It wasn’t just the main LA thoroughfares like Hollywood Blvd and Santa Monica Blvd that had streetcars, it was regular local streets, too, like this one. This was the Los Angeles Railway’s N streetcar on 9th Street, just west of downtown LA. Like the Red Cars, these yellow-and-green ones were easy to spot. This photo is circa late 1940s, just prior to the abandonment of the line in 1950. In the background we can see the Hotel Proctor with its “bachelor apartments”, which I assume were probably just a room with maybe a basin like we’ve seen in many a seedy film noir picture.
This is roughly the same view in January 2022. The only thing that has remained is the Proctor, now known as the Windsor. I wonder if it still offers those bachelor apartments.
Is this area now considered seedy? Current photo looks so boring. So commercial looking and boring!!!!
I wouldn’t say it was seedy, just – as you say – boring.
Alan Weeks left a good account of the post-war rash of line abandonments before the final blows of the fifties: https://www.pacificelectric.org/los-angeles-railway/n-line/tony-the-trolley-puller-and-1245-at-spring-and-sunet/
Car there in article is at northern end of the run on Spring at Sunset, where upon the poles are reversed for the outbound trip. Car here is now serving as Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL) since LARy was sold to National City Lines. It is re-painted in the “Fruit Salad” colors of cream over green and yellow, a job carried out as cars were sent to the shops for modernization work. Before airlines did their job, car lines such as this were important to provide access to central rail stations for people living beyond the core area of downtown. Hotels might naturally be found along such routes whereas nearby apartments might serve the more permanent residential crowd.