California Cycleway

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The California Cycleway, 1900

The California Cycleway, opened in 1900, was a nine-mile (14 km) elevated

Los Angeles, in California, United States
.

Construction

The inventor and promoter of the cycleway was Pasadena resident

Highland Park, Los Angeles.[1]

The bark Letitia from Puget Sound was the first boat to arrive at San Pedro laden with the first cargo of lumber for the cycleway in late September 1899.[2] Another cargo of lumber arrived on October 15.[3] A third installment of 460,000 feet of lumber arrived at the port in late October.[4] The company obtained a vacant lot near the railroad and put in a siding at Glenarm street to store the lumber.[2] On November 4, a carload of nails arrived at the site for construction of the cycleway.[5] By November 7, 1899, a force of 15 men began work, placing the first concrete piers of the cycleway at Glenarm street near Raymond Hill.[6] The 820,000 feet of lumber was unloaded for construction starting in November 8; a steam sawmill was purchased as well and was set up in Glenarm street within following week. A portable derrick helped build the path at a rate of about 300 feet a day.[7] By the end of November, about half a mile of frame was completed.[8] In early December the whole frame was nearly complete and workers began to lay the floor and on December 9, the railing was being put up.[9] As construction progressed "little snags (between workers and neighboring property owners) [were] encountered now and then, but they [were] overcome."[9]

The first approximately 1.3 miles (2.1 km) of the elevated wooden bikeway, starting at Pasadena's

Raymond Hotel, now the area of Raymond Hill, were opened to the public on January 1, 1900, at 8:30 a. m.[10] The first patrons to go down the cycleway were reverend Otis Bedell along with a party of 12 other cyclists. The Los Angeles Herald reported that during the day nearly 1,000 people rode on the path and estimated that 1,500 trips were made without accident or complaint.[11]

The majority of its route is now Edmondson Alley. A toll booth was located near the north end, in the present

Plaza
in Los Angeles. The full nine-mile run would have had a maximum grade of 3% and an average grade slightly over 1%. At its highest point, the elevation of the roadway was 50 feet (15 m).

The portion built was constructed almost entirely of Oregon pine and was wide enough for four cyclists to ride abreast, with provision for eventual doubling of the width. It was painted dark green and, at night, brightly lit with incandescent lights. The toll was 10 cents one-way, or 15 cents round trip.[12][13]

  • The California Cycleway
  • Looking south from Hotel Green, 1900
    Looking south from Hotel Green, 1900
  • Looking north towards Hotel Green, 1904
    Looking north towards Hotel Green, 1904
  • At the Grand Opera House
    At the Grand Opera House

Dismantling

Due to the end of the

Pasadena Freeway
).

See also

References

  1. ^ Dan Koeppel, "Cycleway", in: LAttitudes. An Angeleno's Atlas. Ed. Patricia Wakida. Berkeley: Heyday, 2015, pp. 96-105
  2. ^ a b "Pasadena Pedalers Waiting for Cycleway Stuff to Come". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-09-23. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  3. ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-10-17. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  4. ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-10-23. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  5. ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-11-04. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  6. ^ "Cycleway Progress". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-11-08. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  7. ^ "Cycleway Begun". The San Francisco Call. 1899-11-10. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  8. ^ "The Cycleway". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-11-25. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  9. ^ a b "The Cycleway". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-12-10. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  10. ^ "Brevities". Los Angeles Herald. 1899-12-29. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  11. ^ "Cycleway Opened". Los Angeles Herald. 1900-01-02. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  12. ^ "Horace Dobbin's Cycleway". California Cycleways. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  13. ^ Denham, T.D. "California's Great Cycle-Way". Good Roads Magazine (November, 1901). Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  14. ^ Ann Scheid, Downtown Pasadena's Early Architecture, Arcadia Publishing, 2006, pp. 78-79
  15. ^ Rick Thomas, South Pasadena, Arcadia Publishing, 2007, pp. 60-65
  16. ^ Los Angeles Times, Dash into Pasadena in Twelve Minutes, January 1, 1909, p. II1
  17. ^ Historic American Engineering Record, "Arroyo Seco Parkway" (HAER No. CA-265)

External links

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