BusTalk

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

This (undated) timeless photos is indeed nostalgic, as it not only recalls the long-ago days when PCCs still ran in Los Angeles, but also, when SEARS was still very much a part of the American scene.

I have seen home-movie video from circa 1964/1965 of this general area (with the SEARS store in the background), showing an adjacent off-street transfer station, being served by LAMATA and SANTA MONICA BUS LINES.

In that short video clip (courtesy of an old VHS tape), the LAMATA buses were both Fishbowls and Old Looks (older square window models), while the Santa Monica buses were Fishbowls...........

https://www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?17281

(courtesy: nycsubway.org)

["MTA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Also.........

It should be noted that the newest GM buses in the MTA fleet (at the time that the last streetcar lines were replaced in 1963) were first generation 5301s.

The first FLXIBLE New Looks also arrived in that year, dubbed "SilverLiners".............

"NYO"

["LAMATA"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Here is a detailed, in-depth page on the RTS which once were commonplace in Los Angeles; these familiar buses have now been gone for over 20 years............

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Los_Angeles_County_Metropolitan_Transportation_Authority_8200-9139

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Came across the following interesting article; a few historical photos are also here.........

https://la-future.com/en/eternal-los-angeles-streetcars-history-and-photos

["5160"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

From LA...........

A State of Emergency has been declared in Los Angeles County, due to the massive ICE protests; this, of course, has also impacted mass transit.

The new shows for Jimmy Kimmel Live! have also been shelved for this week, due to the dangerous conditions.......

"NYO"

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thinking...........

One can only imagine what the mass transit scene in LA would be like today had the PE and LARy/LATL rail lines survived beyond the 1950s and early 1960s.

The light rail and heavy rail in use today would, of course, be far more extensive and would serve far more areas than the electric rail routes of today.

Just imagine if PE's famed, four-tracked, "whistle/bell alley" raceway was today a part of LA's electric rail network!

Had electric rail transit not died off in 1961 (Long Beach line) and 1963 (ex-LARY lines) it would be interesting to see what (surviving) car builders might have supplied new rolling stock:

ST. LOUIS?

PULLMAN-STANDARD?

BUDD?

BOEING?

Alas, today in 2025, we can only speculate on what might have been.........

"NYO"

["WATTS"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Throw Away Society"..........

Many, many examples of this waste in the transit industry were carried out over the decades, in many American cities; but, IMHO, Los Angeles indeed ranks right at the top.

When what had been the great, far-flung PE empire, and the complex network of LARy streetcar routes were so foolishy and wantonly destroyed, it was short-sightedness personified.

Only decades later, when virtually nothing remained, did the revival of electric rail transport return to the "City of Angeles".

Think of what electric rail transit in LA would be like today, had at least porrions of the PE and LARY/LATL networks survived through the 1960s and beyond..........

"NYO"

["GLENDALE-BURBANK"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Just recalled...........

When I was a moderator on a long-defunct transit forum, a member inquired weather or not second-hand "Blimps" might have been choices for the CA&E, had the company soldiered in into the 1960s.

I responded, saying that, even though the cars were all steel, they were still "old" cars'; also, their excessive length would have indeed made them a "no go" for "The Sunset Lines".

By the time the CA&E abandoned passenger service in 1957, trains were no longer traveling via the "L" into the Loop.

The "Blimps", of course, would have been both too long and too heavy for the "L" structure itself......

'NYO"

["CHICAGO LIMITED"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Thought...........

Had WW2 not intervened, one cannot help but wonder if the conversion from streetcars to motor buses in Los Angeles might have been completed earlier than 1963?

Ditto for "The Red Car"..............

"NYO"

["LOS ANGELES TRANSIT LINES"]

[Cyberider]

One could get that impression since PE & LARy had a number of abandonments just prior to WWII. Even though ridership increased significantly during the war, it decreased even more significantly after the war. PE even abandoned some local lines in the Riverside area during the war.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

Cyberider:

Agreed.

Many only associate PE and LARY abandonments/conversions with the POSTWAR years, and forgetting what transpired PRIOR to the War.

Recall, also, that PE's PCCs (their newest cars) were retired in 1955, when the lines serving the Subway Terminal were converted that year; the older "Hollywood" cars, on the other hand, continued in operation for a few more years before they, too, made their final runs.......

"NYO"

["HOLLYWOOD VIA SUBWAY"]

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

The harsh realities.......

Though there are far more preserved examples of ex-LARy/PE rolling stock than ex-PSNJ equipment, it is still sobering ti think that what LA-area cars are still with us are but a mere "drop in the bucket", especially when looks at vintage carhouse/yard views, where hundreds of cars are seen.

Today, only two ex-PSNJ carhouses/garages still stand, in Paterson and West New York, with only the former still serving buses.

Not one of the original LARY/LATL streetcar-era structures survive today; the last (Division 3), severely damaged by an earthquake in the early 70s, was later demolished.

Once history has been eliminated, there is no bringing it back...........

"NYO"

["LAMTA"]

[Cyberider]

I believe several PE stations still exist in repurposed form. There were car houses located in San Bernardino and Riverside that existed decades later and perhaps still do repurposed. Also, there may be a powerhouse or two where the structure still exists. And, or course, the PE building at 6th and Main in downtown LA which was converted to condominiums and still exists. The Subway Terminal Building, too, in downtown LA.

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

CyberiderL

Though the mighty Subway Terminal building in LA still stands, the massive PS Terminal in Newark, once hailed as "The Eighth Wonder Of The Traction World", has been now gone for nearly 50 years.

Shut down in stages, between the late 1960s and mid-1970s, not a trace remains of this huge, two-level, multi-story transit hub.

Outside of the "recycled" City Subway, and some, long-dormant still extant ROW here and there, virtually nothing remains of the mighty PS empire.

However, there are still some substations still standing, some (like the one at Palisades Junction near me) are still in use by present-day PSE&G, MJ's largest utility.

The PS streetcar/ASV/bus terminals at JSQ and Exchange Place (both in Jersey City) have long since been demolished.......

"NYO"

["SIC TRANSIT GLORIA!"].

[NEW YORK OMNIBUS 2629]

"Remnants"........

At the time that the LAMTA converted the last few streetcar lines to buses in 1963, only 165 PCCs remained.

Of these, three went to ORANGE EMPIRE, two cars were sold to individuals, another went to a Colorado museum; the remaining 155 were sold for further use; one group went south of the border to Chile, with most cars being shipped to Cairo.

A few of the cars sold to Cairo were later scrapped for parts.........

"NYO"

["P PICO"]