Pacific Electric Headquarters 3
Mount Lowe Preservation Society Collection
A vintage street-level view of the Pacific Electric headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.
Mount Lowe Preservation Society Inc. Collection
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Note the “blackout hoods” on the streetlights, indicating that the photo was taken during or shortly after World War II. Not conclusive, but there are no post-war cars in the scene.
Also see in the photo a WWII jeep.
The building on the northeast corner (with the “Money to Loan” signs on the ground floor) was the Southern California headquarters for the Santa Fe Ry. for many years. Since it does not have any Santa Fe signs in this photo, ATSF may have been located in La Grande Station, which would no longer serve passenger trains (after the opening of LA Union Passenger Terminal), but may still have been an office building.
Actually, the building on the northeast corner was the ATSF administration building, but the main executive and sales offices were around the corner in an adjoining building facing Sixth Street. That’s where they owned the building and used it as the executive offices for the Coast Lines Division. It was also marked with the Santa Fe signs. This building on Main was leased to ATSF on the upper floors only. I worked there in the freight accounting office on the fifth floor in 1956 before going away to college.