Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos The events of December 7, 1941 united this country like nothing ever — or since. Patriotism united Americans during World War II to levels that would never be seen again. Feature [...]

By Ralph Cantos When the Pacific Electric Railway took delivery of their 30 new Pullman Standard MU PCCs in November of 1940, the Railway was the talk of the transit industry. The whole idea [...]

By Ralph Cantos As the morning sun came up over Southern California on New Years Day, January 2, 1950, the Pacific Electric did what it had done for several decades — that was, to move thousands [...]

By Ralph Cantos The September 1951 abandonment of Pacific Electric’s Northern District brought about by freeway construction (in particular, the 10/101/5 interchange in East Los Angeles) [...]

By Ralph Cantos When Metropolitan Coach Lines purchased the passenger operations of the Pacific Electric, the sale included several hundred buses from three manufacturers: GM, WHITE, and TWIN [...]

By Ralph Cantos As the old saying goes, “ONE PHOTO IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS” — in this case, a split photo provided by Gary Starre. When LA’s PCCs made their last runs in the [...]

By Ralph Cantos Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority PCC no. 3046 swings onto Florence Avenue at the south end of Huntington Park’s central business district. This beautiful photo [...]

By Ralph Cantos Los Angeles Transit Lines PCC no. 3010 takes a little spot time at Rowan Loop at the east end of the P line in this 1948 view. The head sign on the 3010 reads: P FIRST & [...]

By Ralph Cantos Los Angeles Tranist Lines PCC no. 3165 rolls along East First Street in this 1957 view at Christmas time. At 9 years of age, the 3165 is hardly broken in, with decades of service [...]

By Ralph Cantos This beautiful photo of Pacific Electric’s Toluca Yard at the mouth of the Subway Terminal could have been taken anytime between June of 1952 and June 1955. But two [...]