[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1594495079848{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]By Ralph Cantos

History is full of “missed opportunities” both big and small. One such missed opportunity was Pacific Electric Railway’s Glendale-Burbank Line.

First of all, this modern PCC-operated rail line should HAVE NEVER  BEEN ABANDONED. Replacing this fantastic rail service with a meandering bus line whose route took it all over the damn place was ridiculous.

Printed brochures stating that the new “modern” bus service would follow the route of the abandoned rail line as closely as possible  could only be classified as a “JOKE.” Running time of the “modern air ride” bus service was 15 minutes longer than the abandoned rail service.

After rail service was abandoned, destruction and scrapping of the lines’ infrastructure commenced. The high grade rails down the center of
Brand Boulevard were paved over with almost indecent speed. Rails north of the lines crossing with the Southern Pacific at Richardson were pulled up quickly along Glen Oaks Boulevard.

The PE had high hopes of selling the 15-year-old Pullman Standard PCCs  to another transit system.  So, in anticipation of selling the PCCs, the outbound rails, substations, and overhead were kept intact all the way from the Subway Terminal to the Southern Pacific interchange at Glendale Station at Richardson.

By the mid 1950s, the used PCC market was flooded with hundreds of used postwar St. Louis Car Co. “all-electrics” from Detroit and the Twin Cities. Only Shaker Heights Rapid Transit showed any interest in these beautiful PE  prewar older air-electrics.

Shaker Heights chose the Twin Cities all-electrics instead. So by early 1957, with the Shaker Heights deal dead,  all remaining rails and overhead were scrapped. Aside from the rails on Brand Boulevard being paved over, the basic infrastructure of the line (less rails and overhead) was intact.

The remaining infrastructure of the Glendale-Burbank Line would have been  a PERFECT candidate for rebuilding into a modern light rail line. But it was not to be. The 15-year period  from about 1950 to 1965 was the darkest time for rail transit in America. Bus and petroleum companies had sold America a “bill of goods” regarding the superiority of rubber-tired transit over steel wheels on rails.

And so, beginning in 1959, the scrapping and destruction of the Glendale-Burbank Line began. The bridges over Fletcher Drive, Riverside Drive and the LA River were cut up and sold for scrap.

In mid-1972, the Allesandro Cut was destroyed for construction of the Glendale Freeway, a joke in itself. Then in 1974, construction of the Bonaventure Hotel cut into the PE Subway tunnel, destroying any possible reuse for rail transit. Most of the right-of-way from Fletcher Drive to the Riverside Drive crossing at Monte Sano was carved up and apartments built there.

And so, some 65 years after its abandonment, any hope and possibility of ever rebuilding the line has been “squashed” by greed, short-sightedness and just plain STUPIDITY.

Ralph Cantos Collection[/vc_column_text][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-5025-at-riverside-dr.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Pacific Electric 5025 at Riverside Drive by Alan K. Weeks” desc=”This beautiful photo of #5025 and the #5024, were taken by master photographer Alan K. Weeks during the last month of the Glendale-Burbank. The excellent condition of track and equipment is clearly shown in these photos.”][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-riverside-dr.-bridge-monte-sano-substation-1959.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Pacific Electric Railway’s Riverside Drive Bridge & Monte Sano Substation ,1959″ desc=”The steel bridge and concert abutments at Riverside Drive seen here just before being scrapped. The Monte Sano Substation is also visible. Today, apartment have taken the place of the bridge and right of way. Today there is NO TRACE that the PE was ever here.”][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-5029-at-fletcher-tressle.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Pacific Electric 5029 at Fletcher Trestle”][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-5028-at-monte-sano.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Pacific Electric 5028 at Monte Sano” desc=”The stop here at Monte Sano was an early “PARK & RIDE.“”][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-5005-in-the-allesandro-cut.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Pacific Electric 5005 in the Allesandro Cut” desc=”After abandonment, the PE kept the outbound rails and overhead intact from the Subway to the Glendale Station SP-PE interchange. It was hoped by the PE that the PCCs could be operated under their own power to the SP interchange where they would be loaded aboard flatcars and sent on their way to a new home. It never happened and all rails and overhead were scrapped in mid-1957. Today, the Glendale Freeway has erased all traces of the PE on this part of the line.. Progress? I don’t think so. Alan K. Weeks photo.”][mk_padding_divider][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pe-glendale-burbank-line-scrapping-near-atwater-2.jpg” image_size=”full” title=”Atwater District, Late 1957″ desc=”Outbound rails and overhead remain intact on the Glendale-Burbank Line in this early 1957 photo. This is in the Atwater District. Inbound rails are torn up. By this time, the PE had lost all hope for a quick sale of the PCCs and later that year, all rails, overhead and substations were scrapped.”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1591212694197{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]By Ralph Cantos

This photo, taken from the observation deck at LA City Hall, shows the south portal of PE’s Hill Street #2 just before it was demolished to make way for construction of the space age Hollywood Freeway and the Four Level Interchange.

Both tunnels #1 and #2 were built by the PE around 1909. The second twin tunnel to #1 was built around 1913 for automobile use by the City of Los Angeles.

Looking like some newly discovered archeological artifact from some prehistoric time, the south portal looks so out of place in this photo. Trackage along Hill Street was used by 3 lines: The Venice Short Line, the Hollywood Boulevard Line via Hill Street, and the Echo Park Line.

The Venice Short Line was abandoned on September 17, 1950, followed two weeks later on October 1, 1950 by the Hollywood and Echo Park lines using tracks north of The Subway Terminal surface yard, through Hill Street Tunnels #1 & #2 and out Sunset Blvd.

For the next three months, a lone Hollywood car made the daily franchise run the entire length of the Venice Short Line and Echo Park Lines.

It all came to an unceremonious end on the cold winter day of December 28, 1950. Both tunnels were abandoned. The rail portion of Tunnel #1 was reused for auto traffic until both tunnels were demolished in 1955 for the Bunker Hill redevelopment project.

However, Tunnel #2 would fare a little better. Construction of the Hollywood Freeway cut the tunnel in half. The south half was demolished, but the north half was reused for textbook storage by the Los Angeles Unified School District for almost 60 years, until mid-2014 when new development in that area destroyed the century old bore.

Today, no trace of either tunnel can be found.

The year 1950 marked the beginning of the end for the once great Pacific Electric. Just 11 years later, on April 9, 1961, the Pacific Electric was history in all respects. Slowly, but surely, almost all traces of the PE have been, or are being obliterated. It’s as though the PE was an embarrassment to Southern California and Los Angeles in particular.

And now, almost 60 years after the last PE passenger rail service was abandoned, “experts” are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Looking back at city politics in the early 1950s, all I can say is, “Here’s another fine mess they got us into.”

Ralph Cantos Collection[/vc_column_text][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/pe-695-at-temple-hill-sts-1946.jpg” image_size=”full” lightbox=”true” title=”Hill Street Tunnel #2 in better times.” desc=”Pacific Electric no. 695 at Temple & Hill Streets, 1946.” hover_image_overlay=”false”][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/pe-hill-st-tunnel-2-in-service.jpg” image_size=”full” lightbox=”true” title=”The north portal of tunnel #2 in service about 1946, and abandoned arount 1956.” hover_image_overlay=”false”][mk_image src=”https://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/pe-752-at-santa-monica-12-28-50.jpg” image_size=”full” lightbox=”true” title=”It was a cold, overcast day on December 28, 1950 as franchise car no. 752 prepares to depart Santa Monica Station for the last time.” desc=”A new GM coach (no. 2744) sits almost defiant and smug next to the deposed 752. About a year after rail service ended, the historic station with its cozy waiting room , was bulldozed away. It was replaced by a lone, wind swept, bus stop bench. Experts called it “progress.“” hover_image_overlay=”false”][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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