So Long Los Angeles Streetcars - March 1963

Video transferred from the original 16mm film in the Metro Library & Archive. Footage of the final day of Los Angeles streetcar or trolley service at the MTA (Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority) livery in Los Angeles, California on March 30, 1963.

PCC (Presidents' Conference Committee) streetcars were introduced to Los Angeles in 1937 and used until 1963. The 1937 opening ceremony of the streetcars featured child star Shirley Temple (whose signature is seen on the sad-faced streetcar in the video) - see footage of the ceremony at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2cwcnTyR2E

For more on the demise of LA streetcars (including images), see from our archives, Metro's employee newsmagazine of April 1963: http://mymetro/library/Documents/EmployeeNewsmagazines/Emblem_1963_Apr.pdf

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Streetcars
• Trolleys
• Los Angeles California
• Los Angeles Metropolitan
• Transit
• Authority
• MTA
• PCC Streetcars
• 1963

[XsespalexX]

I'd much prefer to ride a streetcar here in LA than the Metro.

[badgerbuddy]

I hate how LA insists on changing ALL THE TIME. it seems to loose more and more culture with each decade. we gotta hold on to the few cultural landmarks that they still have.

[jooshiscrazy]

The good news is that LA might have a streetcar line again in the next few years. There is an organization dedicated to building a new streetcar line in Downtown, and they have gotten funds from the government, so it is likely that the project will actually be built. They have several route proposals mapped out, and if everything goes as they expect, they say it will be completed by 2015, 52 years after the last streetcars in LA were shut down.

[jooshiscrazy]

@badgerbuddy Luckily, we are starting to do that. In recent years, there has been increased awareness of the need for more historical preservation. In the last 10 years, there have been so many restorations of historical buildings and structures.

[dantanasgirl]

Can you tell me what music this is? It's really beautiful...goes with clips so well. Bravo.

[MilwaukeeF40C]

@romanval69 Light rail cars need maintenance as buses do. They have wheels that wear (especially in sharp curves), motors, brakes, air conditioning, doors. The long term cost difference is the infrastructure. Buses use existing streets, light rail needs track even if it is in the street. Signals, switches, and overhead wires are particularly maintenance intensive. You will see maintenance trucks driving around all the time near any mass transit railway. Urban land isn't cheap either.

[dantanasgirl]

Wonderful!



[romanval69]

@MilwaukeeF40C Wouldn't the long term cost of a streetcar be way less then a bus? no internal combustion engine maintenance (oil changes, filters, etc) and no expensive tires to replace?

[MilwaukeeF40C]

@lorenzoferlinghetti The difference in the amount of exhaust emission per passenger between buses (diesel or electric) and streetcars (or light rail) is small. The streetcar "conspiracy" never happened- the charges against the companies were a political circus just like the baseball steroid congressional hearings were. All infrastructure is subsidized because politicians like to spend money and control everything. Governments regulated private transit out of existence.

[lorenzoferlinghetti]

@MilwaukeeF40C "Emissions difference is negligible." Are you serious? If it is completely a myth, then why was infrastructure subsidized?