Oh boy, those Pacific Electric Red Cars sure packed a wallop of color, didn’t they? Or maybe it’s the vibrancy of the Kodachrome process? Either way, I suspect it was easy to spot on coming a mile away—literally. This one was heading south on Highland Ave near Hollywood Blvd in 1952. The Hollywood Hotel would have been to the left, and note the Chop Suey café on the right. This Red Car is displaying a “LIMITED” sign, which meant that it only stopped at the major points, in effect making it an express service.
This is roughly how that view looked in July 2024.
Around the time of this photo, my family visited my grandparents in Long Beach. My Dad was a sergeant in the Air Force. We were stationed in Roswell at Walker AFB. I was six at the time. While driving out here, we had a flat. So my Mom decided to take the street cars to Hollywood and appear on “Queen for a Day”, where she asked if we could get a new set of tires. She didn’t win but enjoyed the experience!
Great story, David!
Thanks, Martin. In just a few years, the streetcars would be scrapped! I caught some photos, I believe from Dick Whittington’s legendary collection. It shows a stack of street cars, dumped on Terminal island in 1959. Were they eventually dumped in the ocean or buried? A good question. If you shop around, there’s lots of Whittington’s classic photos of LA streetcars in black and white, but seeing them abandoned on Terminal island is a sight to see.
Without fail, the iconic First United Methodist Church on Franklin Avenue still stands in the background. Love that white tower!
I saw a photo of the Sunset Fire from a week ago with the white tower of the church and fire and flames on the hillside behind it.
Tom…here’s information on the disposition of vacated Hollywood type Cars of Pacific Electric/LAMTA: https://www.pacificelectric.org/pacific-electric/pe-6735076-a-promising-new-career-cut-short/
LARy/LATL/LAMTA city cars have more complex stories.
I sure like the 50s photo far better than the current one. LA has lost so much of it’s character. Sad!!!
Another shot of PE’s “Wait Islands” with traffic precariously close. Some of the PCC cars, as seen here, were not scrapped but sold to other countries.