Pacific Electric Subway Lines
We begin our tour by walking through the entryway to the Subway Terminal at 417 South Hill Street. After paying our fare in the lobby, we descend the spiral ramp to the train gates at the mezzanine level. Once through the gates we descend ramps to the track level, 29 feet below the Hill Street level. The Subway Terminal lobby is shown in the next photo (from the book "Pacific Electric Stations", available from the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California).
Hollywood Boulevard trains usually depart from track 1. In the following photo (by Donald Duke) our Beverly Hills bound train is waiting on track 1.
After passing the interlocking tower and sliding through the puzzle switches at the throat of the trainshed (shown in the photo below), our train accelerates up the 2% grade as it runs through the subway, passing signal lights and lights in the emergency escape pockets along the tunnel wall. One of the numbers on the front of the interlocking tower, in the photo below, is lit to tell the motorman which track the train is to arrive on. The motorman then signals this to the conductor (one bell for track one, two bells for track two, etc.), who thus knows which side the passengers will be exiting from.
The subway is one mile long. In the photo below (by Donald Duke) a Glendale-bound rush-hour train has just emerged from the tunnel portal, passing an inbound train from Hollywood. Toluca Yard is visible to the left. Toluca Yard has six tracks to store trains when out of service.
For the next mile our train runs on street trackage in Glendale Boulevard, from Beverly Boulevard to Sunset Boulevard, passing Echo Park on the right. The following photo shows a Hollywood-bound car passing Echo Park near Kent Street.
At Park Avenue we pass Aimee Semple McPherson's Angelus Temple on the right, and tracks diverge to the left. Hollywood Boulevard trains take the route diverging to the left, running uphill one short block to Sunset Boulevard. In the photo below an inbound train descends Park Avenue.
Hollywood trains then turn left and proceed west in street trackage in Sunset Boulevard. Hollywood Boulevard trains continue out Sunset Boulevard to Hillhurst Avenue, where Hollywood Boulevard begins. The trains then continue in street trackage in Hollywood Boulevard through downtown Hollywood to La Brea Avenue. In the photo below an outbound car is passing the Hotel Rector at Western Avenue. The street trees beyond the hotel were in front of a bungalow court. The street trees, the bungalow court, and the Hotel Rector are now gone, replaced by a senior affordable housing apartment building on top of a minimall and massive underground parking.
In the photo below an inbound car passes the Pantages theater at Argyle Avenue. The tall building behind the Pantages is the Bank of Hollywood Building, built in 1929.
Next we have a 1948 postcard view of Hollywood and Vine, with two Los Angeles Motor Coach yellow buses in action. The two large buildings flanking Vine Street on the south side of the boulevard are the Taft Building and the Broadway Hollywood department store, built in 1928, with an annex next to it.
The following is a 1920s postcard view looking east at Wilcox St. The Warner-Pacific Building and Warner Theater are at the left. The next large building on the left is the Security Trust & Savings Bank building, built in 1922, at Cahuenga Blvd.
In the next photo an outbound car passes the Hollywood Market, at left, at Whitley Drive. The metal Christmas trees plug into circuits in the street light poles.
Next we have a 1930s postcard view of Hollywood Boulevard looking east at Highland Avenue. The tracks going north on Highland Avenue are the San Fernando Valley line.
In the next shot an outbound car passes Grauman's Chinese Theater. The Spanish Colonial-style structure visible through the palm trees is the Hollywood Hotel at Highland Avenue (demolished in 1954). The tall building in the background is the Southwest Trust & Savings Bank building, built in 1927.
At La Brea the tracks curve diagonally to the left onto private right of way, paralleling an alley called Marshfield Way. The following postcard view (circa 1930) looks east from La Brea. The second tall building from the right is the Hotel Roosevelt.
This private right of way runs for two blocks to Poinsettia Place, where the tracks enter Hawthorn Avenue. The tracks run in Hawthorne Avenue two blocks to Martel Avenue, where they then diverge in a southwest-ward direction, entering a private right of way that runs diagonally to the street grid to Santa Monica Boulevard and Fairfax Ave. In the photo below (by Ray Ballash) an inbound car has just crossed Vista St. (with Hawthorn Avenue in the distance) on the private right of way.
An outbound car, about to cross DeLongpre Dr., has just departed Gardner Street in the photo below (by Donald Duke).
The trains run a bit less than a mile on street trackage in Santa Monica Boulevard to Holloway Drive, where a private right of way in the median of Santa Monica Boulevard begins. The boulevard also curves a bit southwest-ward at this point. After the stop at La Cienega Boulevard, the next stop is the West Hollywood Carhouse stop, at Westbourne Drive. Tracks diverge to the left here, entering West Hollywood Yard. West Hollywood yard is the main operations center for the PE lines operating out of the subway, including a car house, a car shop, overhead wire maintenance sheds, as well as freight facilities.
At Palm Avenue the train reaches the West Hollywood stop (shown below). The station agency is across the street in the PE electrical substation building (out of view to the right).
After crossing Clark Street and Robertson Blvd., the line reaches the Beverly Hills city limits at Doheny Dr. From Doheny Dr. to the Beverly Hills civic center the right of way is between Big and Little Santa Monica Boulevards -- an attractive right of way lined with eucalyptus trees. After passing the shelter at Beverly Boulevard, where there are various freight spurs for the Beverly Hills industrial park, the line continues another half mile to Canon Drive, the location of the Beverly Hills station (shown below).
Copyright 1999 Tom Wetzel
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