Clang, Clang, Clang Goes The...

The people of Angelino Heights hope to resurrect a little piece of L.A. transportation history. According to today's L.A. Times, residents of the neighborhood -- considered Los Angeles' first suburb -- have acquired one of the old Yellow Car tolleys that once traveled through town.

Angelino Heights remains one of L.A.'s real hidden gems. The neighborhood, just west of downtown, still boasts some of the most amazing Victorian homes you'll ever see -- most of which have been pain-stakingly restored.

If their plan goes through, Angelino Heights hopes to get a few Yellow Cars running between the neighborhood and downtown.

Writes the paper: Service on the Angelino-Crown Hill Line lurched to a halt in 1946 after Los Angeles Railway Corp. was sold to a consortium of automobile, truck and tire companies and oil firms that replaced its trademark Yellow Car electric-powered trolleys with buses.
The goal of nonprofit Angeleno Heights Trolley Line Inc., is to construct a 5 1/2-mile rail loop that will once again provide passenger service between Angelino Heights, Echo Park and downtown.

In Angelino Heights itself, restarting the trolley could be as easy as scraping the asphalt off the old narrow-gauge tracks hidden beneath hilly neighborhood streets and stringing a 600-volt electric line overhead, advocates say.

New tracks would be required along busier streets that have been repeatedly dug up and repaved since the original trolley service was discontinued.

The trolley would connect their historic neighborhood with such tourist sites as Olvera Street, light-rail and subway commuter service at Union Station, the Civic Center and Chinatown.