The U was so-named because it served USC (ran right through the center of campus) and the University Park area just north of the campus. The line served South Vermont (to Florence) and South Central Avenue (to Slauson). This was LARY's second most profitable line after the P line in the '30s. The Central Avenue leg of the line had the heaviest ridership.
The U line on Central Avenue was replaced by the 3 trolleybus in 1948. However, the 7 streetcar line continued to operate for awhile over the U line tracks on Central Avenue. In the photo below we see a 7 car running southbound on Central at Olympiic Boulevard in 1955. The streetcar is clomping over the tracks of the Pacific Electric Watts local line. Notice that there is both a single overhead wire for the streetcar line and parallel double wire for the 3 trolleybus.
Here we have a 1930s postcard view of 6th Street at Olive, with the Pacific Mutual Building on the corner and the Biltmore Hotel to the right. The U streetcar is about to turn left up Olive to 5th Street.
In the next photo the U line car is turning right off of Estrella Street onto 23rd Street. Estrella is a street that no longer exists -- this scene was obliterated by the Harbor Freeway.
The next shot looks west at the same location, Estrella and 23rd.
In the next photo the car at the right is on the U line, about to turn south off of Union Ave. onto Hoover St. The streetcar line at the left is the A line.
In the next photo we see a U car running south in the median of Vermont. This location is a ways north of Florence Avenue. The right of way here is very wide because originally there were two competing suburban railways built side by side along Vermont. The Los Angeles and Redondo Railway built its original steam line to Redondo Beach along this right of way in the early 1890s. That line was electrified in 1902. In 1903 the Los Angeles Traction Company built a suburban trolley line to San Pedro alongside the Los Angeles & Redondo line here. In 1903 the Southern Pacific Railroad acquired ownership of the Los Angeles Traction Company — a streetcar network that competed with Los Angeles Railway. In 1905 Henry Huntington, who owned the Los Angeles Railway, acquired the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway. He began gradually absorbing the LA & R into his Los Angeles Railway streetcar system. In 1910 Southern Pacific arranged a trade with Huntington. They bought out his interest in the Pacific Electric regional system and they traded him the Los Angeles Traction Company. Thus the two lines along Vermont here were consolidated into a single double track streetcar line operated by Los Angeles Railway.
The last photo shows a U line car sitting at the south end of the line, at Florence and Vermont. The car coming in from the right is on the F line.
