In Search of Walkable L.A.: How Defunct Electric Railways Could be Southern California's Salvation
Do you ever think about the inflection point in US history where we stopped building streets and communities for people walking and accessing electrified rail, and started building streets for individuals driving their personal vehicles wherever and whenever they wanted? Well, I do!
Today's video is an exploration of the history of electrified rail (streetcars) in greater Los Angeles, including the Pacific Electric Railway (the Red Cars and the Los Angeles Railway (the Yellow Cars). Even though the last of the streetcars were ripped out by the middle of the 20th century, the urban form and street design remains, persistent , like a phantom limb that keeps reminding you what once was.
We'll explore great streetcar suburbs like Silver Lake, Larchmont Village, and Highland Park -- L.A. neighborhoods that still have intact urban fabric and are in higher demand than ever. We'll also look at places where the region is investing in modern rail to reconnect and leverage these great assets.
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Twitter: @nerd4cities
Instagram: @nerd4cities
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Other CityNerd Videos referenced:
- Humungous Parking Lots:
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Resources:
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Image Credits:
- Santa Ana streetcar By Not given - Courtesy of Orange County Archives, Public Domain,
- LA Traffic Video by William Sevilla from Pixabay
- Red Cars awaiting destruction By Unknown author - Los Angeles Times photographic archive, UCLA Library [1], Public Domain,
- Hill Street 1910s By Unknown author - Public Domain,
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Music:
CityNerd background: Caipirinha in Hawaii by Carmen María and Edu Espinal (YouTube music library)
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Inquiries: nerd4cities@gmail.com
Demolition of historic Pacific Electric Railway trolley shed
Esotouric blog post related to this video:
[ USA Railroad ] Historic Pacific Electric Railway Bridge & Depot, Torrance California November 2019
Visited Torrance, California and saw the historic Pacific Electric Railway El Prado Bridge and Torrance Depot (November 13, 2019)
#USARailGuide
#Railroad
#Station
Fullerton Pacific Electric Red Car Route - Juanita Cooke Trail
Take a walk along the abandoned Pacific Electric Red Car rail line through Fullerton, California. Up until the 1950s, electric-powered trains ran along the same pathway as hikers and bikers do today. Juanita Cooke Trail is a 3-mile rail to trails route with a fascinating history.
Regional Connector TBM final breakthrough
Angeli, the tunnel boring machine for the Regional Connector Transit Project, arrives at the Flower St/4th St intersection and completes tunneling for the 1.9-mile light rail extension currently under construction.
Keep LA Moving: Regional Connector Transit Project construction progress
The Metro Regional Connector Transit Project extends from the Metro L Line (Gold) Little Tokyo/Arts District Station to the 7th Street/Metro Center Station in downtown Los Angeles, allowing passengers to transfer to A Line (Blue), E Line (Expo), B Line (Red) and D Line (Purple), bypassing Union Station. The 1.9-mile alignment will serve Little Tokyo, the Arts District, Civic Center, The Historic Core, Broadway, Grand Av, Bunker Hill, Flower St and the Financial District.
Sign up for project updates at
Los Angeles Metro Rail Siemens P2000
A Los Angeles Metro Gold Line Siemens P2000 light rail train passes a railroad crossing in Pasadena, California.
PBS American Experience: The Race Underground – Testing the First Electric Subway Motor
The Race Underground traces the transformative ideas of 29-year old American naval officer, Frank Sprague, who envisioned a subway system that would run on electric power instead of the coal of the London Underground. Sprague was primed for the role, having worked initially with Thomas Edison after naval service. He launched a venture under his name, the Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company, and looked for investors among the Gilded Age barons of the time.
On a short track in on an alley between two brick buildings near the Durant Sugar Factory off East 24th Street near the East River, Sprague met Jay Gould to give a test run. Sprague puts Gould at the front of a flatbed train car as a showman's move, giving the industrialist a literal front row seat. But Sprague became a little overzealous, says Doug Most, the author of The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway in which the documentary is partly based on.
LAVA Sunday Salon: Subway Terminal Tunnel (June 2017)
This edition of the free monthly LAVA Sunday Salon focused on the holy grail of Los Angeles mass transit history: the sealed-off streetcar station and tunnel located beneath the Subway Terminal Building (Schultze and Weaver, 1925).
If you’ve only got a few minutes, try our Subway Terminal Tunnel tour sneak peek:
It took ten years to make this happen, and this video goes out to the hundreds of hopeful folks on the waiting list. The program begins in the basement of Grand Central Market, with a short history of the Subway Terminal Building and Los Angeles streetcar service. Then we march down Hill Street and descend.
Join architectural historians Richard Schave and Nathan Marsak and Bunker Hill native son Gordon Pattison for a trip back in time, to tour the real Los Angeles underground!
LAVA's Free Sunday Salon at Grand Central Market -
The New Refurbished Siemens P2000 Made By Alstom
Trains of The Surf Line: Los Angeles - Fullerton: PART 1
The Surf Line is the second busiest passenger rail corridor in the United States. In part one of this five part series, we will explore the history of this railroad and follow the line from Los Angeles Union Station to Fullerton, California.
This video was made possible by my supporters on Patreon:
Adam Byrne
Bethany Chernay
Brian Zimmerman
Clarence Jackson
Jim Walker
Jovanni Cruz
Lyle C
Peter Della Flora
Thomas Jackson
Amtrak and AWVR Fan
ShadowSteel18
Paasha and Megan Mahdavi
Cristian C
Vinny G
Malcom B.
And many more!
CoasterFan2105 is the home of all sorts of train and railroad related video content. Stop by every Friday at 9 AM Pacific time for an all new railroading adventure and be sure to check out all of my social media pages @coasterfan2105 for even more great railroad content. Thanks, and I'll see you down the line!
©2023 Mike Armstrong Media
Help save the last P2020 from LA Metro
The Western Railway Museum has the unique opportunity to preserve the last P2020 LRV from the Los Angeles Metro pending Metro procurement’s approval of the museum’s donation request. We need your help to raise $10,000 to transport car 164 to the museum so we can better educate our visitors on how the Metro revolutionized rapid transit with light rail in Los Angeles County!
You can donate online at
wrm.org/support/donate
PACIFIC ELECTRIC Interurban Car No 418 Ride Northbound From Museum 1
From the rail festival at the Orange Empire Railway Museum Here is a ride on newly refurbished former Pacific Electric interurban car number 418. This interurban car was commonly nicknamed blimp or bomber due to their massive size and weight. Note the use of the Platter gong as the ride begins; this gong was often used to warn oncoming traffic about the wide turning radius of the car as well as an alarm for people too close to the tracks, as well as the unique PE air whistle. Recorded on April 9. It was fifty five years to the day that the final PE interurban cars made their last run in Los Angeles on the Long Beach Line.
Metro C Line (Green) Extension to Torrance – Project Update January 2021
Metro has a plan to make it easier to get around, which includes dozens of projects to improve public transit in LA County. Currently in planning stages, the C Line (Green) Extension to Torrance is proposed to extend light rail service to connect more of the South Bay. This project is beginning the environmental review process to study two alternatives, or potential routes. Provide your comments to inform future study during the scoping period, January 29 to March 29, 2021. Connect to the project at
Constructing the Future: Regional Connector Transit Project
Metro’s building the missing link and bringing more rail to downtown LA. The Regional Connector Transit Project will connect two major rail lines and add three new stations in the heart of LA, and is scheduled to open in 2022.
Connect to the project at
Pacific Electric 1624, cupola caboose ride in UP caboose.
OERM electric locomotive 1624 built at Torrance CA. for the PE
Cupola ride in UP caboose on mainline to Perris, 7th st.
(1980's) Metro Rail The Future Is Now - Pt. 1 - SCRTD
This is historical footage from the LACMTA (Metro) Library and Archives. It may not be reflective of current Metro policy or services. For more information, contact library (at) metro (dot) net, or see our website:
Metro Rail The Future Is Now /
[circa early 1980s]
From a Southern California TV show series focused on local transit development. Discusses the planning and development of the Southern California Rapid Transit District (RTD) Metro Rail subway system. Features among others Ray Remy, Los Angeles Deputy Mayor & LATC member, and Renee Simon, Deputy Director of Transportation, Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG).
Southern California Rapid Transit District (RTD) - 1964-1993 - was the predecessor of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or Metro.
Metrolink Train Ride #357 Arrive into LA Union Station on Part 16 - September 8th, 2019
Here is the conclusion of our trip over the former Pacific Electric Right Of Way and on into Union Station in Los Angeles. After the Amtrak/Metrolink Rail traffic passes by we then enter the platform at Los Angeles Union Station to conclude the ride. Hope you like it. Metrolink arrives into downtown Los Angeles Union Station at 11:30 AM is end of the line. Metrolink San Bernardino Line.
Be recorded on Sunday September 8th, 2019
Next Video at
The History of LA's Staircases
In its 1920s and ‘30s heyday, the Pacific Electric Railway was one of the largest public transportation systems in the world. It had stops from Venice and Santa Monica to San Bernardino, from the San Fernando Valley to Newport Beach, from Echo Mountain to San Pedro. A secondary and complementary system, the Los Angeles Railway, operated Yellow Cars with a higher frequency within a much smaller area of central L.A. from the late 1890s. The railways connected neighborhoods and fostered the development of bedroom communities and suburbs. Its extensive reach fueled the region’s early development and housing boom by pushing L.A.’s boundaries farther and farther out and encouraging folks to move away from downtown and other city centers as it allowed for easy but lengthier commutes. Thus, the urban sprawl that is associated with today’s Southern California was a bi-product of the railway before it was worsened by the meteoric rise of the automobile..
But as anyone who has seen Who Framed Roger Rabbit? could tell you, the iconic Red Cars were slowly and conspiratorially dismantled in favor of buses, cars, and freeway construction thanks to the greed of city officials and rubber, automobile, and oil company executives. The demise began just after World War II and the last Red Car rolled to its extinction in 1961. The last yellow trolley joined it in 1963. Most were sold for scrap metal; some were exported to Argentina and assimilated into Buenos Aires’ metro systems. When L.A. started rebuilding its subway and light rail options in the 1990s, it traced several old Pacific Electric rights of way for new Metro lines..
Luckily for today’s urban hiker, the roughly 400 staircases which ferried residents between their hillside homes and school, the market, parks, main drags, and streetcar stops were left alone when tracks were torn up. Although some fell into disrepair as more families bought cars and stopped using them on a regular basis and some became convenient spots well-suited to hiding mischief, drug deals, and sometimes more nefarious criminal activity, there has been a more recent movement to reclaim them, clean them up, and explore them. They remain to provide a walkable window into L.A.’s storied past, unique architecture, celebrity haunts and homes, filming locations, street art, natural scenery, and occasionally the seedier side of the city. They also happen to be great free workouts. .
#California #The_History_of_LA's_Staircases #Walks_To_Remember_Stroll_Through_LA_History_on_Hundreds_of_Stairways
PACIFIC ELECTRIC DAY PE No 1624 Passenger Train Running Southbound
In this clip, the passenger train pulled by PACIFIC ELECTRIC Locomotive No. 1624 takes us southbound from the outskirts of downtown Perris back to the Orange Empire Railway Museum - Filmed on Saturday June 14, 2014 during the PACIFIC ELECTRIC weekend.