950 at Colorado Boulevard and Townsend Avenue
Alan Weeks Photo, Alan Weeks Collection
Los Angeles Transit Lines car no. 950 on the 5 Line catches amazing light in this image taken November 1, 1947. The location is Colorado Boulevard and Townsend Avenue.
Alan Weeks Photo, Alan Weeks Collection
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I believe this was a former funeral car.
Yes, indeed. 950 was the second version of the original “Descanso”. When streetcar funeral operations slacked off around 1920, LARy rebuilt it for regular passenger service, and renamed the other funeral car “Paraiso” to “Descanso”. The first conversion, numbered 1101, left the arched upper sash and stained glass in place, and some of the more superstitious Angelenos would avoid riding it. About two years later, the car went back into the shop, emerging with an arched roof and a more “spartan” look. 950 was scrapped around 1950, but Descanso II is preserved and displayed at Orange Empire, probably the only surviving funeral trolley in North America, if not the world.