Cartographer Laura L. Whitlock: Los Angeles’ Pioneer mapmaker and copyright warrior

During the early years of the 20th century, Laura L. Whitlock, “the official mapmaker of Los Angeles County” was the first woman cartographer in the United States to publish her work for the mass market and the first person in…

TAP Cards and Universal Fare Media in Los Angeles Transit: History & Resources

The vision and concept for a universal fare system for Los Angeles County began at the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission in 1990. The agency encouraged countywide transit policies among all the transit service providers: for example, Southern California Rapid…

The Red Line Just Turned 30. Here’s Why It Matters.

Text by India Mandelkern. The B (Red) Line has always been the busiest line in our transit network. On an average weekday, the B Line has about 75,000 boardings. Together with the D (Purple) Line, which shares some of the…

When Los Angeles was declared to have hit “Peak Car”…in 1920!

There has been plenty of research published about the adoption and rapid growth of automobile use in Los Angeles in the early 1920s. Some notable resources include Scott L. Bottles’ Los Angeles and the Automobile: The Making of the Modern…

Los Angeles Transportation Headlines on Winter Break, December 19 – January 3, 2023

We are taking our annual break from aggregating and disseminating transportation news you can use, from Southern California and beyond, beginning December 19th. We’ll see you in 2023!

Metro Rail Openings

1990 July 14: Metro Blue Line opens between downtown Los Angeles and Long Beach (later renamed “A Line”) 1990 September 1: Metro Blue Line Long Beach Loop opens 1991 February 15: Metro Blue Line, Segment II opens between 12th/Pico Station…

Metro K Line: Crenshaw Corridor History and Resources

The Crenshaw Corridor, one of the highest population density regions in Los Angeles, has been a candidate route for mass transit for decades. In the early 20th Century, the corridor was well served by the streetcar system. The corridor was…

Los Angeles Transit Policing: History, Legislation, Resources

Metro and its predecessor transit agencies have a long and complex history of transit policing. Our predecessor agencies, Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD : 1964-1993), Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Agency (LAMTA : 1958-1964), Metropolitan Coach Lines (MCL : 1953-1958),…

Long Range Transportation Plans: A Historical Guide to Los Angeles LRTPs

Page content by Danny Seplow Long Range Transportation Plans (LRTP) are long term plans that were originally created by the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission beginning in 1987, and now by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA or…

Caltrans, CSTA, CTC: A historical guide to California’s statewide transportation agencies and what they do

A post in Streetsblog LA serves as a reminder that identifying and differentiating the roles of government agencies with similar-sounding names is challenging. Throw in a bunch of acronyms, and it becomes outright baffling. The California Department of Transportation, the…

Los Angeles transit’s first Black employee: William E. “Bill” Wells (1862-1943)

Post content by Matthew Barrett, Director, Library, Archives and Records Information Management The Los Angeles Police Department recognized and honored its first black police officer this year, Robert William Stewart, and library staff were prompted to look deeper into Metro’s…