Video: 1930s – Views of Los Angeles in color [60fps, Remastered] w/added sound
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]From Ralph Cantos:[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/QMrDtAk79uc”][/vc_column][/vc_row] READ MOREThis video is making the rounds today on the internet, its FANTASTIC!. I put the year as 1932. Notice the “new LARY H-3s” working the 5 line. The LARY scenes are on Broadway at 7th and the PE scenes are on Hill St. at 6th. Craig Rasmussen found it today. I am sure all the railfan world is waiting to see it. Best Wishes.. Ralph
LAMTA P-1 3068: Un tren abandonado en el desierto más árido del mundo (Atacama – Chile)
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ralph Cantos discovered this amazing new film from Chile regarding the sad fate of Los Angeles MTA P-1 PCC no. 3068, abandoned in a Chilean desert with its right-of-way pulled up and scrapped. Check it out![/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/gTCTNjhndSY”][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/latl-3068-at-larchmont-melrose-1948-2.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”3068 in better days” desc=”LATL 3068 at Larchmont and Melrose in 1948.”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][mk_padding_divider size=”20″][/vc_column][/vc_row] READ MORELA 1:87 Short Film
Here’s a wonderful short film by Matthew Arnold-Ladensack entitled “LA 1:87” and featuring the fine HO scale modeling of iconic LA landmarks by 81-year-old Gerald W. Cox.
LA // 1:87 from Humanity Pictures on Vimeo.
READ MOREVideo: Los Angeles in the 1920s
Here’s a vintage promotional film by Ford Motor Company documenting Los Angeles in the 1920s. Lots of action and a great perspective into how wonderful Los Angeles was as a young city in the first part of last century.
READ MORE“Your Traffic Officer” (1946) Video
Here’s an amazing training video produced probably by the Los Angeles Police Department traffic division, from 1946, showing downtown Los Angeles in the immediate postwar period. LATL PCCs, Pacific Electric cars, and much more! WOW!
READ MOREA Drive Through Bunker Hill and Downtown Los Angeles, 1947-1948
Here’s a fascinating silent film rescued and preserved by Archive.org (a great site, go check it out!) showing Los Angeles in the late 1940s. We asked Ralph Cantos, LA traction expert, to give us his thoughts on it; here’s what he wrote:
I would put the year of this film as late 1947 / early 1948. The film starts looking east above the 2nd Street tunnel . At time stamp 3:36, camera car turns onto 5th St. and heads west. Notice LA Motor Coach TD-4502 and abandoned LATL 3 line car tracks, 5th St now one way west bound. Camera passes Central Library with Trolley Coach overhead visible. At time stamp 4:33, PE buses can be seen on the right, could be the Olive St Bus Deck at the Subway Terminal. At time stamp 4:44, camera car turns on to 1st Street, Overhead wire protector can be seen spanning the street, and “track crack” visible.
Thanks, Ralph!
READ MORELos Angeles Railway Cars in “Shopworn” (1932)
From David Thompson comes this tip on LARy cars seen in a vintage movie on YouTube:
The 1932 Barbara Stanwyck movie “Shopworn” has a couple brief scenes of LA Railway cars. At about minute 9:00 & 11:00 a “V” line car can be seen outside the door of Fred’s Campus Inn. Looks like Monroe Ave. At about minute 40:00, a “3” line sowbelly can be seen at Larchmont & Melrose (I think).
Thank you, David!
READ MORELARy 309 in Charley Chase’s “Rattling Romeo”
In part one, Charley Chase is seen catching Los Angeles Railway car no. 309 along 2nd Avenue in Los Angeles. Skip to 2:40 to view this segment.
In part two, skip ahead to 4:34 to view another sequence with LARy no. 309.
Los Angeles transit historian Ralph Cantos uncovered this forgotten “two-reeler” on YouTube, and had the following comments to add:
READ MOREFake “safety zones” in both part 1 and 2 along 2nd Ave. Interior shots are a combination of the real #309, and a studio mock up. Lastly, this is one of the last films Charlie made; he passed away in 1940.
Charley Chase in “Hasty Marriage” (1931)
Forgotten early talkies comedy star Charley Chase is at his best in this 1931 Hal Roach Studios release “Hasty Marriage.” Scroll ahead to about 7:15 and you’ll see that Charley gets a job at the Consolidated Street Railways (aka Los Angeles Railway).
From Ralph Cantos, who discovered the clip:
READ MOREThe HAL ROACH Studios did a fantastic job making up a “mock trolley car” using all real LARy streetcar parts from a STANDARD.. Everything is real except for the Eclipse Fenders. All the cars interior is made of real parts window shades, longitude seat, controller, air gauge and brake ,NEXT CAR PLEASE sign,, the little white buzzer buttons on the window posts, head light, trolley catcher , sliding partition doors, trolley base, trolley hook, and bell. It was filmed on 2nd Ave between 48th St and 54th Streets. 2nd Ave was non revenue track used for training and deadheading cars going to and from Div.5. Note that when Charlie and his friends are waiting to board the trolley, there is no safety zones on 2nd Ave.
Harold Lloyd in “For Heaven’s Sake” (1926)
Ralph Cantos uncovered this fantastic clip from Harold Lloyd’s 1926 blockbuster, “For Heaven’s Sake,” prominently featuring a Los Angeles Railway doubledecker bus and various streetcars in amazing action sequences that must be seen to be believed.
From Ralph:
Here’s a Harold Lloyd clip showing a LARY double deck bus and lots of LARY streetcars along Broadway and several shots at Broadway PLACE. In one shot on Broadway, the bus passes between a P car and an L car…unbelievable! Other shots may be along West 48th Street (9 Line). Some of the shots of the bus on very narrow streets I believe were shot in Ocean Park.
Additional comments from Ralph:
READ MOREThe opening seen is on Larchmont Blvd…note the center poles in the back ground and the angle parking still in use to this day.. Also at 1:56 seconds into the clip, where the bus is on a very narrow street, I think that is PIER AVE in Ocean Park.. There was a bus turntable at the end of the street , for Santa Monica buses at the Ocean Front Walk, and also notice the big hanging zeppelin ride on the old Ocean Park Pier in the distance.,. That was the same ride that was used in the LAST TV episode of the “THE FUGITIVE” where Richard Kimbell and the one armed man have the big fist fight at the top of the ride.. lieutenant Gerarde shots the one armed man and he falls of the top of the ride . Other shots of the bus on the narrow streets are in the same area.