The route was an amalgamation of different railroads. The Sunset Boulevard segment was established in 1895 by the Pasadena and Pacific Railroad as a narrow gauge line. Los Angeles Pacific Railway constructed the Melrose Cutoff in 1900, running between Santa Monica Boulevard and Virgil to Prospect Avenue and Vermont Avenue. This was route was largely supplanted in 1905 by the Hollywood Cutoff, which ran from Sanborn Junction northeast to Hollywood and Vermont. Trips though the Hill Street Tunnel began on September 15, 1909, allowing cars a more direct route to Downtown Los Angeles.[3] The route was converted to standard gauge that same year,[4] with five miles (8.0 km) of track gauge-converted the night before the tunnel's opening.[3] The line was acquired by Pacific Electric in 1911 as part of the Great Merger, and the company assumed operations.[5]
Under Pacific Electric, cars ran between the Hill Street Terminal and Gardner Junction (Sunset Boulevard and Gardner Street). The Melrose Cutoff was abandoned in 1915.[6] Beginning in 1916, cars were through-routed past the Hill Street Station to serve the Venice Boulevard Local Line — the following year some rush hour trips began terminating at 11th and Hill Street.[7] On February 7, 1926 the route would begin operating with every-other trip terminating at the new Subway Terminal Building, running via the Hollywood Subway.[8] By 1932, both subway and surface trips were operating past Gardner Junction. Between 1941 and 1943, trips on the surface line were through-routed with the Venice Short Line in addition to the Locals. Starting in October 1950, all trips on the line were made to terminate in the subway. Metropolitan Coach Lines acquired the service in 1953 and the final passenger trains ran over the line in the early hours of September 26, 1954.[9] Several bus routes were created or rerouted to replace service in the affected areas.[10]
Routeedit
Beverly Hills station, c. 1915–1920
The route began at the Hill Street Station which was located at the site of the Subway Terminal Building, on the west side of Hill Street between 4th and 5th Street. The Red Cars exited the station (or later the Subway Terminal Building) at ground level directly into Hill Street. The dual tracks ran north in the center of the pavement of Hill Street, crossing major intersections in Downtown Los Angeles to reach 1st Street. North of 1st Street was the first of the two tunnels on the route. The dual tracks ran through the first tunnel (under Bunker Hill) to Temple Street, while the Hill Street roadway passed through its own parallel tunnel directly to the east. The rails continued north of Temple Street through the second tunnel (under Fort Moore Hill) to Sunset Boulevard, while Hill Street ran above on a separate alignment.
On Sunset Boulevard, dual tracks ran westerly in the center of the pavement, crossing Grand Avenue, Figueroa Street, and over the Pasadena Freeway. The rails continued in a general northwesterly direction, past Beaudry, Elysian Park and Echo Park Avenues to arrive at Park Avenue, where cars routed through the Subway Terminal turned west into Sunset Boulevard. The line continued northwesterly on Sunset before turning west onto Hollywood Boulevard, then zig-zagged its way southwesterly, primarily on private right-of-way, between La Brea and Fairfax avenues down to Santa Monica Boulevard, continuing down Santa Monica before terminating at PE's Beverly Hills depot located on Canon Drive between "Big" and "Little" Santa Monica boulevards.
Class 600 cars were designed and built for the service with the first fifty units from St. Louis Car Company delivered in 1922.[11] These cars would become so closely associated with the Hollywood Line that they quickly acquired the moniker Hollywood cars.[12] Pacific Electric expanded this fleet with fifty more St. Louis Car Company units in 1924, fifty additional units from J.G. Brill Company in 1925, and a final order of ten from St. Louis Car Company in 1928.[12]
Venice via Hollywoodedit
A separate service operated locally all the way through to Venice after Beverly Hills via the Sawtelle Line. Cars on the Venice via Hollywood Line began running out of the Subway in August 1928. This service lasted until August 1941.[13]
Shuttle routesedit
The Coldwater Canyon Line ran from Beverly Hills station to the Beverly Hills Hotel by way of Rodeo Drive. It began service under the Los Angeles and Pacific Railway in 1907.[14] Pacific Electric ran through cars to downtown via San Vicente Boulevard and Venice Boulevard no later than October 1912 until October 1916. The shuttle was discontinued in 1923.[15]
The Laurel Canyon Line ran from Gardner Junction to the foot of Laurel Canyon by way of Sunset Boulevard. The route was originally a steam line of the Cahuenga Valley Railroad. The line was regularly through-routed Downtown until about November 1921 when it became a shuttle route from Laurel Canyon to the main Hollywood line at Gardner Junction. The branch was abandoned in 1924.[16]
Crump, Spencer (1977). Ride the big red cars: How trolleys helped build southern California. Trans-Anglo Books. p. 92. ISBN0-87046-047-1. OCLC 3414090.
Veysey, Laurence R. (June 1958). A History Of The Rail Passenger Service Operated By The Pacific Electric Railway Company Since 1911 And By Its Successors Since 1953 (PDF). LACMTA (Report). Los Angeles, California: Interurbans. ASIN B0007F8D84. OCLC 6565577.
Walker, Jim (2006). Pacific Electric Red Cars. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN9780738546889.
External linksedit
Electric Railway Historical Association
pacificelectric.org Car 5139 in Beverly Hills
This United States rail–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
hollywood, line, local, streetcar, line, pacific, electric, railway, primarily, operated, between, downtown, angeles, hollywood, with, some, trips, away, beverly, hills, west, angeles, company, busiest, route, prior, opening, hollywood, subway, designated, rou. The Hollywood Line was a local streetcar line of the Pacific Electric Railway It primarily operated between Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood with some trips as far away as Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles It was the company s busiest route prior to the opening of the Hollywood Subway 1 2 Designated as route 32 the line operated from 1909 until 1954 HollywoodScreencap from promotional film Hollywood Snapshots 1922 OverviewOwnerSouthern Pacific RailroadLocaleLos AngelesTerminiSubway Terminal BuildingBeverly HillsStations10ServiceTypeStreetcarSystemPacific ElectricOperator s Pacific ElectricRolling stockSteel 600 Class last used HistoryOpened1909ClosedSeptember 26 1954 September 26 1954 TechnicalLine length11 7 mi 18 8 km Track gauge4 ft 8 1 2 in 1 435 mm standard gaugeOld gaugenarrow gaugeElectrification600 V DC Overhead linesRoute mapLegend Venice via Hollywood discontinued1941 Coldwater Canyon discontinued1923 11 7 Beverly Hills Westgate Coldwater Canyon 11 5 Alpine Drive 11 1 Lewis Palm Drive Alta Drive 10 8 Doheny Drive 10 6 Almont Street 10 5 La Peer Street 10 4 Hilldale Avenue 10 3 West Hollywood 10 1 Huntley Drive 10 0 Westbourne Drive 9 9 Westmount Street 9 8 La Cienega Boulevard 9 6 Croft Avenue Hacienda Park 9 5 Kings Road 9 4 Sweetzer Avenue 9 4 Harper Avenue 9 3 Havenhurst Drive 9 2 Crescent Heights Boulevard 9 1 Laurel Avenue 9 1 Edinburgh Avenue 8 9 Fairfax Avenue Sherman discontinued1953 Ogden Drive Fountain Avenue Stanley Curson Avenue De Longpre Avenue Laurel Canyon discontinued1924 8 2 Gardner Street Sunset Boulevard Vista Street Fuller Avenue Formosa Avenue La Brea Avenue Sycamore Avenue Orange Drive 7 4 Highland Avenue Owensmouth San Fernando Las Palmas Avenue Whitley Avenue Hudson Avenue Wilcox Avenue 6 9 Cahuenga Boulevard Ivar Street Hollywood Argyle Avenue Vista Del Mar Avenue Gower Street Brokaw Place Bronson Avenue Van Ness Avenue Wilton Place St Andrews Place 5 8 Western Avenue Western and Franklin Serrano Avenue Harvard Boulevard Stop between Winona Blvd amp Kingsley Drive Normandie Avenue Alexandria Avenue Kenmore Avenue 4 8 Edgemont Street New Hampshire Avenue 4 6 Vermont Avenue Melrose cutoff1900 1915 Rodney Drive Hillhurst Avenue Commonwealth Avenue Fountain Avenue Bates Avenue 3 7 Hollywood Junction Sanborn Avenue Hyperion Avenue Lucille Avenue Edgecliffe Drive Maltman Avenue Micheltorena Street Elza Avenue Descanso Drive Elk Street Westerly Terrace Silver Lake Boulevard Benton Way Lafayette Coronado Street Waterloo Street Rosemont Avenue Mohawk Street Alvarado Street Bonnie Brae Street surface discontinued 1950 Glendale Boulevard Glendale Burbank Park Avenue Stop between Santa Ynez amp Park Ave Santa Ynez Street Kane Street Kent Street Bellevue Avenue Temple Street Court Council La Veta Colton Patton Beverly Boulevard amp 1st Street Edendale Toluca Substation and Yard Hollywood Subway surface stops Lemoyne Street Echo Park Avenue Echo Park Avenue La Veta Terrace Portia Street Douglas Lilac Terrace Elysian Park Avenue Allison Street Innes Avenue Marion Avenue Everett Beatrice Beaudry amp Bellevue Avenue Centennial Street Figueroa Street Bunker Hill Grand Avenue Sunset Boulevard amp Hill Street pre 1909 route Hill Street Tunnel Temple Street Hill Street Tunnel 1st Street 2nd Street 3rd Street 4th Street Subway Terminal This diagram viewtalkedit Contents 1 History 2 Route 2 1 List of major stations 3 Rolling stock 4 Venice via Hollywood 5 Shuttle routes 6 See also 7 References 7 1 Bibliography 8 External linksHistory editThe route was an amalgamation of different railroads The Sunset Boulevard segment was established in 1895 by the Pasadena and Pacific Railroad as a narrow gauge line Los Angeles Pacific Railway constructed the Melrose Cutoff in 1900 running between Santa Monica Boulevard and Virgil to Prospect Avenue and Vermont Avenue This was route was largely supplanted in 1905 by the Hollywood Cutoff which ran from Sanborn Junction northeast to Hollywood and Vermont Trips though the Hill Street Tunnel began on September 15 1909 allowing cars a more direct route to Downtown Los Angeles 3 The route was converted to standard gauge that same year 4 with five miles 8 0 km of track gauge converted the night before the tunnel s opening 3 The line was acquired by Pacific Electric in 1911 as part of the Great Merger and the company assumed operations 5 Under Pacific Electric cars ran between the Hill Street Terminal and Gardner Junction Sunset Boulevard and Gardner Street The Melrose Cutoff was abandoned in 1915 6 Beginning in 1916 cars were through routed past the Hill Street Station to serve the Venice Boulevard Local Line the following year some rush hour trips began terminating at 11th and Hill Street 7 On February 7 1926 the route would begin operating with every other trip terminating at the new Subway Terminal Building running via the Hollywood Subway 8 By 1932 both subway and surface trips were operating past Gardner Junction Between 1941 and 1943 trips on the surface line were through routed with the Venice Short Line in addition to the Locals Starting in October 1950 all trips on the line were made to terminate in the subway Metropolitan Coach Lines acquired the service in 1953 and the final passenger trains ran over the line in the early hours of September 26 1954 9 Several bus routes were created or rerouted to replace service in the affected areas 10 Route edit nbsp Beverly Hills station c 1915 1920 The route began at the Hill Street Station which was located at the site of the Subway Terminal Building on the west side of Hill Street between 4th and 5th Street The Red Cars exited the station or later the Subway Terminal Building at ground level directly into Hill Street The dual tracks ran north in the center of the pavement of Hill Street crossing major intersections in Downtown Los Angeles to reach 1st Street North of 1st Street was the first of the two tunnels on the route The dual tracks ran through the first tunnel under Bunker Hill to Temple Street while the Hill Street roadway passed through its own parallel tunnel directly to the east The rails continued north of Temple Street through the second tunnel under Fort Moore Hill to Sunset Boulevard while Hill Street ran above on a separate alignment On Sunset Boulevard dual tracks ran westerly in the center of the pavement crossing Grand Avenue Figueroa Street and over the Pasadena Freeway The rails continued in a general northwesterly direction past Beaudry Elysian Park and Echo Park Avenues to arrive at Park Avenue where cars routed through the Subway Terminal turned west into Sunset Boulevard The line continued northwesterly on Sunset before turning west onto Hollywood Boulevard then zig zagged its way southwesterly primarily on private right of way between La Brea and Fairfax avenues down to Santa Monica Boulevard continuing down Santa Monica before terminating at PE s Beverly Hills depot located on Canon Drive between Big and Little Santa Monica boulevards List of major stations edit Station Major connections Date opened Date closed City Beverly Hills Coldwater Canyon Sawtelle Venice via Hollywood Westgate 1902 1954 Beverly Hills Sherman Sherman Venice via Hollywood 1902 1955 West Hollywood Crescent Sherman Venice via Hollywood 1902 1955 Los Angeles Gardner Junction Laurel Canyon 1902 1955 Hollywood Western and Franklin Avenue 1902 1955 Sunset Junction Owensmouth San Fernando Sherman Venice via Hollywood Western and Franklin Avenue 1902 1955 Subway Terminal Building Echo Park Avenue Glendale Burbank Owensmouth Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey San Fernando Sawtelle Sherman Venice Short Line Venice via Hollywood Western and Franklin Avenue Westgate 1925 1955Rolling stock editClass 600 cars were designed and built for the service with the first fifty units from St Louis Car Company delivered in 1922 11 These cars would become so closely associated with the Hollywood Line that they quickly acquired the moniker Hollywood cars 12 Pacific Electric expanded this fleet with fifty more St Louis Car Company units in 1924 fifty additional units from J G Brill Company in 1925 and a final order of ten from St Louis Car Company in 1928 12 Venice via Hollywood editA separate service operated locally all the way through to Venice after Beverly Hills via the Sawtelle Line Cars on the Venice via Hollywood Line began running out of the Subway in August 1928 This service lasted until August 1941 13 Shuttle routes editThe Coldwater Canyon Line ran from Beverly Hills station to the Beverly Hills Hotel by way of Rodeo Drive It began service under the Los Angeles and Pacific Railway in 1907 14 Pacific Electric ran through cars to downtown via San Vicente Boulevard and Venice Boulevard no later than October 1912 until October 1916 The shuttle was discontinued in 1923 15 The Laurel Canyon Line ran from Gardner Junction to the foot of Laurel Canyon by way of Sunset Boulevard The route was originally a steam line of the Cahuenga Valley Railroad The line was regularly through routed Downtown until about November 1921 when it became a shuttle route from Laurel Canyon to the main Hollywood line at Gardner Junction The branch was abandoned in 1924 16 See also editStreetcar suburb History of rail transportation in CaliforniaReferences edit nbsp This article incorporates text from a free content work Licensed under the public domain as a work of the State of California license statement permission Text taken from 1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes California Department of Transportation Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Veysey 1958 p 20 Crump 1977 p 92 a b L A amp P Made Broad Gauge in One Night Santa Ana Register September 15 1909 p 1 Retrieved July 29 2022 via Newspapers com nbsp Getting Cars Ready Los Angeles Daily Times June 23 1909 p 10 Retrieved February 5 2022 via Newspapers com nbsp Hollywood Line Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California Veysey 1958 p 86 Veysey 1958 p 19 Veysey 1958 pp 20 22 Veysey 1958 p 22 Hollywood Line Trains Bowing Out Los Angeles Mirror September 22 1954 p 14 Retrieved November 30 2023 via Newspapers com nbsp Walker 2006 p 35 a b Pacific Electric 626 Southern California Railway Museum Retrieved August 25 2021 Veysey 1958 pp 91 93 Coldwater Canyon Line Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California Retrieved May 3 2024 Veysey 1958 p 10 Veysey 1958 p 30 Bibliography edit Crump Spencer 1977 Ride the big red cars How trolleys helped build southern California Trans Anglo Books p 92 ISBN 0 87046 047 1 OCLC 3414090 Veysey Laurence R June 1958 A History Of The Rail Passenger Service Operated By The Pacific Electric Railway Company Since 1911 And By Its Successors Since 1953 PDF LACMTA Report Los Angeles California Interurbans ASIN B0007F8D84 OCLC 6565577 Walker Jim 2006 Pacific Electric Red Cars Arcadia Publishing ISBN 9780738546889 External links editElectric Railway Historical Association pacificelectric org Car 5139 in Beverly Hills nbsp This United States rail related article is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte nbsp This article about transportation in California is a stub You can help Wikipedia by expanding it vte Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Hollywood Line amp oldid 1222091112 Venice via Hollywood Line, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
