Great series on the evolution (or devolution) of Hill Street, gsjansen! Easily one of my very favorite postings in this thread.
To get a further appreciation of the extent of this huge change in the natural landscape, I'm reposting this image. In the foreground is the Hill Street portion of Bunker Hill that was completely leveled and of which no trace remains today.
This hill was apparently the highest point in the original city limits of Los Angeles. Court Flight – which for two score years ran up the steep dirt slope in the right foreground – used to be advertised as the "highest view" of Los Angeles. And I remember reading somewhere that the Bradbury Mansion (far upper right at Court and Hill) was built on the highest lot in all of Los Angeles at the time. To think that what was once the highest elevation in the city is now not even recognizable as a hill... that's quite a sobering realization...