Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line

Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey
Overhead lines
Route map Legend Hill Street Station Subway Terminal Echo Park Avenue Edendale  J   R   S   N   W   P   9   J   9   W   A  Vermont Avenue  V  Berendo Street siding Western Avenue 3rd Avenue siding Vineyard  P   Sawtelle / Westgate Roberto Hauser Arnaz Barnhart National Boulevard Culver City Air Line Venice Short Line First Street Palms Ellenda Bundy Cypress Grove Alla Venice–Inglewood Motordrome Del Rey Junction Venice–Playa del Rey Holton Hyperion El Segundo Peck's Beach Manhattan Beach Hermosa Beach Redondo via Gardena Redondo Beach Cliffton This diagram: view talk edit

The Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey was an

The route ran along the coastline of the Santa Monica Bay uninterrupted from Playa Del Rey to the northern edge of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Despite the obvious desirability of the route, connecting all the beachfront communities to each other and the urban core, it was mostly never replaced with alternative types of transit. Portions of local bus routes run by various local agencies, including Culver CityBus and Beach Cities Transit serve some parts of the former route, but no regular, continuous service exists down the length of the South Bay coastline. The former route is, however, mostly traversable by bike; some of the portion along Culver Boulevard has been converted into a bike trail, and the Marvin Braude Bike Trail roughly parallels the former route and in many places runs on the former right of way.

History

The route began as the Los Angeles-Hermosa Beach & Redondo Railway Company,

Circa 1903, "First car leaves 6:40 a.m., last car 11:40 p.m." The Los Angeles Pacific depot was located at 316 W. 4th Street.[4]

The tracks were converted from their original

Pacific Electric acquired the line in 1911.[3]

Local Manhattan–Redondo service was established for the summer and fall of 1916, and made year round runs from February 1922 to June 1924, extending to Clifton in 1923.^[7] A spur existed from approximately 1920 to 1927 that allowed Barnes Circus trains access to their winter quarters at Barnes City.^[8]

The Palos Verdes Transportation Company began a bus service between

On May 5, 1930 service was reduced to a single reverse commute round trip car run to maintain the franchise. The route was discontinued after November 18.^[7]

By 1981, no rails remained on the entire route. Much of the route in

From the Hill Street Station to

The dual tracks in private way continued southeasterly alongside of Culver Boulevard approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) before ramping up on fill to cross over Lincoln Boulevard on a bridge immediately north of the bridge for Culver Boulevard roadway. West of Lincoln Boulevard, the dual tracks converged to a single track before crossing over Ballona Creek on a long steel bridge.

The single track then expanded again to two tracks in private way, and continued the run, across open country roughly paralleling Culver Boulevard, into Playa Del Rey. The rails had a short stretch of

From Playa del Rey, the dual rails ran southerly on unimproved private way along the edge of the bluffs bordering the

In Hermosa Beach the dual rails entered another section of unimproved private way in the center of Hermosa Avenue. The rails followed this private way southerly through the business district of Hermosa Beach into the City of Redondo Beach to the center of the city at Diamond and Pacific Avenues. Here, the Redondo Beach via Gardena Line terminated its run from the east.

From Downtown Redondo Beach, the dual tracks ran southerly, in the pavement of Pacific Avenue as far as Torrance Boulevard, then they ran in another unimproved private way in the center of Catalina Street south to Avenue I in the Clifton Beach Area. The dual tracks then converged to a single track for the short cross country run on private way to the terminus of the Line at Clifton-by-the-Sea, located on the bluff overlooking the Ocean just north of Malaga Cove.

• The Militant's Pacific Electric Archaeology Map - old PE Streetcar lines shown on contemporary map
• Playa Del Rey Line: Culver & Centinela, 1929
• PE Rumbling Through Playa Del Rey 1939
• Photos of the Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey Line

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