Quote:
Originally Posted by BulletBob
Hello Everyone,
This thread is just astounding! I truly appreciate the interest and the effort of so many to produce such high content posts, the research, photos and before and after stuff which has always fascinated me. I found out about this thread from a link in a post on the Trainorders.com website.
It took me 5 weeks alone to read the first 90 pages. I am a new member as of today.
I was born in downtown and grew up in LA often visiting downtown LA and all around town because of a delivery job while at USC. The West Adams district stuff has been fascinating reading thus far. Spent a lot of time practicing in the old Clark House USC used as part of its music school.
The stories and observations could run long but I wanted to mention my particular area of expertise and interest is the Pacific Electric, street cars and railroads. I have a lot of books but in the 90's began collecting videos
taken from films of the PE, LA area railroads and streetcars. Having seen so many remnants of the PE as a kid I wanted to see it in action. I only recall the last days of the then very tired and beat up Long Beach line just before its demise (1961) when it wasn't even PE anymore.
There has already been mention of the This Was Pacific Electric DVD on this thread. And it is superb. There are many others like it.
I will get that info together along with my comments and bring it back to the board. I have scoured places for this material even calling a producer at his home based on a promotional trailer and it turned out to be his home phone.
Some of these videos have before and after scenes taken nearly 50 years
apart and in one video, 100 years based on old photographs.
So in the meantime, if there is something of special interest to you let me
know as often some subjects are sidebars and segments in a full production.
My LA old scenes are in books so I will need to carefully look over the forum
rules on copyrighted material.
BB
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Welcome BulletBob-- As a PE expert, maybe you can solve the mystery in the photo in this old post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...postcount=2002 : Why is this PE car, apparently heading east on Venice Boulevard (at Catalina) toward the Hill Street Station downtown, traveling on the north side of the street? And while it's probably an optical illusion, why is it so close to the curb? (or is it for some strange reason Photoshopped?). Also-- your PE interests remind me of Ralph Cantos, the great foamer (meant as a total compliment) of the PE, who appears in
This Was the Pacific Electric with his tour of PE remnants. Do you know him? He is easily Googlable, with a good many items to his credit, about the PE as well as other subjects of L.A. history. (And Edsels!) It would be great to see your material.