March 31
Miss Press Club cheerfully waves from the "Teardrop Trolley" during the "wake" for the last streetcars (Click to enlarge)
1963: A fleet of 300 new SilverLiner coaches replace the two last remaining trolley coach lines and five remaining rail lines in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority Executive Director C.M. Gilliss had previously explained that:
Over the past 15 years, the cost of maintaining and operating these two classes of equipment (streetcars and trolley coaches) has risen entirely out of proportion to the service they render.
The crowded cities of today make this equipment inefficient and more costly thna our riders can afford.
Every major city in the United States either has converted, or plans to convert…”
Several pages of photographs documenting the conversion taking place March 30-31, as well as the Bus Spectacular at Dodger Stadium celebrating the arrival of replacement coaches March 26, can be found beginning here, while archival footage of the last streetcar runs can be found here.
On this date:
Rail Line J becomes West Jefferson-Huntington Park Motor Coach Line 9
Rail Line P becomes West Pico-East First Street Motor Coach Line 26
Rail Line R becomes Whittier Boulevard-West 3rd Street Motor Coach Line 28
Rail Line S becomes San Pedro-West 7th Street Motor Coach Line 29
Rail Line V becomes Vernon-Vermont Avenue Motor Coach Line 95
Trolley Coach Line 2 becomes Brooklyn Hooper Avenue Motor Coach Line 2
Trolley Coach Line 3 becomes West 6th Street-Central Avenue Motor Coach Line 3
