A jitney bus parked out front of Central Park (now Pershing Square), downtown Los Angeles, circa mid-1910s
This photo dates back to circa mid-1910s when downtown Los Angeles’s Pershing Square was still called Central Park. That large white vehicle parked in front is a jitney bus, which was a small public bus service. ‘Jitney’ was slang for a nickel, so I’m assuming the fares were originally five cents per person. We can also see how delightfully green and lush Pershing Square used to be—lots of shade trees to provide relief from the California sun.
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I love your stuff ran across the Hollywood research read it all. I’m more interested in the canon in the background. Links to you again from the wiki article on Pershing Square. I believe the statue to the left is the monument to Spanish-American War dead. Behind the dark colored touring car is one of the cannon which appears to be on a naval mounting. If I can figure out the type with further research I’ll try to let you know.
I believe you’ll find that a nickel was called a jit. And the pre taxi cab drivers were generically called Jitney drivers, you’re right a standard fare was a nickel. However, I don’t believe either of these cars are jitneys. They’re more of a tourist car or Hotel transport. Most jitneys were regular cars driven by entrepreneurs.
You’ve got a very interesting site. I’m going to read your Garden book. Anticipate a fun read. Thanks.
Hi Steve – from memory, that canon was used in the Spanish-American War, so I can imagine it was transformed into a monument. As for the Jitneys, a friend of mine from the Petersen Automotive Museum identified those vehicles as jitneys, so maybe there were larger vehicles that operated at nickel jitneys too…?