City Helistop encourages all residents of Echo Park and the surrounding areas to contact us if you want to know more information or have a questions regarding helicopter operations. Please email our company at Info@angelcityhelistop.com. We will do everything possible to be a good neighbor. We want to hear from you.
