Streetcars & Freeways

Getting around. The Red Cars and the interurban network that once had a thousand miles of track, the freeway interchanges, the traffic, the Metro lines built since, and the car as the condition of the place.

Part of Los Angeles

28 moments in this segment.

1. 1890 - Arcade Depot sold by Wolfskill. Los Angeles, 1890. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
2. 1892 - Horse-drawn streetcar on Main Street (c.1892). Before electrification, a horse-car at the Main Street post office.
3. 1894 - Cable car on Broadway just north of 2nd Street looking south, Los Angeles, ca.1893-1895. Los Angeles, 1894. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
4. 1894 - Broadway looking south from Second Street showing a cable car, Los Angeles, ca.1893-1895…. Los Angeles, 1894. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
5. 1895 - Bridge across the Arroyo Seco at Garvanza, showing the first cable-car to cross it, ca.1…. Los Angeles, 1895. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
6. 1895 - La Grande Station. Los Angeles, 1895. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
7. 1905 - The Balloon Route trolley (1905). The Pacific Electric "Balloon Route", the streetcar network that first shaped the sprawling region.
8. 1905 - Los Angeles-1905-Arcade Depot. Los Angeles, 1905. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
9. 1910 - Laurel Canyon Trolley Bus at Sunset 1908-09. Los Angeles, 1910. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
10. 1911 - Marvelous Scenic Railway, "Dragon Gorge" at Ocean Park, Cal. (pcard-print-pub-pc-51a). Los Angeles, 1911. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
11. 1912 - Pacific Electric stops, South Bay (1912). The Red Car map of the South Bay at the network’s height.
12. 1915 - Stevens Duryea Automobile, Silver Motors 657 South Atlantic Blvd., East Los Angeles.... Los Angeles, 1915. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
13. 1937 - Six Los Angeles Railway weekly passes 1937 - 1940. Los Angeles, 1937. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
14. 1939 - 1939 Pacific Electric Railroad Boosters trip (archive film). A 1939 excursion on the Red Cars, PeriscopeFilm archive.
15. 1944 - 1940s Pacific Electric - Long Beach line (archive film). The Red Cars running in the 1940s.
16. 1945 - The Pacific Electric Red Car system (archive footage). Vintage footage of the great interurban network.
17. 1948 - Tearing out the streetcar tracks (1948). The dismantling of the rail system that the freeways would replace.
18. 1955 - Angels Flight funicular (1955). The little railway up Bunker Hill, "the shortest railway in the world."
19. 1959 - Safe driving on Los Angeles freeways (1959). A 1959 educational film on the new freeways, real period footage.
20. 1961 - The Red Car system - a final ride (historic video). Footage from the last days of the Red Cars.
21. 1962 - Bunker Hill razed around Angels Flight (1962). Urban renewal demolishes Victorian Bunker Hill around the funicular.
22. 1962 - Building the highways, 1960s (Kinolibrary). From the Kinolibrary Archive Film collections. To order the clip clean and high res or to find out more visit Clip ref. BPA93.
23. 1963 - CA 1 I10 FHWA 63 1239. Los Angeles, 1963. From the Wikimedia Commons historical-photo collections.
24. 1973 - KTLA: gas stations & heavy traffic in LA (1973). Los Angeles, 1973.
25. 1975 - Wilshire Blvd in the 1970s (vintage footage). Los Angeles, 1975.
26. 2018-12-11 - The four-level interchange - 70 years. Los Angeles, 1953.
27. 2023-11-20 - The Santa Monica Freeway, before & after. Los Angeles, 1965.
28. 2025-05-03 - Union Station opens, May 3, 1939. The grand last great rail station of America.