|
Street Railways and the Growth of Los Angeles by Robert C. Post w/Dust Jacket
Street Railways and the Growth of Los Angeles by Robert C. Post w/Dust Jacket
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
By Robert C. Post
Copyright 1989
170 pages
WITH MORE THAN 220 ILLUSTRATIONS - 14 COLOR PLATES - 10 SYSTEM MAPS DOCUMENTARY REPRODUCTIONS - INDEX
Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest metropolitan area, is well on its way to first place. Most of its growth has occurred within the memories of people who are still living. It had 5,728 residents in 1870, 11,183 in 1880, and by 1890 its population had topped 50,000. At the turn of the century the tally was 100,000. While the absolute increase in the 20th century has been truly phenomenal, the "City of Angels" has never grown so fast proportionately as it did during the last 30 years of the 19th century - nearly 2,000 percent. Crafty real estate promoters staked out the first suburbs: southwest of the business district, out toward Agricultural (Exposition) Park; beyond the Los Angeles River in East Los Angeles and Boyle Heights; west of Bunker Hill, on Angeleno Heights and Crown Hill. The development of every suburban neighborhood was part and parcel of a street railway linking it to the business district - horsecars starting in the 1870's, cable cars beginning in the 1880's, and electric trolleys attaining dominance in the 1890's.
In 1874 there was one horsecar line, one and one-half miles in length. By the turn of the century there were more than two dozen trolley-car lines and well over 100 miles of track. Los Angeles had been in the technological vanguard both with cable cars and electric trolleys. But a city-wide cable railway, a venture of unprecedented expense, had come and gone in the span of just seven years. Along with swift technological change, there is a second theme: a proliferation of brave new ventures followed by steady concentration of corporate control. At one time or another, more than 20 independent firms operated streetcars in Los Angeles; in 1910, one last merger gave Henry E. Huntington's Los Angeles Railway total dominance of local transit. In its heyday, in the mid-1920's, LARY owned more than 1,200 electric streetcars - not to mention the great Pacific Electric system of "Big Red Cars" operated by the Southern Pacific.
Preface 6
Introduction 8
Chapter 1Bobtails to East and West Los Angeles 17
Chapter 2Two More Car Lines and Two More Cars 31
Chapter 3Bigger and Better Horse Railways 41
Chapter 4Steel Ropes into the Howling Wilderness 49
Chapter 5Daft Dummies and Trollers 67
Chapter 6The Los Angeles Cable Railway 77
Chapter 7Chicago Control 85
Chapter 8Lightning Strikes 101
Chapter 9Street Railway War 111
Chapter 10E Pluribus Unum: The Los Angeles Railway 123
Appendix 159
Los Angeles Street Railroad Companies 1874-1910 160
Notes 161
Suggestions for Further Reading 165
Index 168
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
Postage rates quoted are for shipments to the US only. Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and then ebay ships them to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping to Canada and other countries varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 10 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
| 
