The Owensmouth Line was a Pacific Electricinterurban service that connected the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles. The route was largely developed as the result of real estate speculation along with the San Fernando Line which continued further north. Cars ran from Los Angeles and Hollywood through the Cahuenga Pass to the Valley in a private reservation, even after the Hollywood Freeway was built through the area. The line also utilized a portion of the Southern PacificBurbank Branch. Service was truncated to Sherman Way in 1938, and cars were then referred to as the Van Nuys Line. All rail service ended December 29, 1952.
The Ocean View Tract Company laid out Highland Avenue with a central reservation for future trolley use. Residents along the street had wanted improvements made to the road, but this strip had been an impediment on their plans. On November 21, 1906, the Los Angeles-Pacific Railway (LA-P) sent out a construction to build north of Prospect in the trolley reservation. About two blocks had been plowed up when Hollywood's Street Superintendent, acting under instructions from the City Attorney, arrived with a police officer and ordered the work stopped. The foreman ordered his men to go ahead and the entire outfit was placed under arrest, and later released in bonds of $100[a] each. The land in the center of Highland had never been deeded to the city, and the route had been used as a normal thoroughfare since being platted which, as the city claimed, precluded the railway from having title to build a line.[1] Residents appealed to the city to offer a franchise on the road for a street railway, and LA-P purchased the rights the following September for $1000,[b] a surprising sum.[2] Regular car service began on January 20, 1908 between Santa Monica Boulevard and the city limits.[3][4] The company quickly filed deeds to extend the line over the pass further north.[5]
First car to North Hollywood, December 16, 1911
The Pacific Electricstreetcar service to Owensmouth (present-day Canoga Park) was part of a real-estate development in Southern California.[6] Nearly the entire southern San Fernando Valley was bought in 1910 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, owned by a syndicate of wealthy Los Angeles investors, developers, and speculators: including Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Moses Sherman, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, and others.[7] It anticipated possible connections to, but was planned independent of, the soon to be completed (1913) Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens River watershed to the City of Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. To help promote sales of the land, General Moses Sherman's Los Angeles Pacific Railroad set off to build a streetcar line across the San Fernando Valley, to serve the three plotted new towns: Van Nuys (1911); Marion (now Reseda); and Owensmouth (now Canoga Park) (1912).[7] At the time, streetcar lines were seen as a necessity to promote development. Alongside it across the Valley westward from Van Nuys was Sherman Way: the "$500,000 paved boulevard"[c] with lush landscaping and no speed limit where one might get up to 35 miles per hour (56km/h), a separate dirt road for farm wagons/equipment, and telegraph lines.[7] The route originally navigated the Cahuenga Pass in its own right-of-way on the west side of the state highway. Los Angeles Pacific Railroad later sold the line to the Pacific Electric.[when?] The line opened to Van Nuys on December16, 1911, extending to Owensmouth on December7 the following year.[8][9]
Sherman Way in Owensmouth, 1920, with Los Angeles Pacific Railroad lines
Even as the terminal community changed its name from Owensmouth to Canoga Park in 1931, after the Southern Pacific "Canoga" station there,[7] the name of the Pacific Electric line was unchanged as Owensmouth until the demise of through service. Cars were truncated to North Sherman Way on June1, 1938,[13][14][10] and service was then generally referred to as the Van Nuys Line. The dedicated local cars along Highland Avenue were discontinued and service was then provided by the interurban runs.[11] Unlike other PE lines which saw a decrease in service after World War II, ridership greatly increased in the service's final years.[10] and one-man operation was implemented in 1950.[15] Services were finally replaced by buses on December28, 1952.[15] An excursion trip ran the following day before the power was shut off.[16]
Most tracks were promptly removed except a few segments used for freight movements. The Hollywood Freeway expanded into the former rail reservation in 1957 which added a lane in each direction.[16] A survey conducted by Caltrans in 1981 reported that almost all of the line had either been removed or paved over for street use.[12]
In the 2000s a new cross-Valley rapid transit line was built: the Metro Orange Line, a dedicated bus transit-way which uses part of the old Pacific Electric right-of-way (Chandler Boulevard east of Ethel Avenue) and the former Southern Pacific south and west Valley route (from White Oak Avenue to the Chatsworth station). Service commenced in 2005; it was renamed to the G Line in 2020.
Leaving Downtown on the same tracks as the Hollywood Line, the line continued along the Sherman Line at Sunset Junction before turning north at Highland Avenue. The line continued on its own private right of way though the Cahuenga Pass, turning up Vineland Avenue through North Hollywood, and onto Chandler Boulevard. Proceeding west along the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch to the curve onto Van Nuys Boulevard, it ran through Van Nuys to a curve (Sherman Circle) off of Van Nuys Boulevard turning west onto Sherman Way to Owensmouth.[17] On Shoup Avenue, named after Pacific Electric president Paul Shoup,[7] the center was used as its end of the line sidings.
Initial interurban service was provided by 800 class cars. Fifteen 700 class units were rebuilt in the late 1930s for improved speeds. The last few years of service saw the line operated by 5050 class cars.[16]
↑ equivalent to $3,500 in 2024 adjusted for inflation
↑ equivalent to $33,746 in 2024 adjusted for inflation
↑ equivalent to $16.9million in 2024 adjusted for inflation
References
↑ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain:"Whole Outfit is Arrested". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. November 22, 1906. p.17. Retrieved November 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
↑"Surprise is Franchise". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. September 5, 1907. p.II-10. Retrieved November 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
↑"Steel Way To The North End". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. January 21, 1908. p.II-8. Retrieved November 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
↑"Plan Extension to Electric Line". Los Angeles Express. Los Angeles, California. February 1, 1908. p.16. Retrieved November 17, 2025– via Newspapers.com.
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