Venice Short Line

The Venice Short Line was a Pacific Electric interurban railway line in Los Angeles which traveled from downtown Los Angeles to Venice, Ocean Park, and Santa Monica via Venice Boulevard.

Venice Short Line
Overview
Owner	Southern Pacific Railroad
Locale	Los Angeles
Termini	Subway Terminal Building Santa Monica, California
Stations	19
Service
Type	Interurban
System	Pacific Electric
Operator(s)	Pacific Electric
History
Closed	1950
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Old gauge	3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Electrification	600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map Hill Street Station Subway Terminal Hollywood Subway to Echo Park Avenue  J   R   S   N   W   P   9   J   9   W   V  Vineyard  P  to Beverly Hills via Sherman Junction Roberto Hauser Arnaz Barnhart National Boulevard Culver City Santa Monica Air Line Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey First Street Palms Bayero Grove Palm Place Ocean Park Heights Mar Vista Pacific Coast Highway SR 1 Venice Pier Avenue Ocean Park Santa Monica Air Line Santa Monica

A proposed level crossing at the Pacific Electric tracks (today's Venice Boulevard) would result in "the worse death trap in Los Angeles," a traffic engineer warned in 1915, because of the impaired view of the railway from West Boulevard on both sides. A viaduct was built instead, in 1920. The line of trees to the north is probably where the Queen Anne Recreation Center is today, in Mid-Wilshire.

History

That part of the line from the Hill Street station to Vineyard was originally built in 1897 by the Pasadena and Pacific Electric Railway Company. The line from Vineyard to Venice was constructed in 1903 by Los Angeles-Pacific Railroad (LAP).[1] A controlling interest in LAP was sold to Southern Pacific interests in 1906,[2] whereupon the track gauge was converted from 42 inch to standard.[3] In 1911, LAP was consolidated into the new Pacific Electric Railway, which operated the line until service ended in 1950.[2][3] Power was provided by the Ivy Substation at 600 volts direct current.[3]

Route

The line left Downtown Los Angeles on Hill and 16th Streets, continuing on a private right of way past Vineyard Junction to Culver Junction, where it interchanged with the Santa Monica Air Line. From there to Santa Monica, trains continued again on a largely private right of way, except for brief street running section on Pacific Avenue in Venice and Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica.[4]

See also

• Streetcar suburb
• Streetcars in North America
• List of California railroads
• History of rail transportation in California
• Union Station (Los Angeles)
• Los Angeles Motordrome

References

1. Nathan Masters, Nathan (21 February 2014). "Many L.A. Boulevards Began as Trolley Lines". KCET. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
2. Walker, Jim (January 1, 1976). Lines of Pacific Electric: Southern & Western Districts (Special 60) (Second Printing ed.). Glendale, California: Interurban Press. p. 26.
3. "Los Angeles Pacific Company Ivy Park Substation". National Register of Historic Places.
4. "Venice Short Line". Electric Railway Heritage Association. Retrieved 20 September 2020.

External links

• uncanny.net Venice Short Line tour.