Trolley Times

Los Angeles is what it is because these folks are what they are; and they’re what and where they are because of this same cardinal carrier that wipes distance out of the consideration in a way you never saw anywhere else . . . They enjoy all the conveniences of the city and all the fun of the country . . .. You haven’t bumped into anything of this sort because it doesn’t exist anywhere else. Los Angeles is the center and heart of the most highly developed interurban electric system in the whole world.
          Former Iowan quoted in “The Red Car of the Empire” (Sunset, 1913)

The idea behind public transportation probably came about when one prehistoric village got the idea of attacking another farther away than a stone’s throw. But whether for warring or other purposes, moving groups of people in an efficient and cost effective manner has been the impetus that led to horse-driven carriages, early streetcars, buses, automobiles, and planes.

As tribes grew into villages which grew into towns and then cities, the need for public transportation became a necessity. Few cities have demonstrated this need more than Los Angeles, which today extends its thousands of miles and millions of people with an interurban freeway system that slows more than speeds people on their way.

It wasn’t always that way. Plans by early city leaders to keep the city horizontal rather than vertical (thus eliminating the overcrowding experienced by many eastern cities) made the question of how to handle transportation a serious one. One solution to the dilemma of transportation was an extensive trolley system that grew as haphazardly as the city it served. 

The Pacific Electric (PE) Railway was centered in Los Angeles and linked downtown to various outlying communities. Its development was shaped by two conflicting capitalist interest groups at work in Los Angeles in the early 1900s: real estate developers the big transcontinental freight railways.

Los Angeles at this time was growing quickly. Between 1900 and 1912 the population of the city increased from 100,000 to 400,000, spawning a real estate development boom outward from the city’s center. In the era before mass auto ownership, transportation to the subdivisions was essential so a variety of streetcar and electric trolley lines came into existence to link these subdivisions to downtown where the jobs and services were concentrated.

Henry E. Huntington, one of the leading land speculators in Los Angeles and nephew to Collis P. Huntington, director of the Southern Pacific Railroad, was integral to this development of mass transportation in Los Angeles. In 1898 he acquired ownership of the Los Angeles Railway and used that to support real estate development in nearby sections. But Huntington also acquired huge amounts of acreage that were further out from downtown than the area served by the LA Railway. He also incorporated PE on in late 1901 after losing the presidency of the SP to financier E.H, Harriman following his uncle’s death. With his national aspirations thwarted, Huntington turned his attention to the trolley systems in Southern California.

There were a number of other electric trolley systems being built between the 1890s and 1910 by real estate developers. The largest of the suburban electric railways operating out of downtown Los Angeles in the early 1900s was not PE but the Los Angeles Pacific. This extensive railway ran streetcar lines out through Hollywood and suburban trolley lines to Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Brentwood, and Redondo Beach. But it was not alone. Lines from various railways ran in all directions. Trolleys were the primary means of transportation for both residents and visitors in the pre-freeway age. Unfortunately, Huntington’s network of electric railways all ended up on downtown streets where they converged at its hub at 6th and Main streets. The result was a huge trolley traffic jam on Main Street that only got worse with the years, especially after World War I and into the early 1920s when a noticeable increase in automobile ownership had cars and trucks competing for the same street space. 

This rapidly developing network of trolley lines throughout southern California became a concern to freight railways like Southern Pacific (SP) since they had the potential to become serious freight competitors to the big transcontinental carriers. Edward Harriman, head of SP, worried that these trolley networks might fall into the hands of his competitors such as the Santa Fe or Union Pacific.

So beginning in 1903, he began buying up various trolley lines and laying new track to outlying regions. He and Huntington went head to head until PE, Los Angeles Railway and seven other Southern California trolley lines were acquired by SP in 1911 in what was called the “Great Merger.” The expanded PE increased its efforts to promote the allure of Southern California to visitors and potential settlers. Huntington, meanwhile, turned his attention to his magnificent book and art collections.

PE continued its outward expansion, enabling developers to continue planning while assuring newcomers that connections with their business, entertainment and retail needs would be available. But they also focused on an additional means of publicizing their system with their specialized excursions.

Most of these excursion had been developed by previous trolley companies and had served to introduce tourists and prospective settlers to the varied pleasure of Southern California from the mountains to the sea. Tilton’s Trolley was one—not, alas, one of the big three despite its claims—one of the longest lasting. That belong to the Balloon Route, the Orange Empire Trolley Trip, and the Mission Route.

Tilton's Trolley was a escorted and narrated tour over certain lines of the Pacific Electric. Its existence went back to before the pre-1911 merger of the PE with other Southern Pacific and Huntington-owned interurban properties. Tilton originally provided this service on the Southern Pacific-owned Los Angeles Pacific which operated from downtown Los Angeles westward to Hollywood, Santa Monica, Venice. Its specialty was “100 Miles for 100 Cents,” a trip that included a visit to “Pasadena and the Orange Groves, Long Beach, San Pedro (Los Angeles Harbor).” There was also free admission to Cawston’s Ostrich Farm and San Gabriel Mission. Tilton’s Trolley was one of several of these kinds of trips that originated in the years prior to the development of motor coaches (buses) and organizations such as Gray Line Tours.

All the trolley tours were part of PE’s role in Los Angeles tourism. Visitors were encouraged to ride the Red Cars to the various tourist venues listed in promotional literature such as the Selig Zoo, Alligator Farm, Cawston’s Ostrich Farm, Gay’s Lion Farm, the missions, and even longer trips to Catalina Island. The latter left PE’s headquarters downtown and arrived at the San Pedro terminal an hour and fifteen minutes later where passengers boarded the S.S. Cabrillo (later the S.S. Catalina or S.S. Avalon) to visit the island.

The importance of the trolleys to transportation in Southern California can be seen in the fact that all major sports and cultural venues built prior to World War II—Wrigley Field, the Memorial Coliseum, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Pan-Pacific Auditorium—used them to deliver the bulk of their attendees.

Despite the trolley tours, PE was losing money. And it continued—with one exception—to do so. That exception occurred during World War II. Los Angeles County’s population boomed as war industries attracted millions of workers. In addition, gasoline rationing forced people out of their cars, and ridership actually reached an all-time high in 1944. But it didn’t last. By the 1950s, it was clear that the car was the preferred means of travel and PE was forced to abandon one of its district lines to make room for a new freeway in downtown Los Angeles. In 1958, the newly created Metropolitan Transit Authority took over both rail and passenger service in southern California. And finally, on April 9, 1961, the final trip by a Red Car was taken—on the Long Beach line, the line PE first built in 1902. It seemed the end.

But twenty-nine years later, on July 14, 1990, light rail returned to Long Beach with the opening of the Metro Blue Line. It runs over much of the same right of way as the original.  Though the cars are painted in while with blue trim, they carry a red strip on their body to honor the Red Cars that came before.

And trolley trips have returned, not only to Los Angeles but to many cities. Though they are geared to visitors and are mostly short trips, the extensive number of them attests to the returning popularity of trolley cars. They may no longer be part of an “interurban electric system,” a workhorse if you will, but they sure are fun. 

A few links for those interested in this subject:
A Short History of Pacific Electric
Bits of Los Angeles History
Red Cars: The Pacific Electric Collection
Lines of the Pacific Electric Railway

Bookmark specifications: Tilton’s Trolley Tours
Dimensions: 8” x 2”
Material: Paper
Manufacturer: Southern Pacific
Date: Early 20th century
Acquired: eBay


Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately 1,200 books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.