1945: Henry Huntington’s heirs sell Los Angeles Railway (1911-1945) routes and other assets to Los Angeles Transit Lines (1945-1958), another privately-owned company.
Broadway & 8th Street, believed to be Summer, 1945 (Click for more information)
Los Angeles Transit Lines continues to operate the extensive urban motorbus and streetcar system while slowly converting all but five streetcar lines to bus routes.
Pedestrian volume map from report (Click for more information)
By 1963, the remaining five rail lines and two electric trolley bus lines are converted to bus lines, leaving Los Angeles without urban rail service until the opening of the Metro Blue Line in 1990.
1945: The Parking Committee of the Downtown Business Men’s Association delivers its detailed Downtown Los Angeles Parking Study report to the association’s President and Board of Directors.
After analyzing transportation facilities, parking requirements, parking habits, and parking costs, it suggests that only a permanent solution which acquires 6,750,000 square feet of property for 45,000 car spaces within downtown Los Angeles is sufficient for commerce.
It goes on to recommend the formation of a corporation having the authority to rent, lease or otherwise acquire parking lots or garages for downtown, and suggests that “no material expansion in business in the Downtown District can be expected from automobile users unless more parking lots are provided and properly operated.”
1992: The Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA), operators of Metrolink, and officials of the Union Pacific Railroad, who provided the necessary 58 miles of track, inaugurate the first passenger train service between Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles.
The commuter train service is planned to begin full operation carrying an estimated 2,250 daily Inland Empire passengers in 1993.
More information can be found in the January-February, 1992 issue of Metro Moves employee news magazine.