NP: 1960's Freeways

[Paul Mackin]

On Fri, 21 Jul 2000, Steve Maas wrote:

> I don't know if "suppressed" is the right word--it's more like capitalism 
> run rampant.  GM, Firestone(I think it was, or another tire maker), and one 
> of the big oil companies set up dummy corporations in many cities around the 
> US, including La-La. They bought the trolley companies and shut them down to 
> be replaced with buses.  The right-of-way was sold, the cars were scrapped.  
> A great tragedy and a greater crime, in my opinion.  Though this happened 
> decades ago, just a few years ago a court found the companies guilty of 
> conspiracy or something and slapped their naughty little wrists.  I forget 
> the details.  At home I have a videotape of a PBS show describing the whole 
> sordid story.
> 
>      Steve Maas's the name, transit planning's the game

This is neither here nor there but I used to love to ride those
interurban Big Red Cars the Southland was known for. Mine ran between
Pasadena and downtown L.A. There were not  one but two separate lines--the
Shortline and the Oak Knoll. They were the size of railroad cars and two
were often strung together. Wide guage. The doorways were all open and
we kids (youth) could hang out and sometimes fall off. The
company was Pacific Electric (P.E) build by RR magnate Henry
Huntington. PE also had local streetcar service with smaller cars
thoughout the area including Los Angeles proper. The right of ways used by
the Big Reds were fine but much of  the trip would be through city streets
competing with local traffic. After the War when L.A. stopped being a
sleepy little town (of barely a million) all of this part would have had
to be elevated or put under ground. In addition to the local red P.E. cars
there was also the Los Angeles Railway (LARY) system of yellow cars
running on narrow guage. Ah Wilderness.

			P.