Los Angeles — Nostalgia Train
Rail Transit Online - December, 2001
A Los Angeles-area congresswoman has secured $100,000 to pay for a
feasibility study into return of Pacific Electric streetcars to downtown. Rep.
Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-East L.A.) said the money is part of a multi-project
funding package in the Veterans Affairs-Housing and Urban Development
Appropriations bill designed to “…stimulate economic development and
revitalization in downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights and Southeast Los Angeles
County.” The bill was signed by President Bush on Nov. 26. The project would be
built in two phases, the first of which would be 8.9 miles long and feature
several routes. They would act as a comprehensive circulator system, connecting
virtually every downtown commercial, cultural, education, entertainment and
government venue from Dodger stadium on the north to the University of Southern
California campus on the south. “Making downtown Los Angeles the regional center
of activity that it once was is one of my top priorities,” Roybal-Allard stated.
“I remember with great fondness taking the Red Car to downtown, when it was the
cultural, social and business epicenter of Los Angeles, where you could do your
shopping, banking, dining and socializing. I am therefore personally delighted
this funding will allow us to study the viability of reviving the Red Car.”
The project is being promoted by a private group, Los Angeles Red Car
Concept (LARC), but according to a spokesman in Roybal-Allard’s office, the
study would probably be carried out by a consultant under the supervision of the
city Department of Transportation. The estimated cost is $350,000, and
Roybal-Allard’s spokesman said the congresswoman hopes the federal contribution
will spark matching grants from local governments and private sources. LARC also
wants to create a Red Car Park on the site of the former Toluca Yard at the
entrance to the mile-long tunnel leading to the downtown Subway Terminal, a
facility that still exists but cannot be restored for transit use. The now
vacant yard area would be landscaped and feature restored streetcars from both
the PE and Los Angeles Transit Lines, perhaps with a small museum and gift
shop. It would be a memorial to what was arguably the best U.S. mass transit
system of its type, and one that many experts believe could have been the basis
for a modern light rail network had it not been discarded. |
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