By Ralph Cantos

This pathetic photo at Toluca Yard was taken in November 1955. Pacific Electric no. 5154, still in mint condition inside and out, is made ready for its trip to Terminal Island and oblivion. Notice that the trolley pole has been welded down to the trolley hook guard.

On an earlier trip to T.I, a Hollywood car trolley pole became dislodged from the hook and took down some phone wires. So the last remaining cars making the one-way trip to National Metals and Steel had both their poles welded down.

It was the final insult to these wonderful cars.

Ralph Cantos Collection

By Ralph Cantos

Pacific Electric Hollywood car no. 5167 is seen here at Gardner Junction in the last days of the Hollywood Boulevard – Beverly Hills Line. After 29 years of service, the old gal still looks great having just gone through a rehab that turned her into a one-man car. She was built new in 1925 by the J. G. Brill Company as PE no. 717. She was renumbered 5167 in the 1949-50 one-man rebuild, which also included a fresh coat of paint.

Number 717-5167 was a fixture of the Western District most of its adult life, primarily working the Hollywood Boulevard and Glendale-Burbank Lines. Pacific Electric rail management had a tendency to assign cars to different lines in blocks of consecutively numbered cars. For instance, the Watts Local had cars numbered 5111 to 5125 assigned to that line, to its very last days. Hollywood Boulevard and the Glendale Line had cars numbered 5144 to 5168, while the San Fernando Valley Line featured cars numbered 5169 to 5181.

When the Valley Line closed, the “best of the best” (all former 700s) were placed in dead storage at Torrance Shops, never to run again in revenue service. The 1953 abandonment of the Santa Monica Boulevard Line saw still more Hollywood cars go into dead storage. Then in mid-1954, the Hollywood Boulevard Line was abandoned.

Out-of-service Hollywood cars were now stored anywhere the PE could find room. West Hollywood Yard was full and so several cars wound up stored at the 8th street freight yard. By the end of 1954, only 30 Hollywood cars remained in service, 15 to the Glendale Line and 15 to the Watts Line. When the Glendale Line closed, all 30 PCCs and the 15 Hollywood cars were stuffed into the Subway Terminal tunnel and put up for sale.

The future looked grim for the Hollywood cars, still in mint condition.

Meanwhile, things down at the Watts Line were not looking good. Metropolitan Coach Lines management did not give a damn about the remaining Southern District lines. By late 1955, the Watts Line was down to 12 serviceable cars. So it was decided to truck two Hollywood cars from the Subway to Watts before the rest of the unfortunate cars were sent to Terminal Island to be scrapped.

It just so happened that, cars 5166 and 5167 were located at the mouth of the Subway Terminal tunnel and were loaded up onto a pair of flatbed “low-boy” trucks for the trip to Watts — and as it turned out, a trip to eternity.

Also trucked to the Southern District at the same time was Line Car no. 00164 and an old wooden boxcar loaded with Hollywood car spare parts. Soon after the lucky 5166 and 5167 plus the 00164 and boxcar departed Toluca Yard, several flatbed trucks arrived to take the remaining 13 Hollywoods to slaughter.

And so, by sheer luck, the 5166 and 5167 went on to a new life on the Watts Line and then to Orange Empire Railway Museum.

The 5167 is now the sole remaining operable Hollywood car, now numbered 717. Long live this old warrior.

Ralph Cantos Collection

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1579701455854{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]This interesting photo taken around 1936 shows a two-car train of Pacific Electric 950s heading to Santa Monica via Beverly Hills. The small wooden-bodied LARY bus heading east on Olympic Boulevard will make a connection with the LARY  L line at Mullen Avenue.

This line ran on an angle from Vineyard Junction to La Cienega Boulevard, then turned northwest along Burton Way until reaching Beverly Hills Station. From there, it was an arrow straight shot along Santa Monica Boulevard  to Santa Monica. The Westgate line diverged from Santa Monica Boulevard just west of Sepulveda Boulevard.

Both lines suffered  intense competition from bus lines on  all sides. Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines, Bay Cities Transit, LA Motor Coach and LARY’s legendary P line all siphoned passengers from this line all along the way.

The PE finally pulled the poles down on July 7, 1940. A lone daily round trip franchise car struggled on until November 18, 1940.  After passenger service was abandoned, rails along the Westgate line were pulled up, and rails on Santa Monica Boulevard west of  Sepulveda Boulevard were quickly paved over.

However , rails east of Sepulveda Boulevard  remained in service for one reason or another. Rails along Santa Monica Boulevard east of Sepulveda Boulevard remained in service well into the 1980s for freight service.

Passenger service from Vineyard to Genesee Avenue continued until September of 1950. Rails along San Vicente Boulevard west of Genesee remained intact for cars pulling into and out of West Hollywood Car House and Yard  via the Sherman cut-off, until early 1951.

The last major use of these rails took place when all 50 1100-class cars that had been stored at West Hollywood operated under their own power in five-car trains. These trains operated via the cut off, San Vicente, to Vineyard, then west to Culver Junction along the abandoned Venice Short Line. At Culver Junction, the five-car trains changed ends, then headed east along the Santa Monica Air Line to AMOCO Junction, From there, the five-car trains changed ends once again and headed to the LA Harbor via the San Pedro Line.

Today, the three-way intersection of Olympic-San Vicente-Fairfax has turned into traffic nightmare. Morning and evening rush hour auto traffic passing this point has become intolerable. Try as they might, Los Angeles city traffic officials have yet to figure out a way to move auto traffic smoothly through this three-way intersection.  If just one of the traffic lights goes out of sync, then all hell breaks lose. I live in the area and avoid this intersection like the plague. It’s the ghost of Pacific Electric past.

Ralph Cantos Collection[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/img007.jpg” image_size=”full” lightbox=”true”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1579701574283{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]A bird’s-eye view of this horrible three-way intersection. A lone 950 heads west just about to cross Olympic Boulevard. When rails were first built, Olympic, Fairfax and San Vicente were little more than dusty wagon trails. Who alive at that time would ever believe that today automobile traffic is so bad at this three-way intersection, it’s a wonder there has not been a road rage shooting here, but that may yet happen some day.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Ralph Cantos

PE’s Glendale-Burbank Line for it’s time, was  one of the best examples  of modern light rail transit in California. State of the art,  MU PCCs  provided base service on the line, along with refurbished  Hollywood cars. The entire line had been rebuilt from end to end in 1940 in preparation for the introduction of the new PCCs.

Several miles of the line were on private-right-of-way. Three bridges carried the rail cars over busy streets and the LA River. The mile-long subway provided the line’s cars a fast entrance and exit out of Downtown LA.

Yet all the fantastic infrastructure didn’t mean shit to the management of Metropolitan “Roach” (Coach) Lines that had taken over PE’s passenger service in mid-1953. MCL management had only one agenda, that being the complete destruction of the remaining former PE rail lines.

By the end of 1955, the Glendale-Burbank Line was history along with the Subway Terminal.  Rail service on Hollywood and  Santa Monica Boulevards had been abandoned in 1953 and 1954. The Glendale line was the last Western District line to fall. Scrapping of the line was  agonizing and slow, but sure. The tracks on Brand Boulevard were paved over almost with indecent speed. Rails were pulled up along all portions of the rights of way. The Allessandro cut was taken over by California Highway Department for use  as part of the 2 Freeway. The line was being carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

For the better part of four years, the line’s three bridges remained standing as a sad reminder of the efficient, former rail line. The end for the bridges would come in 1959. The photogenic trestle over Fletcher Drive, the steel deck bridge over Riverside Drive, and the 20-year-old bridge over the LA River would all fall victim to the scrapper.

And so now, more then 50 years after the abandonment, “modern” buses are mired in traffic. No doubt, had the abandoned line  remained intact, it would have by now been rebuilt into a modern light rail line.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_gallery images=”14629,14630,14631,14632″ column=”4″ hover_scenarios=”slow_zoom”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Ralph Cantos

La Cienega bridge-1953.  Three years after the moronic abandonment of the Venice Short Line. the massive bridge stands proud,  looking almost new, stripped bare of rails and overhead. This view looks north from the south side of the intersection..
[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pe-abandonded-vsl-over-pass-venice-at-la-cienega-1953.jpg” image_size=”full”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1575288361568{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Standing atop the abandoned bridge,  looking towards Downtown  Los Angeles. Today, this same view is dominated by the Santa Monica Quagmire.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pe-la-cienega-venice-bl.-bridge-demolition.jpg” image_size=”full”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1575288407546{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]From the south side of Venice Bl at La Cienega, looking towards the west, demolition is well underway in this 1964 view.[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/pe-san-vicente-viaduct-demolition-1963.jpg” image_size=”full”][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1575288461962{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Just a few miles from Venice and La Cienega Blvds., the Pico-San Vicente viaduct demolition is well under way also.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]