It's Always Sunny in El Sereno*

The seasonally-green Ascot Hills in El Sereno.

It was a lovely, post-rain windy day, the day that begs for photographs to be taken, and The Militant decided to crawl out of his compound, because he withers and wilts if he hasn't gotten enough sunshine. He decided to head to The Eastside because, believe it or not, he needed to make some new additions to his now-legendary Pacific Electric Archaeology Map (Note: The planned "Pacific Electric Week" of articles that was originally planned to accompany the map's debut last November has been postponed to an unspecified date due to additional Militant research...Stay Tuned!). Last month, a reader named "AJ" left a comment about some remnant track adjacent to Soto Street along the former Monrovia-Glendora main line, and today was the perfect break in El Niño business to go check it out.

The DTLA skyline from El Sereno.

The Militant headed down Mission Road to where it converged with Soto Street and Huntington Drive. He walked down that half-rural, half-industrial stretch of north Soto Street to bask in the sunshine, with the seasonably green (Yes, we do have seasons in Los Angeles, get with it) Ascot Hills to the east and the sprawling, solar-powered Forever 21 headquarters (which was once a large inventory warehouse for The Broadway back in The Militant's Lil'Mil days) on the west. After a fair distance, he entered the driveway of a satellite USC Health Sciences Campus facility and in the parking lot, saw the embedded remnants of the Pacific Electric Monrovia-Glendora Line double tracks, right there in the concrete, as if to preserve it for posterity (or for Militancy), or even as a Sid Graumanesque concrete monument for transit history tourists.

More Pacific Electric remnants!

The Militant took a moment to not only take a few snaps from his Militant Communications Device, but also touched one of the rails with his hands. Once he did that, he suddenly had a vision...he saw the Los Angeles of a long time ago, with the sight of large, red streetcars, rolling with the sound of thunder, and then he saw a Red Car pull away as a small child was crying, and then there was a rainstorm, and then he saw Kylo Ren standing with the Knights of Ren looking all bad-ass, and then the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi echoing from the outer realms of The Force saying, "Rey! Rey! These are your first ste..."

Oh wait, The Militant got that mixed up with something else.

He then continued to walk towards the USC facility to the end of the property where he saw the Valley Blvd PE Bridge from deck level, devoid of tracks but still covered with ballast stones. Again, The Militant felt a connection to the past. The Force of Pacific Electric history has definitely Awakened (Keep the puns going, Militant).

A deck view of the PE Valley Blvd Overpass bridge, paralleling north Soto Street.

The Militant enjoyed his walk in the sun, heading back north again, but to his chagrin, the Mission Road Viaduct, which was still standing the last time The Militant was around these here parts, is no more. Incidentally, on the same week where the 6th Street Viaduct is slated to finally commence its demise, The Militant has encountered the completed demise of this Viaduct, also in Los Angeles City Councilman Jose "Tha Bridgekillah" Huizar's 14th district.

Mission Road Viaduct, taken August 2015. Now you see it...

Mission Road Viaduct, February 2016. Now you don't.

R.I.P. Mission Road Viaduct. But do notice the stark contrast in color of the Ascot Hills in the background. The Militant can't stress this enough. YES, WE HAVE SEASONS IN LOS ANGELES.

The Militant was glad to take numerous pictures of both bridges and say his final goodbyes. This is why The Militant does what he does. May The Force of Los Angeles History Be With You (Okay, Militant, a bit predictable for an ending here, but acceptable).

*Technically, the track remnants, the USC building and the Forever 21 factory are on the west side of Soto Street and therefore would be in Lincoln Heights, and yes, The Militant is aware of this, but he spent most of the day in El Sereno, and the El Sereno side is what appears in the photographs. But don't you worry Lincoln Heightsiders, The Militant will cover your hood in due time.

The Militant's Pacific Electric Archaeology Map

P to tha E, yo.

So how was your Summer? You might have watched the hottest blockbusters, attended some awesome outdoor concerts or spent some time at the beach...

...But The Militant hardly did any of those things.

Now, you may to may not know that The Militant has written things like his insanely popular Epic CicLAvia Tour posts, of which he has done for every single CicLAvia route in the last five years. And he has also dedicated an entire week of special posts to places like Long Beach or the San Gabriel Valley (Okay, he didn't do an entire week for the SGV, but he owes you 626ers another one, he promises!). He has even done posts throughout September 2011 dedicated to our native people, flora and fauna.

The Militant has spent the past five months hard at work on his most epic of epic works ever. His passion project, if you will. Something he's shed a lot of blood, sweat and tears over (but mostly gas, TAP card value, pedal power, hiking mileage and solitary reading): An interactive map detailing all of the existing remnants of the Pacific Electric Railway.

This is not the map you're looking for. You can hardly read it :P

Now, if you don't know what the Pacific Electric is, then you might as well close the browser window right now. But just in case you've suffered amnesia, the Pacific Electric was the 1,100-mile rail transit system that spanned across Southern California before the era of freeways. Its legendary "Big Red Cars," as their trains were affectionately known round these here parts, not only transported people, but played an unprecedented role in So Cal's population, economy, culture, growth and human geography. For the sake of reference, The Militant will use the terms "Pacific Electric," "PE" and "Red Cars" interchangeably. As a corporate entity, the Pacific Electric lasted from 1901 to 1953. But the rail system and infrastructure that comprised the PE stretched to as far back as the 1880s, and the Red Cars themselves, though no longer painted red, rolled on our local rails until 1961. And even today's Metro Rail system, unfairly compared to its older and much more expansive predecessor, is still, by all intents and purposes, a direct descendant of the PE (more on this later).

Throughout this week, The Militant will be doing posts on various aspects of the PE that you may or may not have known before, including some things that will totally change the way you see Los Angeles, like forever.

For now, though, let's get to that map.

The Pacific Electric was perhaps the main reason The Militant Angeleno became a Militant Angeleno in the first place (after seeing an article in the old Los Angeles Reader in the late 1980s). After learning gradually about locations where remnant tracks or stations remained, he had always wanted to create a list or map -- as comprehensive as possible -- with their exact locations.

The advent of Google's Google Maps changed the game, and this playa wanted to throw down.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, natives and transplants, here it is, at long last: The Militant Angeleno's Pacific Electric Archaeology Map [cue the John Williams score]:


The full-size version of The Militant Angeleno's Pacific Electric Archaeology Map can be seen here so you can inevitably add it to your Bookmarks (you know you want to):

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zMWVQisbsqRc.kQs7nInjuTqA

How To Use This Map
This is an interactive Google Map, which means you can click, drag, and zoom using your navigational device of choice. The Militant highly recommends you zoom in as close as possible, as some icon locations are directly next to each other, and might not be visible in the zoomed-out views of the map.

The map features various elements: Track and Track Remnants, Stations and Depots, Infrastructure, Electric Power Substations, Public Art, Surviving Red Cars and the PE Lines themselves. Click on the icon representing each of them and a pop-up window featuring a photograph of the location (Virtually all visited and taken by The Militant himself unless otherwise specified) which features the address and a description.  Think of all of Southern California as a living Pacific Electric museum, and this is your guide to the exhibits. And this map is by no means a passive virtual coffee table pictorial. The Militant encourages -- no -- commands you to go out and visit these locations yourself, to see with your own eyes and experience the ghosts of the Pacific Electric first-hand (and sure, The Militant doesn't mind at all if you take PE selfies (please hashtag #PacificElectric though).

Track and Track Remnants 
Click on the purple track icon to view the locations of known remaining Pacific Electric track. Many of them are still peeking out of the pavement in the street, some are hardly visible. But some tracks are fully intact. A great deal of the track is abandoned, though several miles of former PE track have been re-purposed as freight track and is still in use. The thing about railroad track is that the rails themselves, when still in use, are replaced over time. Often times, the rails have the year that the steel was forged embossed on the rails themselves. But the wooden ties the rails sit on could be originals from the PE era, though they themselves can also be easily replaced. The Militant used his best judgment according to research and the visual condition of the tracks. All of the track sections on the map represent the ones still existing from the PE era. Removed or fully-covered track is not represented. A number of streets still have PE track buried in the pavement (Hollywood Boulevard, The Militant is looking at you), but unless at least the tops of the rails can be seen, they do not qualify for inclusion in the map.

Stations and Depots
Click on the circular Pacific Electric logo icon to see the two dozen station structures, ranging from large buildings, to depots, to simple passenger shelters, still in existence. Some have been moved from their original location, but as long as they still exist, their present location is listed on the map (their original location is listed in their description). Some have been preserved to their original look, but others have been re-purposed as restaurants or other businesses. In many cases, historical plaques and some sort of historical designation can be found on or near these remaining structures, as they are still proud elements of the histories of their respective communities.

Infrastructure
Click on the black bridge icon to see the over 40 extant bridges, foundations, abutments, bridge supports, tunnel portals and non-station structures from the Pacific Electric. Some of these are obvious sights, easily seen from a street, such as Torrance's iconic El Prado Bridge, but many of them are quite off the beaten path, such as various bridges over the Los Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana rivers (in those cases, they are accessible from bike trails). You may or may not have seen some of these structures before and have never known they were PE artifacts! Note that the PE also ran a bus system called Motor Coach Lines. Though some of their structures are still existing as well, The Militant did not include them in this map (Rail bias, yeah).

Electric Power Substations
Click on the red lightning bolt icon to see the 10 remaining electric power substations. The substations were buildings that housed the transformer systems that took electricity from the regional Southern California Edison or Los Angeles DWP power grid and converted the juice to the 600 or 1200 volts that fed the overhead wires to power the Red Cars. They literally put the "Electric" in "Pacific Electric." And since they were all built in the early decades of the 1900s, they are far more architecturally ornate than their modern-day, utilitarian Metro Rail counterparts (which are also much smaller due to advances in technology).

Public Art
Click on the artist's palette to view the many PE-related public art installations scattered around the Southland. Though not a part of the Pacific Electric per se,  the legend and legacy of the PE has inspired artists throughout Southern California to create murals, sculptures and other art installations that were inspired by or pay homage to the iconic Big Red Cars. Most of these pieces were created in the 21st century -- indicative of both the importance of public art in today's world, as well as the historic and cultural stature of the PE. Nearly all of these art pieces pay homage to the PE lines that ran in the exact location or in the vicinity that the artwork is located in. Mural-wise, many of the pieces were done by three artists: Atwater Village's Rafael Escamilla, Long Beach's Jose M. Loza and Art Mortimer, who painted period-piece murals in the coastal and inland extremes of the PE system. The PE-inspired public art is a key element in conveying the history of our old transportation system.

Surviving Red Cars
Click on the red trolley car icon to see where over 40 remaining Red Cars can still be found, in some form, in Southern California. Most of the beloved Red Cars, upon the system's decline, were either sold off to transit systems overseas (such as Buenos Aires, Argentina and Cairo, Egypt), or unceremoniously buried at sea off the coast to create artificial reefs. But some Red Cars still survive. Most can not only be seen but can be ridden at Perris' Orange Empire Railway Museum, and a few are scattered around Southern California as historical display items, or even re-purposed as buildings. The two replica Red Cars that ran in the recently-closed San Pedro Waterfront Red Car line are included, as they did run on an original PE route and virtually carry PE DNA through their dimensions and functions. However, the little Red Cars that run around Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, though a heartwarming Disney-fied tribute, are not included in this section, as they did not run on any original PE line, nor are they accurate replicas of original cars. They are included in the "Public Art" category, though.

The Lines
Click on the red lines on the map to see exactly where the PE passenger routes went (there were also PE freight lines, many of which shared track with corporate parent Southern Pacific, but those are not listed on the map, and likewise the PE's Motor Coach Lines bus network is not part of this map). Another thing that must be mentioned is the separate-but-related Los Angeles Railway (LARy) system (a.k.a. The Yellow Cars), also founded by Huntington. Those lines were not included on this map (Sit tight, folks, The Militant might make his own map for the LARy one day). Many historic maps of the PE exist, but none give the exact locations of the routes. This map was meant to get Southern Californians to understand were exactly the lines ran. You might live or work right near, or even along a former Red Car line and have never even known it! The lines were meant to represent all of the locations where the PE's tracks ran at one time or another. Keep in mind that not all of the lines existed all at once -- some lines were shut down as early as the 1920s. Also, most of the lines on the map are a comprehensive representation of the entire route. The PE network used trunk lines that were shares by multiple routes, which then branched out into various destinations. The full route is listed in the description. This was perhaps the most research-intensive part of this map-making process. The Militant used the Electric Railway Historical Society of Southern California's PE website, Harry Marnell's PE line pages, Abandoned Rails.com, various PE books, the maps archive at the Los Angeles Central Library and the 1981 Caltrans Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes (thank you Dorothy Peyton Grey Metro Library!) as main sources of information.

You can also view larger-sized photos, plus additional pics at The Militant's Photobucket site:
http://s24.photobucket.com/user/militantangeleno/library/Pacific%20Electric%20Map?sort=3&page=0

So there it is, take it. If you happen to find any errors, or know of another location where PE artifacts can be found that have not been included in this map, please contact The Militant ASAP at militantangeleno@gmail.com.

Vlogstyle Episode 09: The Militant Votes For 'Pedro!

It's been a while since The Militant brought you a Vlogstyle adventure! This time, he spent last Saturday exploring the unique sights of San Pedro! Enjoy the sights of the port community, set to a very San Pedro soundtrack from The Minutemen, Ambrosia, Skwish Kricket and Art Pepper.

Long Beach Week: Under Tha Bridg-izzle

The wonder of Los Angeles - and Southern California as a whole -- is that even an experienced militant like The Militant Angeleno himself, who has studied and researched more Los Angeles area history than anyone cares to know, will still get stumped and learn something new.

Take for instance his penchant obsession for researching Pacific Electric Railway relics. He thought he' seen it all, until he perused this video on teh YouTubez which identified one of the main locations for this classic Snoop Dogg vide-izzle:

(Feel free to play and listen to while reading...dude, it's MF'ing Snoop after all...)

What appears to be a sunken trench and an underpass is a curious-looking concrete bridge supporting Orange Ave. and East Hill Street in Long Beach, just near the Signal Hill border. That sunken trench was once the Pacific Electric Railway's Newport-Balboa Line, which branched some 22 miles from the Long Beach trunk line from where today's Willow (M) Blue Line station currently stands all the way down the coast to Balboa Island in Orange County. The 40-mile trip from Downtown Los Angeles to Newport Beach was traversed in 70 minutes. The line ran from 1904 to 1950. Unlike other bridges that cross over former PE right-of-ways (like this one in Mid-City Los Angeles on Venice Blvd), this bridge carried an entire intersection, a virtual anomaly when it comes to bridges, especially old ones.

So naturally, The Militant had to go check it out for himself.

On Thursday of last week, The Militant took his trusty bike on the (M) Blue Line and rode down to Willow, and rode due east on that street for a couple miles, turning south on Orange. Lo and behold, there it was:
It's a strange kind of bridge, meant not just to cross the tracks but to allow cars to negotiate the topography from the flatlands of the south to the more elevated region to the north.

The heavily-weathered and tagged builder's plate, located at the start of the E. Hill St. approach, reads:

GEO. E. BARTLETT
CONSTRUCTOR
LONG BEACH
1932

The Militant headed down towards the bottom of the nearly 80-year-old structure, in an alleyway of sorts to peer into what used to be. Protected by a chain link fence, it looked like what an abandoned rail right of way looked like -- the usual juxtaposition of modern urban graffiti and architecture from decades long gone:
The tracks ran lengthwise, and the concrete-block wall in the left half of the photo was a more recent addition. Beyond the wall, the tracks went northwest towards the Willow junction. Towards the right, the tracks continued on to Newport Beach. Unfortunately the bridge structure is devoid of any remnants from the Pacific Electric era, such as trolley wire infrastructure, track, rail spikes or signals (it's been some 60 years since the last train ran through here, after all...).

The right-of-way trench would often resemble a makeshift creek during rainy seasons and would be overgrown with not just weeds but riparian plantlife. Locals used to call it "the swamp" and even recall catching frogs there (or would those be called "Froggs?").

Nowadays, part of the right-of-way has been paved over, and relegated to quasi-industrial uses like junkyards or public storage facilities. However, a great deal of the former trackage towards Newport Beach from this end still looks barren.

Seventy minutes from Downtown Los Angeles to Newport Beach...with stops? Granted, there was hardly anything in between the stops back then, mainly oil fields, farms and wetlands. But it's a wonder why this precious right-of-way was never considered to be used for future transit proposals (The reason why is because it was not owned by the PE's property successor, the Southern Pacific Railroad, as properties like the Exposition right-of-way were).

The future of the old Newport right-of-way was discovered during The Militant's visit. Heading back towards the Blue Line after his Militant mission, he happened upon a short (50-foot) bike path, which led him across Hill to a sharrowed Lemon Avenue, which led to a newly-built park containing an exclusive Class I bike path (pictured left). WOW! Long Beach is AWESOME! The Militant can just ride this back to the Blue Line! So he rode and ro...oh.
Long Beyotch, you f'ing cocktease.

All was not lost though. The craftsman-like pedestals on the bike path end structure are exactly the same as the pedestal in the above picture of the under-the-bridge shot. So apparently what The Militant rode on is just the start of what would be a longer bike path, which may or may not take over the entire right-of-way. If the Militant can't ride a train to Newport Beach, then riding his bike from Long Beach is the next best thing.

Forced to ride in the street, he headed due west on 23rd Street and soon found some of these on the way...bike route signage (pictured right). Hmm. So he followed them and soon found himself back on Long Beach Blvd, just south of the Willow Station. Hmmm. Should The Militant hop on the train back to Los Angeles, or continue biking?

To Be Continued... :)

What Comes Around, Goes Around

Fifty years ago today, in the wee early morning, a pair of interurban streetcars departed from the Pacific Electric terminal on Main Street, headed out through the wooden rail viaduct, and then down the quadruple-track right-of-way towards Long Beach, where, less than an hour later, it entered history as the last run of the Red Cars in Southern California.

For years, many an Angeleno claimed to be riding "on the very last Red Car" into history. That may or may not be so, but they did take the time to pay their last respects to a 60-year-old institution in the region.

Flash-forward just about half a century to the day later:
Metro Rail LRV #231 sits on the Expo Line tracks after a day of testing -- the first test run under its own power.

If it were not for the return of rail transit some 21 years ago, April 9, 1961 might remain an absolutely dark day in Los Angeles history, but now it's just a trivial footnote - not the end, but merely the beginning of a 29-year hiatus.

Sure, the Pacific Electric, at 1,150 miles (and larger than the 842-mile NYC subway -- tell a New Yorker that fact and they will start convulsing) was the charming ancestor that Metro Rail will always pale in comparison to, but any planned modernization to it would have been prohibitively expensive anyway. History is cyclical - The Militant's youth took place in an era where rail transit in Los Angeles was either a distant memory or silly pipedream - a reality where some people would have gladly exchanged their "what ifs" and "too bad we don't haves" for today's worries about cost overruns and why the turnstiles don't yet work.

It's a well-known fact that The Militant loves him some history. But he's far more excited about the future. Look back, only to see how far we've gone.

Next Stop: Belmont Station

After Curbed LA recently mentioned the new Red Car mural in the old Pacific Electric tunnel behind the recently-opened Belmont Station apartments (house music on the website?!?! wtf?!? what do they think it is, a Pinkberry?) on 2nd and Beverly, the Militant instantly informed one of his operatives about it. As you may or may not recall, the Militant and the operative, who currently lives in an unspecified state that neighbors California, surveyed the site nearly a year ago. This weekend, the operative returned to town and made arrangements to meet the Militant at the site.

So at approximately 19:30 hours on Saturday evening, the Militant caught up with the visiting operative and guided him to the site. So there it was, sitting behind the metal fence.

"Can we get inside?" asked the curious out-of-state operative.

"Not likely, this is private property now."

A blue-shirted security guard paced back and forth along Toluca Street, and the Militant, already expecting a bucketful of 'tude, was ready to give up and leave. But the operative was persistent.

"Can we get inside?" he asked.

"Other side," said the security guard.

Hmm. Maybe the Militant gives up too easily. A tenant entered the Toluca Street gate with his car, but seemed to wait an abnormally long time for the gate to swing open. When it finally did, it swung in a way that almost damaged his car had he not reversed quickly.

"You live here?" the Militant asked.

"Yeah, just moved in," said the tenant.

"Guess they're still working out the bugs here," the Militant explained.

The Militant, pushing his bike, and the operative followed the car into the parking garage on foot. The operative approached the nearest door facing the tunnel which revealed a stairwell. One flight down led to access to a walkway in the back, yet not full access to the tunnel.

We snapped pictures of the "backyard," and reminisced the time when we, along with a group of other militant history buffs, may or may not have gone on a trek into the Pacific Electric tunnel. It was at that point a dude in a suit popped out and asked what we were doing here. The Militant expected the bucketful of 'tude again, and was already making plans for his departure of the facility. But the operative got in an honest conversation with him, and the Militant mentioned that we weren't trying to tag the property, and the Belmont Station staffer was actually real cool to us. Though the operative kept asking if we could go down straight to the tunnel entrance, the staffer said it wasn't possible "at this moment" since the dog park area is still a construction site and alluded to the inevitable liability issues. No prob.

We enlightened him more on the history, of whih he was somewhat knowledgeable of, and he did ask the Militant about the other end of the tunnel, by which the Militant informed him that, coincidentally, the other side also became adaptively reused as housing. The apartment staffer also said that the (slightly larger than) life-sized mural of the Pacific Electric trolley on the tunnel face is still being worked on by the artist. Incidentally the number of the trolley car reads "51." The PE never numbered their cars in double-digits, but the "51" was a reference to the nearby Toluca traction power substation (pictured right), which had the #51 designation.
The substation, as the Militant pointed out on Curbed's comment wall, had nothing to do with passengers but everything to do with converting electric power to the streetcars' overhead electrical system.

The staffer led the Militant and the operative to the lobby (pictured left), where a neato display of PE historical photo goodness, organized by a local railroad historical society, was on the first and second floor walls. They're open to the public, so anyone visiting the Belmont Station lobby is free to peruse them. The photos show both sides of the tunnel during their construction in the early-mid 1920s, as well as other historical glimpses of the trolley cars.

The Militant showed the visiting operative the still brand-new Vista Hermosa Park across the street, where he was totally enamored with the killer Downtown skyline view and the little cascading stream. Afterward, he loaded his bike onto the operative's truck and the Militant proceeded to show him some of the developments in Downtown, before they grabbed a bite to eat at Downtown's Wood Spoon Brazilian restaurant on 9th and Main (review coming up in the Militant's Mess Hall soon...whoa, the Militant hasn't touched that thing in months!).

Guitar Here Row

For guitar- playing Angelenos (no, not the ones who sling those guitar-shaped video game controllers around their necks and press colored buttons), the 7400 block of Sunset Blvd, at the corner of Gardner St., is familiar territory. They can name a Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue-type litany of anything and everything guitar-related in the neighborhood: From the rustic acoustic realm of Valdez Guitars to a couple vintage used axe boutiques to manufacturer outlets for the Carvin and Mesa Boogie brands to the big multi-instrument chain emporiums of Sam Ash and the monolithic dark-grey flagship store for the Guitar Center chain (pictured above).

As the Militant rode through the area on his bike on Friday, he wondered, but for why, of all places in the City, is there such a curious concentration of six-string stores? Is this stretch of Sunset specifically zoned for the sale of fretted, stringed instruments? Was there an influx of guitar slingers who immigrated here and formed their own community?

Let's go back to the late 1940s, back when Pacific Electric Red Cars ran diagonally (the oddly-shaped parking lots on the northeast and southwest corners are remnants of the old Red Car right-of way, pictured right) through Gardner Junction, as it was known back then, from Hollywood Boulevard to a place called Sherman (now known as WeHo). A certain guitar-playing Midwesterner moved into the neighborhood from NYC. But he was no ordinary guitar player. He was a renaissance man of sorts, not only tinkering with strings and things, but building circuits and other gadgets. He was known at the time for backing up his musical and matrimonial partner, singer Mary Ford. Hie name was (and still is, he's pushing 93 these days) Les Paul.

Paul, in addition to his guitar playing skills, is also an inventor, being one of the pioneers in developing multi-track recording, which allowed musicians to record separate layers of instruments at their own convenience, rather than recording everything all at once. He also invented various musical audio effects, which are still used by musicians and recording engineers today. And he wasn't that bad of a luthier, either. Heck, a well-known electric guitar he invented bears his name.

Paul not only lived in the Gardner Junction neighborhood, but he set up his own laboratory in his garage. Musical instrument manufacturers and retailers, many of whom were personal associates of Paul, wanted to be in close proximity to his lab, so they set up shop along Sunset.

The stores remained even after Paul packed his bags and returned to the East Coast. In 1959, electronic organ salesman Wayne Mitchell opened a store on "Guitar Row" called "The Organ Center." A few years later, as Beatlemania invaded America, he sold Vox brand guitars and accessories and renamed it "The Vox Center." A few years later, he renamed it, "Guitar Center," which operated directly across the street from the current store. The modern-day Guitar Center edifice opened in 1985 and sports the "Rockwalk," a tourist attraction of sorts featuring the handprints of famous rock musicians.

Even the nearby stores do not escape the guitar/music pedigree of their neighbors: Thai restaurant Toi on Sunset is adorned with rock & roll memorabilia and sports the slogan, "Rockin' Thai Food!" The Ralphs supermarket a few blocks east is commonly referred as "Rock N Roll Ralphs" due to an unusually high ratio of rock musician clientele there. And next door to Guitar Center is the Sunset Grill burger stand, where rocker Don Henley watched the working girls go by and immortalized the experience in a 1984 hit song.

Stay Militant, and Rock On!

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.

The Militant's Street Art Debut

Then

Now

Inspiration hits the Militant.

It all started when the Militant wanted to do a simple "Now and Then" comparison shot of Sanborn Junction (a.k.a. Sunset Junction; the former was what the Pacific Electric Railway actually called it). Unfortunately, after the Militant checked the "Now" picture taken on Monday, it didn't capture the same sort of perspective as the original. Perhaps, because he didn't have the original on him to compare it to. Duh.

So the next day, the Militant was ready, printout of the original pic in hand, the slightly crumpled paper folded in half, complete with web URL printed at the top of the page, flapping gently from the wind. But when it was time to take the picture, the little digital cam screen read: "NO CARD."

The Militant hates when that happens.

But suddenly he had an idea. So he returned to the compound, downloaded the original late 1940s-era picture and did some art magic. Some cardboard, some gluestick, some stapled yarn.

Later in the day, he makes the third attempt - proverbially, "the charm," correct? He snaps his "Now" picture, but notices an increased police car presence on the street. You know what the date is (The Militant is not a ter'rist). So he rides for a bit and ends up a little further down Sunset to make his return. Coast is clea...oops wait...okay, coast is clear now so he hangs the yarn on a protruding rusty nail that has probably been on the telephone pole when the wee Militant rode past the area on the RTD.

And there it is. A photo of the original, late 1940s junction with a Red Car in it. And a message inscribed, reading:

"Silver_Lake History Indicates the Presence of Streetcars" - complete with a quasi-subliminal message illustrated by the choice highlighting of certain letters in that sentence.

So there it is, on the northwest corner of Sunset and Sanborn, where Santa Monica boulevard ends its 14-mile journey from the sea:


Stop by for a look, hopefully if it's still there.

Militant Update: 9/12/07 - Okay, which one of you grabbed it?

Red Hot, Red Cars, Red Line and Code Red

Red Hot: The Militant can tell you things you don't know, or are not aware of, so he doesn't have to tell you it was freakin' hot on Labor Day Monday. Still aching from his Pobladores Walk, the Militant hobbled around town and spent a certain amount of time underground, where the air-conditioned confines of the (M) stations and trains were perhaps the coolest parts of town.

Red Cars: As the temperatures cooled down, the Militant trekked around town with an out-of-state operative visiting for the long weekend. The operative, who previously lived in the Valley for 25 years, was shown around the various changes to the city, from eating döner kebab at Eagle Rock's new Spitz eatery, to the new Downtown Ralphs to all the new condo developments in Downtown.

Speaking of developments, the Militant had to break the visiting operative some bad news: One of the operative's favorite sites in town, the abandoned Pacific Electric tunnel at Glendale and Beverly boulevards, is no longer in plain view, and is now obstructed by a large apartment complex (pictured left). The tunnel portal was obstructed by a foreman's trailer and other construction-related structures. The heavily-graffiti'd concrete structure was the Toluca Substation, which was an electric power conversion facility for the trolleys (Culver City's Ivy Substation, now a playhouse, was another one of these). This tunnel carried Pacific Electric Red Cars from Downtown Los Angeles' Subway Terminal Building on 4th and Hill streets (now refurbished as lofts) to the portal site, where the long-gone streetcars continued on to Santa Monica, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley and Burbank from 1925 to 1955. The operative mentioned that he would like to move back to Los Angeles eventually. The Militant informed him that maybe he can live there right by the tunnel.

Red Line: The Militant and the operative also surveyed construction of the Eastside (M) Gold Line extension by following its route to East Los Angeles (in The Real Eastside) and caught a rare glimpse of (M) Red Line trains running out in the open, deadheading (moving without passengers) into the Santa Fe Yard and Shops near the Arts District, taken from the 1st Street Viaduct. Some YouTube goodness below:




Code Red: Though he cannot divulge the exact details, the Militant was tipped off by one of his operatives/militia members to a very grave Code Red security situation at the Great L.A. Ice Cream party in Heritage Square. Though the Militant cannot divulge the exact details, nor confirm whether or not he was actually there, and if he was, how long he was there, the situation was serious enough that it warranted calling in an unspecified number of operatives to the scene to thwart the security breach. The Militant will say that according to intelligence reports, the quick and evasive actions of the operatives proved largely successful in sealing the breach and that the Militant will quickly review and revise the current security protocol to ensure this type of incident will not happen again.

The Militant hopes you understand.

Ice Cream, History and Trolleys New and Old

A fellow militia member tipped off the Militant to this event: A fete touted as The Great Los Angeles Ice Cream Party will take place on Labor Day, September 3 from 2-5 p.m. at Heritage Square in Northeast Los Angeles. The event, created as a personal endeavor of a staff member from Councilman Grieg Smith's 12th District office, will celebrate the 226th birthday of the City as well as benefit the Heritage Square Museum, which preserves and presents the history of Southern California from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. The event(and ice cream) is free, but participants are encouraged to make donations to the museum in $10, $20 and $35 increments in exchange for tours, museum membership and raffle prizes. Participants are also encouraged to RSVP in order for the organizers to obtain the appropriate amounts of ice cream. Parking is free, or you can go Militant style and ride the (M) Gold Line there.

Layin' Down The Line

Speaking of the Gold Line, the Militant snapped these pics of rail construction of the (M) Gold Line extension to the Real Eastside on his recent reconnaissance mission in the Little Tokyo/Arts district area:

Looking north on Alameda, the "ramp" from the
recently-completed aerial structure that crosses over
the 101 freeway takes shape.

Looking towards the opposite direction, the Little
Tokyo/Arts District station platform comes together.

Looking west on 1st Street, a few tracks are
looking forward to...um...getting laid.

Construction dude welds the rails together.
On a hot Summer day.

When you take pictures in Downtown,
you're expected to make the obligatory skyline shot.

Blast From The Past

From looking towards our rail future, we now look back to our rail past in this rare YouTube video of the Pacific Electric Red Cars, which shows some of the trolleys in Downtown, Santa Monica, Venice and Culver City (which, as the video shows, was chosen by Henry Culver to be specifically located along the PE tracks (talk about a transit-oriented development before its time)). It was shot by a Culver City resident and filmed as a home video back in the day:

Hooray for segues!