Today marks another auspicious local transportation anniversary – a century ago, the first streetcars rolled into the small outlying town of Van Nuys. On December 16, 1911, Pacific Electric Railway Company launched its service to the San Fernando Valley. Van…
New And Powerful Transportation Research Tool: Metro Library Launches Robust Catalog Portal
Just in time for the holidays, we are pleased to make this major announcement: This afternoon, we rolled out our new online public access catalog. Times change — and so does technology. After 11 years with our previous system, it…
Policy In Motion: Transportation Planning In California After AB 32
While state and federal actions have been taken to set new requirements for vehicle efficiency and fuels, tackling travel behavior policies that reduce vehicle-miles-traveled and improve transportation network management is needed if California is to reduce its transportation sector’s 38%…
90 Years Ago Today: Los Angeles Railway Rolls Out “Information Men” Public Service
The December 5, 1921 issue of the Los Angeles Railway employee newsmagazine posed the question: “How would you like to be an information man?” An article titled “Information Men Help L.A., They’ll Tell The World!” appeared in Two Bells. Ninety…
High Line: The Inside Story Of New York City’s Park In The Sky
The High Line, a new park atop an elevated rail structure on Manhattan’s West Side, is among the most innovative urban reclamation projects in memory. The story of how it came to be is a remarkable one: two young citizens…
Urban Transformation Through Transit-Oriented Development And the Sustainable City: Hollywood & Highland And Pico / San Vicente
In the gorgeous new book titled Urban Transformation: Transit Oriented Development And The Sustainable City, authors Ronald A. Altoon and James C. Auld address the intersections of values, issues and priorities of public and private sector partners in creating positive civic…
Our “Grand Concourse”: Historic Images Of Wilshire Boulevard’s Double-Decker Buses & Other Forgotten History
We periodically highlight “Resources To Know” which lead you to important information sources for research, as well as the core collection of classic titles in the study of Los Angeles transit and transportation history. One indisputable work is Kevin Roderick’s Wilshire…
But Have You Seen This One?: Celebrating The Lesser-Known Historic Transit Photos Of Los Angeles
We are celebrating another achievement today: our Flickr online photo gallery has clocked 1.5 million views after just three years since we began offering up our digital images to the public. It was exactly nine months ago that we celebrated hitting the 1,000,000 mark. On…
148 Bike Paths, Trails, Lanes & Shared Routes: The 1975 Los Angeles County Bikeways Plan
This month, the County of Los Angeles released it’s long-awaited Bicycle Master Plan (214p. PDF), along with extensive technical appendices (195p.) This comprehensive approach to accomodating bicycle transportation throughout the County led us to dust off a very early predecessor.…
Researching L.A. 101: Step-By-Step Instructions For Finding Historical Information About The Los Angeles Area
This past weekend, the Metro Transportation Library & Archive participated in the 6th Annual LA as Subject Archives Bazaar. The annual event brings together more than 80 exhibitors showcasing their collections, answering questions, networking amongst each other, and attending educational workshops,…
No More Play: Conversations On Open Space And Urban Speculation In Los Angeles And Beyond
In No More Play: Conversations on Urban Speculation in Los Angeles and Beyond, American architect Michael Maltzan traces the transformations that have taken place in the city of Los Angeles since the early 1990s. This is a beautifully produced book full…