Silver Lake's Stairs to Nowhere

Behind Home restaurant at Fletcher and Riverside, where half a century ago an elevated Pacific Electric car ran, there exists a staircase to nowhere. Starting behind Home's parking lot and aiming north, the stairway points to nothing. There's no reason to climb it, other than exploring. Read more here.

Retro Friday: Trolleys in Los Angeles

As a follow up to last week's Retro Friday about the final days of the famed Red Cars, here's an interesting find from the Metro librarian's collection. It's a silent film clip that doubles as archival footage of early horse-drawn and electric streetcars or trolleys in Los Angeles.

Retro Friday: The Last of Los Angeles' Red Cars

In honor of the 20th anniversary of Los Angeles' Metro Red Line (which first opened in 1993), here's a color film chronicling the end of the run of L.A.'s original transit system -- which was completely scrubbed by 1961.

Retro Friday: Street Safety in 1930s Los Angeles (Filmstrip)

Don't Be foolish! Obey the Law! Cross Streets Carefully! Think Of Your Parents!

Los Angeles streets in the 1930s look like the Wild West in this safety filmstrip -- but I suppose the whole concept of street culture was relatively new back then. No seat belts, no speed limit, no safety measures to prevent tragedies. This film (no sound, sorry) gives us a glimpse into busy 1930s L.A. surface streets, including the heyday of the Red and Yellow Cars. Watch above.

Retro Friday: 1979 L.A. TV Remembers The Red Cars

As we celebrate the opening of the Metro's Expo Line next weekend, L.A. finally gets light rail service to West L.A. for the first time since the Red Cars were shut down. Here's Channel 2's "Two on the Town" in 1979, remembering the old Pacific Electric Red Car system and lamenting the lack of a rapid transit system (and visiting the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris). (Things have improved, obviously.)

Retro Friday: Die Day in Los Angeles, 1963

From the Metro archives. Above, March 30, 1963 -- the final day of service for L.A.'s streetcars.



And to go really back, here's a training film from 1914 for L.A.'s Pacific Electric cars.

Retro Friday: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Promote the Blue Line

It was 20 years ago this month that rapid transit finally returned to Los Angeles, via the RTD (now MTA) Metro Blue Line. The train, which began service on July 14, 1990, connects L.A. with Long Beach, and is now a part of a service that includes the Metro Red, Green, Purple and Gold lines (as well as the Orange Metroliner bus line and the upcoming color-free Expo Line).

Explaining the concept of trains to L.A., 30 years after the Red Cars were yanked off the rails (including much of the Pacific Electric right-of-way that the Blue Line now uses), apparently required some bizarre marketing methods. Like this video: Watch as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are called upon to defeat the evil Gridlock, who will do anything in his power to stop Angelenos from riding rapid transit.

Exploring L.A.'s Railway Past in Perris

Driving to Perris, California -- deep inside the Inland Empire -- is a chore. And let's be honest, the town itself isn't that hot. (Indeed, Perris... is no Paris.)

But for Los Angeles history buffs, railroad fanatics and kids who simply enjoy choo-choos, the Orange Empire Railway Museum is worth making the trek at least once.

We hit the museum last year with Blogger Kid in tow for a special "Thomas the Tank Engine"-themed weekend. Evan enjoyed riding the trains -- but I loved climbing aboard old Los Angeles Yellow and Red cars, and examining old L.A. transit maps and memorabilia. I'm a nerd.

Some pics from the museum:

What Could Have Been: The Metro Library's Collection of Proposed Rapid Transit Routes

The Metro Library and Archive has posted a host of old maps detailing proposed -- and ultimately, failed -- Southern California rapid transit plans to its Scribd account. The maps are fascinating -- and to a degree, heartbreaking.

After all, had the money been raised and construction actually taken place, we would have had a subway or train to the sea decades ago -- and at the fraction of the cost it would take now.

Above, the 1968 Final Proposed Transit Master Plan Concept. According to the Metro Library, "The initial 62-mile, four corridor system that could expand to 300 miles was projected to cost $2.5 billion during its 8.5-year construction period." (Yes, 8.5 years -- which means it could have been completely done by the dawn of the Carter administration.)



Here, the 1974 Proposed Transit Master Plan Concept. "The initial 116 miles of mass rapid transit would eventually expand to a 250-mile system with 24 miles of dedicated busway lanes. The projected cost was $6.6 billion over a 12-year construction period." This could have been done by the mid-1980s.

Of course, opposition got in the way of these proposals -- and as a result, we're still debating the possibility in 2009 of a "subway to the sea" -- which wouldn't even be real until 2020 at the earliest.
And that's optimistic. As the L.A. Times today notes, it's unlikely Metro will be able to secure funds anytime soon for such a massive project:

(Mayor Antonio) Villaraigosa has been pushing to have the subway completed in 10 years, more than 15 years earlier than current estimates.

At his urging, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board agreed to submit the subway expansion, as well as a plan to build a light-rail link through downtown, as the county’s two projects to compete against a national pool of federal funding.

But the 14 members of Congress who signed a letter released today said those two programs don’t have a good shot at immediately getting federal funding. Further, they said that L.A. County risks not get anything from the federal New Starts program unless it adds other regional rail proposals, including an extension of the Gold Line in the San Gabriel Valley and a rail line down Crenshaw Boulevard in South L.A. and the South Bay.

For a quick but very informative primer on L.A.'s mass transit systems in the post-war era, check out the study "New Mass Transit Plans: Los Angeles 1951- Present," written by the Metro Research Center/Dorothy Peyton Gray Transportation Library's Mattew Barrett, found here.

Retro Friday: Remembering the Red Cars

The Metro Librarian continues to dust off some interesting old videos for its YouTube channel. Check out this early 1980s clip from "Two on the Town," fetauring a brief history of the region's old Red Cars -- as well as a visit to the Orange Empire Railway museum.

Also, below, check out this Pacific Electric training film for motormen, circa 1914: