In all the vintage photos I’ve posted over the last 10+ years, I don’t recall seeing a traffic signal that looked like this one in Pasadena in 1928. With that black chord hanging from above, I assume the signal was powered by electricity. Can we assume those two lights were red and green? Those two semi-circular sections above them — one of them reads “STOP.” So can we also assume that the back of the right-hand one says “GO”?
** UPDATE ** – Apparently these signals were otherwise known as “banjo signals.”
** UPDATE ** – Alexis K on Facebook says: “Looks like the southwest corner of Raymond Ave at Colorado Blvd before the 1929 widening of Colorado Boulevard, looking east.”
IIRC, also found at La Brea & Santa Monica intersection. Might turn up at other heavy intersections with rail traffic? (There existed another oddball semaphore thingy on Alvarado that the kids on NLA were trying to get an explanation for.) Notice the cement patch next to the base of this one? What did they pull out of there to set this up?
It was called a Waterhouse signal, named after its inventor. The half-circle covers on the face rotated to show the Stop and Go messages. It appears that the cable from above was a short cut to properly putting the cable and conduit below ground.
The County of Los Angeles installed a Waterhouse signal at the intersection of Santa Monica Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. Other than those locations I don’t think that the Waterhouse option caught on to rival the Acme. The tri-light signal would soon emerge.
Thanks for that, John. Little wonder that name isn’t familiar – it never really caught on!
Wow! So many variations on stop lights. Makes one wonder how many there really were?