:previous:

The picture below was posted by e_r in post #21112. It was identified by WS1911 as "the end of the line for the P car at Dozier and Rowan in Boyle Heights" in the next post.

More on LATL 950
 

Hi Folks,

My wife and I have been out of town helping our daughter with her new baby so I am a little bit late in commenting on the two photos shown here.

Ed Workman correctly identified the location in Post25587, but was off a bit on the date, an easy thing to do given the automobiles in the second photo. While this was a railfan excursion, it was not the Railroad Boosters trip of 1938, but rather the Southern California Electric Railway Association trip of June 16th, 1950. Note the light colored 1950 Pontiac convertible parked at the curb opposite the 950. Also, a color photo of Car 950 on that same trip can be seen here under the title 950 on Eagle Rock Boulevard:

http://www.pacificelectric.org/categ...ailway/5-line/

As Ed noted, the trackage on Lamar Street terminated near SP’s Lamar Street Roundhouse and Los Angeles General Shops. This trackage was operated as a shuttle service for SP employees and the dash sign did not carry a number or letter route designation, merely S.P. Shops, as seen on this sign in my collection. Also, not that there is no route designation in the square box on the roof, as this car was not in regular service on this day.The V-Line sign was added by one of the fans. In answer to Lorendoc's questions, 1., these were two sided signs. The reverse usually designated a "turnback" car that would terminate it's run short of the end of the line. The signs would be swapped by the operator at each end of the line when the car reversed its direction, although it was not uncommon for a sign to be carried at each end eliminating the need to swap ends. 2., The photo of 950 on the single track is taken near the end of the Larmar Street trackage. SP Workers would disembark here and walk to the roundhouse and shops.

http://i1315.photobucket.com/albums/...psc32cipu3.jpg

Perhaps the most unique and noirish thing about the two photos is the 950 herself. She is a one-off car classified as Type E, and was originally one of two LARY funeral cars, Descanso (Peace) and Paraiso (Paradise). These two cars swapped names over time and this is explained on the Orange Empire Railway website.

Prior to wide spread use of the automobile, many street railways offered Funeral Car services to cemeteries along their routes. The Descanso was built by LARY in August 1911 with two compartments, one running crosswise behind a separate motorman's compartment at the front of the car for the deceased's casket and immediately behind a second for the mourners. Luxuriously appointed in a chapel atmosphere with plush seats and stained glass windows, Descanso and Paraiso would often make as many as seven trips a day to the cemeteries along the system. However, This service was terminated in 1921 as automotive hearses came into vogue. In January 1922 LARY converted the Descanso into a PAYE (Pay As You Enter) “passenger” car by replacing the plush seats with wooden ones, removing the casket section and elegant stained glass and repainting the car from it’s original light gray into standard LARY Yellow. However, passengers were quick to recognize it as the old Descanso and refused to ride it!

In June of 1924 it was shopped a second time and given the appearance seen in these two pictures. At that time she was given the number 950 and designation Type E. She thereafter served mostly on the 5-Line until being sold for scrap on April 2, 1951, and taken to Terminal Island in July of that year to “give up the ghost”.

On July 3, 1940 the Paraiso was donated to the Railroad Boosters as Descanso and moved to Summit, California and placed beside the Santa Fe mainline for use as a clubhouse. She remained at Summit until 1967 when she was taken to the Orange Empire Railway museum and restored to her original appearance. See: http://www.oerm.org/collection/yello.../lary-descanso

Cheers,
Jack

Here's a couple other photos of wartime painted PE cars.

http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co...-Main-1942.jpgRalph Cantos Collection

PE officials stand beside PCC no. 5000 at 6th & Main in the early months of 1942. This was the first of two different NAVY paint jobs applied to the 5000 during the War. Another:

http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co...nk-undated.jpgDon Ross Collection

Location above noted as sometime at the end of the war years at the end of track in Burbank.


The Flying Tiger Car:

http://www.pacificelectric.org/wp-co...OOP-061044.jpgRalph Cantos Collection

The Los Angeles Railway, painted PCC no. 3010 in this very striking paint job. The 3010 was dubbed "The Flying Tiger Car."

The painted message on the side of the 3010 encouraged Los Angeles middle aged men and women who were not on the war front to "BECOME A TROLLEY PILOT" — a much needed asset to the War effort on the home front.

Here the 3010 poses on June 10,1944 at the Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal loop.

HossC, by way of e_r and WS1911, thanks for
the follow up on the Rowan & Dozier Loop.

This is the Rowan & Martin Loop: :haha:
http://assets.paleycenter.org/assets...oke-wall-1.gif

San Bernardino
 

Actually, another Inland Empire location, the old Santa Fe roundhouse in San Bernardino taken from the Mt. Vernon overpass looking northeast. You can just see a corner of one of the shops buildings. Everything in this photo is gone, replaced by an intermodal yard.

Killeye, here is the 1950 Sanborn map of the north side of North Main, seen looking north from Lamar, that you asked for.

http://i.imgur.com/mXbdqyM.jpg
LAPL

This was a mixed light industrial neighborhood. On the stretch of North Main in question, the 1942 CD has the likes of:

1767 - Electro-Arc Sales Co.
1773 - California Sheet Metal and Manufacturing Co.
1775 - Rommel Table Cloth Factory
1775 1/2 - Sabala Tortilla Factory

I'm not sure I would want to eat anything made next door to a metal-working facility.

And thanks Wig-Wag for the comments, and congrats on the new family member.

Mother Ginger & The Owl Drug building
 

That's the well-loved character, Mother Ginger. She's a traditional figure from folklore, but most know the version from Act II of "The Nutcracker" (she's usually played by a man, often on stilts). Her children, the eight little Polichinelles, live within her skirts.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-C...20904%2BPM.jpg
ballet theater of ohio

There was this: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=11010

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/201...geles_05_2.jpg
USCDL



I hope everyone here is having a great 2015.

I also looked and it didn't match anything I could find in Los Angeles. Thanks
Pdxrailtransit for locating this.

Long time no see :) good to see you.

Nice thread:tup:

A couple more pictures of Red Cars from eBay. The first shot is from Watts in 1951. The Haigh Drug Co on the left was at 1701 E 103rd Street.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...1.jpg~original
eBay

Here's a better view of the Haigh Drug Co building.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
www.uncanny.net

I haven't been able to identify the location of the second eBay picture. The seller says it's San Pedro in 1958. If only the full company name on the left was visible.

http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/z...2.jpg~original
eBay

The rollsign sez a lotl The P line ran from the west side of LA, a similar return loop of minimum radius at Pico & Rimpau, thru downtown and out east to thi return loop.
I recall Whittier Blvd was apart of that route- lots of Cemeteries

[QUOTE=Martin Pal;6884047]I love this evocative photo, E_R!

According to this wikipedia page [P (Los Angeles Railway)] -- HERE -- this location was most likely
the Pico & Rimpau Loop, the Western Terminus of the "P" Line from Rowan & Brooklyn (as seen on the car in the photo).
Thanks for the pix.
The east end did not have the storage track inside the loop as Pico/Rimpau, the track outside the P-R loop etc albeit at least a decade separates the two. so the Victory car pic wasn't shot here

Happy new grandbaby!
Thanks for the corrections and additions, and especially the dash sign pic.
I thought I had a history of RRB fantrips- can't find it, I did find one about SCERA and as I had convinced myself RRB, didn't look inside- The cover sez 1950-1972 or such- so this must have been one of SCERA's early trips. Was it the first- well I could go look in the book
regards

The pic of 498 on the rear of a 'CAtalina" train was taken just after the train left the ramp from 6th and Main and got completely on San Pedro STREET headed south for the Catalina Terminal in Wilmington- where the boat part of the trip to Catalina stated. The 498 was built for the SP lines in the SF bay area, possibly crossed the Bay Bridge in the few short year between the completetion of the Bridge Railway and abandonment of electric service. SP deeded the cars- to become known as Blimps in So Ca- to the Tol Bridge Authority in lieu of cash to pay for the automatic train stop gear that was installed to permit optimum speeds at 90 second headway on the bridges.
Few of the cars were scrapped but sat for months in storage until the US MAritime Commission discovered them. The bulk were sent to So CA and went to work on the PE . There first use was to haul workers from 6th&Main to the Calship yard on Terminal island as 'Calship Special' trains , but PE rented them for service on other lines as traffic increased. PE bought them and did some freshening work after the war.

A small number of cars were dispersed to the winds- to Utah, Houston and ??? for shipyard and arsenal worker transportation. Several bodies have been repatriated from Utah to the Western Railroad Museum at Rio Vista Junction. Santa Fe towed USMC cars between LA and San Diego for military traffic particularly demobilization.
Happily 498 resides at OERM, Perris where is is almost thru a restoration process
THANKS

Thanks a lot Lorendoc. Enjoy your meal !

It's "Rollfast Bicycles and Roller Skates."

Re: The Renaissance Apt. bldg. fire -- Yesterday, a $170,000 reward was offered to find those responsible for setting the fire. Councilman Tom LaBonge has come out to oppose reconstruction of the location as an apartment building, citing that it's so close to the freeway you can reach out and touch it as you drive by and also citing health concerns because of that. He thinks a much needed parking garage would be better suited to the space, but the builders have vowed to rebuild the site exactly from the original plans.

:previous: The Renaissance Apartment building (also known as the Da Vinci) was SO close to the Harbor Freeway that if you were on your balcony you could have a conversation
with someone in their car.

Here is the photograph that amazed me....just look how close it was to the highway.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/102...905/Y6f0D9.png
http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhal...209-story.html




below: Here is a diagram showing the plans and future plans of the real estate builder, Mr. Palmer.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800...908/AZnVvI.png
http://www.latimes.com/local/cityhal...209-story.html

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Great to hear from you T2! Thanks for the identifying the novelty structure as 'Mother Ginger'.
I thought it was a giant sized Little Bow Peep. :)
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