Who even knew they had traffic jams or peak hours back in 1914? In this photo we’re looking at a dozen or so Los Angeles Railway street cars lined up along Seventh St in downtown Los Angeles while waiting their turn to cross busy Main Street. I bet the guy driving the horse and cart is thinking the same thing when I’m on the 405 Freeway heading north and the southbound lanes are clogged to a standstill: “I’m glad that’s not me!”
A dozen or so Los Angeles Railway street cars lined up along East Seventh St, downtown Los Angeles, 1914
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Curios, Martin…what are your favorite LA-based movies…the ones that evoke a sense of time and place in any decade past?
The first one that came to mind was “LA Confidential.” The other title is actually at TV show – it’s the recent “Perry Mason” do-over-make-over-origin-story version in HBO. It’s by far the best representation of yesteryear LA that I’ve ever seen.
On the other side of Main, PE is using trackage on 7th to access the Surface Yard running to 6th behind the Terminal station and paralleling Los Angeles Street. There was no elevated line in the early years and no cars could pass through the PE building. The turn-around back out onto Main contributed to the massive traffic jam in this sector. Development of the retail sector on 7th and the building up along 6th added to the mess.
PS….for movies….This Gun For Hire gives you both SF & LA in the late ’30’s look tied together by the coastal overnight train trip. Some great footage in there. Couple it with Postman Rings Twice to get that early highway out of town feel. But episodes of Highway Patrol (’55 to ’60) show you LA locations un-staged as they appeared after that Bloody Christmas/Night Owl Massacre era set in 1952 (the true year when things change radically).