Not only did Los Angeles have an extensive network of streetcar trolleys, but in the early part of the 20th century, it also had the rubber-tired “trackless trolley.” The first of their kind in the United States, they shuttled sightseers and prospective land buyers up Laurel Canyon Blvd into the Hollywood Hills, where developer Charles Spencer Mann made his sales pitch. These trackless trolleys seated 16 and were actually converted Oldsmobile buses powered by overhead wires. Service began on September 2, 1910, where Laurel Canyon met Sunset Blvd, which is what we’re seeing this photo, circa 1915. For ten cents, passengers could ride the 1.5-mile route up to Lookout Mountain Avenue.
The Laurel Canyon line of the PE was a connection from Gardner Jct. as part of the Hollywood Boulevard line from Hill Street. ERHA pages give it much earlier roots than the Great Merger of 1911. It was only a single line track running in the center of the improved roadway but reportedly carried a great number of passenger cars which terminated at the end of this dead end line. By 1924, the line had been abandoned. John Bengstrom has some info posted on silent film footage shot in the line.
A connector to Santa Monica Boulevard was known as the Crescent Cut-Off and was officially Sunset Boulevard until the name was changed in 1920 to Crescent Heights Boulevard. (Sunset was rerouted out to the coast on what had been Beverly.) The trackless trolley ran only 1910-12 and was too expensive to keep up.
Not only did Los Angeles have an extensive network of streetcar trolleys, but in the early part of the 20th century, it also had the rubber-tired “trackless trolley.” The first of their kind in the United States, they shuttled sightseers and prospective land buyers up Laurel Canyon Blvd into the Hollywood Hills, where developer Charles Spencer Mann made his sales pitch. These trackless trolleys seated 16 and were actually converted Oldsmobile buses powered by overhead wires. Service began on September 2, 1910, where Laurel Canyon met Sunset Blvd, which is what we’re seeing this photo, circa 1915. For ten cents, passengers could ride the 1.5-mile route up to Lookout Mountain Avenue.
The Laurel Canyon line of the PE was a connection from Gardner Jct. as part of the Hollywood Boulevard line from Hill Street. ERHA pages give it much earlier roots than the Great Merger of 1911. It was only a single line track running in the center of the improved roadway but reportedly carried a great number of passenger cars which terminated at the end of this dead end line. By 1924, the line had been abandoned. John Bengstrom has some info posted on silent film footage shot in the line.
A connector to Santa Monica Boulevard was known as the Crescent Cut-Off and was officially Sunset Boulevard until the name was changed in 1920 to Crescent Heights Boulevard. (Sunset was rerouted out to the coast on what had been Beverly.) The trackless trolley ran only 1910-12 and was too expensive to keep up.