History comes alive once again on Saturday, October 22, as more than 80 of Southern California’s rare and archival collections come together at the 6th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar. The daylong event is hosted by the USC Libraries and…
25 Years Ago Today: Los Angeles’ Red Line Subway Breaks Ground
Today marks an auspicious anniversary: 25 years ago today, leaders across the region came together to celebrate the groundbreaking for Los Angeles’ modern Metro Rail subway system. After years of planning, ground was broken on September 29, 1986 at the site of the future…
50 Years Ago Today: Passenger Projections & Financial Feasibility Report For An LAX Monorail Project
Whether considered for alignment following the Los Angeles River, or connecting the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, Los Angeles’ historic monorail proposals each have their own fascinating story. Fifty years ago today, transportation consultant Arthur C. Jenkins submitted his Preliminary Report On A…
Grid / Street / Place: Essential Elements Of Sustainable Urban Districts
Today’s urban resident is seeking a more flexible, sustainable environment — representing a unique, diverse, vibrant and responsible way of living — as an alternative to the typical development patterns of suburban and semi-urban sprawl. Can urban design help create…
19 Streetcar Models From Los Angeles Railway: Rarely Seen 1940s Photography And Construction Specifications
Archives are anything but static warehouses of historic resources — the are dynamic, organic things. New items are added, while the collection is sometimes reorganized to maximize research potential. And sometimes, you come across something that may have been there all…
Hollywood Bowl Transit, Part II: So What Did Those People Mover & Elevated Moving Sidewalk Proposals Say?
Last week, we took a look at one of Los Angeles’ proposed “future stations of the past”: the history behind the never-realized plans for a Metro Red Line station at the Hollywood Bowl. As we noted, once the station idea…
Future Stations Of The Past: Whatever Happened To Early Plans For A Metro Rail Stop At The Hollywood Bowl?
After exploring the fate of transit stations previously planned for Wilshire & La Brea and a downtown “Metroport,” we now turn our attention to early designs for a Red Line station next to the Hollywood Bowl. With various aspects of…
L.A. Under The Influence: The Hidden Logic Of Urban Property
In the American city, property rights involve not one but numerous stakeholders, some connected to the parcel by title and others through less formal arrangements, whether political, economic, or cultural. Negotiations between these stakeholders over the use of property are…
From Fuel Taxes To Mileage-Based User Fees: Rationale, Technology & Transitional Issues
This week, the University of Minnesota’s Intelligent Transportation Systems Institute has released a final report which looks at the viability and implications of shifting from fuel taxes to mileage-based user fees. Two national commissions established by the U.S. Congress recommend…
A Look Back At 1880s Cable Car Service In Los Angeles
If you asked anyone to put the notion of “cable cars” and “California” together, they would undoubtedly imagine San Francisco and its long history of cabled transit. But Los Angeles enjoyed its own cable car era, roughly between 1880 and 1890. When Andrew…
6 Years, 2,000 Posts & 1 Million Emails Later: The Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Following The Los Angeles Transportation Headlines
Our social media outreach consists of numerous online properties ranging from resource sharing to social networking, but five years ago, it all began with our Los Angeles Transportation Headlines Blog. In late 2005, taking a cue from the transportation…