Western District

Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos

Pacific Electric car no. 5144 sparkles in the mid-day sun on this very sad day, May 31, 1953. This is the last day of rail service along Santa Monica Blvd. east of Fairfax Ave.

As evident by the billboard on the corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega Blvds. touting the 1953 Plymouth with NEW HY-DRIVE transmission, and the 1953 Mercury Monterey convertible racing no. 5144, times for traction lines all over America are only going to get worse, and it did!

Soon after the the Santa Monica Bl line abandonment, the #5144 would operate on the Hollywood Blvd, line for about another year. By the end of 1954, no. 5144 was in "dead storage" at Torrance Shops. By 1956, this beautiful Hollywood car, with years of productive service life left in its car body, would find its way to Terminal Island and be stacked like fire wood with almost 100 other sister Hollywood cars.

Ralph Cantos Collection

Ralph Cantos Collection

Pacific Electric no. 5010 poses with its front doors wide open, beckoning passengers to board America's most beautiful PCC.

From Ralph Cantos:

In this 1948 photo, PE's fleet of 30 PCCs have weathered the heavy demands of World War II in good shape . The PCCs , with help of the ever trusty Hollywood cars, came through with flying "colors" as seen by the beautiful condition of the 5010. While PE's Northern and Southern districts my have operated bigger and more glamorous interurbans such as the "Butterfly 12s", the Western district did its share for the war effort. The PCCs did the Pacific Electric proud!

Ralph Cantos Collection

Ralph Cantos Collection

A photo postcard from 1955 depicting a Pacific Electric PCC on Brand Boulevard in Glendale.

From Ralph Cantos:

955 POST CARD of Beautiful Brand Blvd. GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA: A city. any city, is only as great as the rail system that serves it! Glendale WAS such a great city until June 19,1955. On the black day, Glendale went from being a great city , to just being another town without a commuter rail service. The populace of Glendale lost one of the finest rail lines in the entire State Of California. Any city that is worth a damn, usually warrants electric rail transportation. So important was the Glendale / Burbank line, that the Pacific Electric spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to upgrade the infrastructure of the line in early 1940. The massive amount of private capital that PE pored into the Glendale / Burbank was done to prepare the line for the arrival of the most revolutionary PCC streetcars that were to grace the rails of ANY city in America. PE's PCC cars were the first double enders, the first multiple unit. and the longest PCC car built up to that time. And if I am not mistaking, they were the first PCC to be equipped with Westinghouse dual trumpet air horns. In my opinion, the PE PCC's WERE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PCC car, the world would ever see. The stage was now set for the Glendale / Burbank to operate for 50 years efficiently, with magnificent infrastructure and ultramodern streamlined PCC equipment. But because of selfish , greedy, backward thinking individuals who did not give a DAMN about anyone but them self's, the Glendale / Burbank Line was struck down and demolished literately in its prime. It was an inexcusable act of SELFISH GREED.

I spoke to the man who produced this post card. It was taken in April of 1955. The Line had just weeks to live. He wanted to record Glendale's Brand Blvd. on film, before its downfall . HE WAS NOT A RAIL FAN. He was a concerned citizen. He was in disbelief that the abandonment petition had been granted. He waited until a PE PCC came into view and recorded the last great moments of Brand Blvd. In his opinion. this abandonment was A MONUMENTAL ACT OF VANDALISM, as the years pasted, he would be proven correct.

Ralph Cantos Collection

Ralph Cantos Collection

Wonderful Venice Beach station, about 1911, is seen here as a 4 car train of LAP / PE 700s bound for Santa Monica discharges passengers. The train will enter the "Trolley Way" at this point as it heads north to Santa Monica.

From Ralph Cantos:

Today, the only thing in this post card photo that is recognizable is the beautiful building with its elegant arches. After abandonment in 1950, the "Trolley Way" at this point would become an extension of Pacific Ave. and then become Neilson Way through Ocean Park. PE would later renumber the 700s into the 950 class with the arrival Hollywood cars which became the new 700 class cars. The Venice Short Line was always a money maker for the PE, but by 1948 with its infrastructure nearing 50 years of age, and plans for the Santa Monica Freeway finalized, PE took the easy way out and abandoned the rail service in favor of buses. If the Venice Short Line could have just held out for "a few more years" say to about the year 2000, I think retaining and rebuilding the rail service would have been a better choice. But as the late Paul Harvey would often say, "the view through the rear view mirror, always seems to be clearer, then that through the front windshield." In the case of the VSL, he got that right!!

Ralph Cantos Collection

Ralph Cantos Collection

Hollywood Boulevard was another great subject of postcards. Unmodernized PE "Hollywood" cars roll along "The Boulevard" in this 1934 hand-tinted view.

From Ralph Cantos:

The PE Red Cars were as much a part of Hollywood, as Grauman's Chinese Theater and the Hollywood Hotel. Hollywood Blvd. would see the comings and goings of the PE cars until September 24, 1954. After that date, the "Boulevard" started to lose much of its charm, and turn into the ZOO it has become today.

Ralph Cantos Collection