Nostalgia & History > Two Los Angeles Industry Maps From Around 1926

I don't have an interest in Los Angeles but here are two cool maps of L.A., both from the Huntington Library. See the links below to vist the catalog entries for both maps. I georeferenced both of them, imported them into Google Earth, and uploaded those files to my Google Drive. If you'd like to view these maps using Google Earth for desktop see the link below. 

Also attaching a video with some 1930 aerials from the UCSB Framefinder app. 

One thing I learned looking at these maps, L.A. certainly had and has an incredible and bewildering rail network. Is it really as confusing as it appears? 




Carriers Exhibit No. 1 Case 970 Et Al.; California Railroad Commission, January 7, 1926.: 
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll4/id/1635/rec/29

Southern Pacific Industry map of Los Angeles:
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll4/id/10751/rec/32

Georeferenced Versions for Google Earth: 
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Vbjxj3gcJV33iO_nbB-cj0uSiiXWJzSI/view?usp=sharing

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In the 1926 Carriers Exhibit Map they illustrate what looks like an elevated viaduct. Did this exist? Or artistic license? A proposal that never came to pass? I know in the 1930 aerials everything is ground level--so far as I can tell. 

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phthithu Wrote:
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> In the 1926 Carriers Exhibit Map they illustrate
> what looks like an elevated viaduct. Did this
> exist? Or artistic license? A proposal that never
> came to pass? I know in the 1930 aerials
> everything is ground level--so far as I can
> tell. 

This was one of many proposals for a Union Station in Los Angeles prior to the eventual construction of the current LA Union Station in 1939.  In short, this proposal would have utilized the then-existing SP Los Angeles Central Station, with much-revised trackage on new elevated viaducts to eliminate a lot of street running to access the station.

That wasn't a true Union Station concept; it was just to get the SP/UP traffic off the streets as mentioned. Note in the zoom in for that map that it shows (for just a second) "New Santa Fe Station" which would've replaced the existing AT&SF La Grande station.
By the 1930s, Los Angeles voters had finally approved what became Los Angeles Union Passenger Terminal, opening in 1939. That got all SP/UP passenger service off Alameda St and brought all three railroads into a true Union Station.

Great. Very interesting stuff. Thanks for explaining what those were and shedding some light on what was going on down there during that time. 

To say nothing of eliminating Pacific Electric's interurban traffic from downtown streets, which by 1926 had reached levels
that prompted PE to include the following statement, along with the map, in its January 1926 issue of the company magazine
describing the benefits of the proposal:
                                                                         
                                                                          Outstanding Features of Carriers Plan
1. Makes the Central Station a joint station for Southern Pacific, Union Pacific, Pacific Electric through passengers for points north, south and east of Los Angeles.
2. Pacific Electric interurban trains carrying only through passengers, mail, baggage or express for steam railroad con- nections, will operate into the Central Station.
3. Eliminates every grade crossing in Los Angeles for the Union Pacific, Santa Fe, Southern Pacific that any other plan would eliminate. In addition, removes from the streets of Los Angeles all Pacific Electric interurban trains from Main Street and east; 1200 interurban trains daily, amounting to 18,000 grade crossing movements; shortens running time for points north and east 7 minutes during ordinary hours of travel and 15 minutes during rush hours of travel; and on the south, 5 minutes during ordinary hours of travel and at least 10 minutes during rush hours.
4. A new station will be provided by the Santa Fe on its present site; the Central Station can be enlarged to take care of all needs of Union Pacific-Scuthern Pacific for many years to come; eliminates all steam line operation on Alameda Street, except industrial switching.

Charlie