LOS ANGELES

FIRST INSET: DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES

SECOND INSET: THE LOS ANGELES REGION

Note: For the sake of clarity, only interurban (PE) routes are shown on this map.

ROUTES

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STREETCAR ROUTES

Operator: Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (LAMTA) ["Yellow Cars"]

J	Jefferson Park – Jefferson Blvd. – Grand Av. – 7th St. – Santa Fe Av. – Pacific Blvd. – Huntington Park
P	Brooklyn Av. [today: Cesar Chavez Av.] – 1st St. – Broadway – Pico Blvd. – Mid City (Rimpau Loop)
R	3rd & Western – 3rd St. – Vermont Av. – 7th St. – Whittier Ave. – East Los Angeles (Brannock Av.)
S	8th & Western – 8th St. – Vermont Av. – 7th St. – San Pedro St. – Avalon Blvd. – Central Av. – Watts (Manchester Av.)
V	East Holliwood (Monroe St.) – Vermont Av. – Vernon Av. – Vernon Yard

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INTERURBAN ROUTES

Operator: Pacific Electric Railway ["Red Cars"]

Note: The two-character codes used to identify routes below and in the maps are for convenience only, and were not used by the operating company.

LB	Long Beach	6th & Main – Main – 9th St. – Long Beach Av. – Willowbrook Av. – Long Beach
WA	Watts Local	6th & Main – Main – 9th St. – Long Beach Av. – Watts

The last two interurban routes were discontinued on 9 April 1961. The last streetcar lines were discontinued in 1963.

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM

NETWORK LENGTH

• Streetcar lines: ? km.
• Interurban lines: ? km.



HISTORY

• Horse-drawn streetcars: 1874 - 1896
• Cablecars: 1888 - 1896
• Electric streetcars: 1 July 1891 - 1963
• Interurban railways: 1887 - 9 Apr. 1961
• Light rail: 14 July 1990 - today.
• Subway: 30 Jan. 1993 - today

GAUGE

• Streetcars (Los Angeles Railway): 1067 mm.
• Interurbans (Pacific Electric): 1435 mm.
• Light Rail: 1435 mm.
• Subway: 1435 mm.

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TRAM PRESERVATION

The Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, southeast of Riverside, owns and operates a large collection of vintage Pacific Electric and Los Angeles Railway streetcars over 0.8km dual-gauge and 2.4km standard gauge track.

The Port of Los Angeles Waterfront Red Car Line runs replica 1908-style Pacific Electric interurban streetcars over a 2.4 km track in the San Pedro waterfront area.

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SOURCES

PRINT

• "Los Angeles and San Francisco", The Modern Tramway, Nov. 1949 (12:143), p.221-224.
• Simons, V. "Los Angeles: Gone but not forgotten", Tramways & Urban Transit, Feb. 2010 (73:866), p.76-77.
• Simons, V. "Los Angeles - The transformation continues", Tramways & Urban Transit, Dec. 2009 (72:864), p.460-463.
• Skelsey, G. "Hill Street Blues" [The Pacific Electric Railway (PE)], Modern Tramway & Light Rail Transit, Aug. 1988 (51:608), p.263-269.
• Smith, G.E. "Los Angeles - The S route", The Modern Tramway, Oct. 1961 (24:286), p.295-298.
• Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - Megacity needs more light rail", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2007 (70:833), p.172-176.
• Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - New light rail line brings gold to Pasadena", Tramways & Urban Transit, June 2007 (70:834), p.217-219.
• Wansbeek, C.J. "Los Angeles - Metrolink: Successful urban rail", Tramways & Urban Transit, July 2007 (70:835), p.258-261.

WIKIS

• List of Pacific Electric Railway lines [En]
• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority [En]
• Los Angeles Railway [En]
• Pacific Electric Railway [En]

WEB SITES

• Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California (ERHA) [En]
• Los Angeles (on UrbanRail.Net) [En]
• Los Angeles Railway in Brief (by Tom Wetzel) [En]
• Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) [En]
• Metrolink [En]

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