The 5 Line: A Taste Of History In Eagle Rock

The Militant has long held the belief that Los Angeles' beauty is best discovered from a bike (rather than from a car). But five years later, he might have to change his belief.

No, this isn't his belated April Fool's post, but rather his Militant belief is more refined now...because there's even some things you'll miss from a bike.

The Militant was spending a nice Spring day walking down Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock on Monday, when he happened on an empty storefront near Caspar Avenue, next door to Corner Pizzeria.

The windows, covered up from inside, bore a poster of a proposed restaurant/bar's floor plan, accompanied by photos of old Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars(!)

Naturally, The Militant took a closer look (Cautiously now, as it may or may not be a trap set forth by his enemies...)

Alas, some explanatory text in the window display revealed it all: The yet-to-be-opened restaurant is called 5 Line, a reference to the Yellow Car trolley route that ran all the way from Hawthorne to nearby Townsend Avenue and Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock -- the longest line in the entire Los Angeles Railway system, which ran on narrow-gauge track and in more urbanized areas than its larger cousin, the Red Cars of the Pacific Electric.

The restaurant, the window display paragraph boasts, plans to pay homage to the Yellow Car line in its theme: "The interior design of the restaurant will derive influence from the streetcar system and contain historic images of the site with the 5 Line cars."

The nearby corner of Eagle Rock (then called "Central Avenue") and Colorado boulevards had a circular station area known as "The Merry-Go-Round" which was a local hangout spot in the neighborhood (and you all thought this public space thing was a new concept in this City...). The tracks ran in the median of Eagle Rock Boulevard, which is why it's so dang wide.

The Militant doesn't know about you, but he simply can not wait until this place opens...He doesn't even care if the food tastes like crap, he just wants to experience the place! Imagine taking the trouble to theme your restaurant with a slice of local history! Only someone with militantly Angeleno leanings would want to do that (The Militant will disclose that he is neither the owner nor has any stake in this establishment, so no looking in public records to find out his identity).

One nitpick though: The artist's rendering of the facade seems to clad the eatery with the green-and- white livery of the old '50s-'60s era Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority and not the classic yellow-and-green of the Los Angeles Railway, which the, you know, Yellow cars were best remembered as. But...dangit, The Militant can't wait for the future to experience history. Hurry up, Eagle Rock! The Militant is waiting to dine at the 5 Line!

Rails To Trails: Ride-Arc's "Trolly!" Ride

It's Friday night, the first of the month. Looks like a prime opportunity to go on a ride.

In his first Ride-Arc ride of 2008, the Militant joined about 90 cyclists in a 14.5-mile old-school urban transit themed ride where they looped around from East Hollywood towards Downtown and through Elysian Valley to Silver Lake which took them to the last remaining remnants of the Pacific Electric's Red Cars and the Los Angeles Railway's Yellow Cars, as well as other related points of interest.

Relics witnessed by the group were the old "H"-line Yellow Car tracks by the site of the old Bimini Baths - still existing in a very short section, the old Pacific Electric Subway Tunnel (now covered by an apartment complex), the "SUBVAY TERMINAL BVILDING" [sic] (now an expensive loft complex) and the old Pacific Electric headquarters (gee, you'll never guess what kind of building it is now...). The riders also paused in front of Angels Flight (pictured above), wondering - as much as the Militant does - when the hell it'll start running again.

The group also walked through Union Station (pictured right) to the other side (no, it's not lofts now, but they did build one next door, guess that counts too) and ended their trip by the site of the old concrete pilings of the old Pacific Electric Fletcher Drive Bridge.

The hard part for the Militant was keeping his mouth shut, which he was able to do. Why? Because there was sooo much the ride missed in terms of Red and Yellow Car relics, some of which have been covered by the Militant in previous posts, which the ride organizers would have been able to find had they been enlightened enough to read This Here Blog. But in case you went on this ride, you probably would have missed stuff like the old "V"-Line Yellow Car tracks by Los Angeles City College, which are still somewhat visible through the asphalt (the fact that the ride originated just yards from this site and the Ride-Arc organizers overlooked this made the Militant ROTFL) and of course the Militant's "H"-line "crack addiction" find at Heliotrope Drive and Rosewood Avenue. And no mention of the Orange Empire Railway Museum was mentioned at all, which is one of the few places in the world one can ride the surviving Los Angeles trolley cars (and the fact that the Militant vlogged it recently was testament to the fact that they obviously don't read This Here Blog). Hmph. Oh well, just proves no one in the blogging scene gives the old trolleys as much love as the Militant does.

Oh well, the fact that they don't read This Here Blog means the Militant can talk as much smack about the Ride-Arc folks as much as he wants...but he guesses it won't stop him from that fact that he may or may not look forward to next month' s ride.

Gettin' Vloggy With It: The Militant Rides The Red Cars (And Yes, He Vlogs Now...)

The Militant prides himself on being a fairly literate person, but there comes a time in a Militant's life when sight, sound and possibly other senses becomes too overwhelming for mere words and a couple obligatory digital still photos to convey. And sometimes the Militant can get lazy. Like in the month of February. All five paltry entries worth. But hey, it's March now, so we won't talk about that anymore. Okay.

So the Militant is proud to unleash to you, the Militant blog-reading public, his first-ever vlog. He went out to Perris (no, not Paris) in The Far East (a.k.a. The Inland Empire) on Saturday to visit the Orange Empire Railway Museum and, like going through some kind of time warp, rode in a restored Pacific Electric Red Car and saw a bunch of restored vintage Los Angeles streetcars on display. He thought it might be a cool idea to videotape the experience and go vlogstyle.

Plus, you'll get to hear what may or may not be something special within the first few seconds.

Look forward to some more of these vlogs in the near future, produced along with some of his trusted operatives.

Just don't expect one every day.

Overlooked Los Angeles: The Militant's Crack Addiction

The Militant will admit something to you, the loyal MA reader. The Militant is a crack addict, and scours the city in search of crack. He knows where to find crack in many of our streets, yet is intensely intrigued when he hears of new places in which to find crack.

Okay, okay, not that kind of crack. The Militant is talking about...track crack -- the visible remnants of paved-over railway track, usually from Red Car or Yellow Car routes, which pop up out of the asphalt every so often.

The picture above shows one example of track crack at the corner of Heliotrope Drive and Rosewood Ave, in the far northern edge of Koreatown. At this corner, the sidewalk slopes down into street level where the tracks seemingly enter Rosewood Community Garden. There are actually two sets of tracks, with one set only faintly visible in front of the yellow arrow sign in the background. The garden was once the right-of-way for the H-line of the Los Angeles Railway Yellow Cars. The line ran from Melrose and Western, zig-zaging southeast towards the Westlake district, to Downtown and ending in South Los Angeles at the present-day intersection of Wall St. and Gage Ave. The unusual width of streets like Rampart Blvd. are attributed to the existence of this particular line.

Some track crack can only be seen come re-paving time, when the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Street Services scrapes away the old asphalt and lays down a new layer. Streets like Pico Blvd. and 3rd St. still have the narrow three-and-a-half feet wide Yellow Car rails fully intact below the asphalt and are in full view during the resurfacing phase.

Other locations, like Monroe Street, just west of Vermont Ave., which cuts across Los Angeles City College still very much reveal some crack, this time belonging to the V-line of the Yellow Cars. The line's eventual conversion from rail to bus was obvious for years, as this end of the route was, until just recently, a layover zone for the Metro Local line 11 bus (which was canceled this past June).

Could some of this embedded track be used again? Perhaps. A group of people in the Angelino Heights neighborhood are vying to scrape off the pavement and resurrect a Yellow Car shuttle line along Edgeware Road. In fact, the group already owns an old streetcar, sitting in a neighborhood backyard, waiting for renovation and possible re-animation in the 21st century.

Some Love For The Yellow Cars

The Militant actually has some psychic/ paranormal abilities. He has the ability to channel the spirits of Los Angeles history. Recently the spirits of the Yellow Cars of the Los Angeles Railway recently communicated with the Militant.

"Yo Militant!" the spirit of the narrow-gauge trolley cars which ran primarily within Los Angeles city limits until 1963 said, "You give props to the PE, but why you ain't givin' no love to us Yellow Cars?"

The urban-speaking spirits of the trolleys were right. After all, these were the trolleys Angelenos dodged when the Trolley Dodgers of Brooklyn moved into town almost half a century ago (incidentally there were no more trolleys in Brooklyn in the late 1950s). So in order to not only satisfy them but save the Militant from further hauntings, the Militant Angeleno offers some Yellow Car love:





Check It:

• At 01:33 the trolley crosses on the 1st Street Viaduct -- a route where the (M) Gold Line will run in 2009.
• At 01:19, the trolley passes in front of the future site of Pollo a la Brasa. If only they knew.
• At 01:01, with Celeveland Chiropractic College in the background, the trolley crosses over the 101 Freeway on Vermont Ave.
• At 00:46, the trolley passes what is now the (M) Blue Line Vernon Station.