Owensmouth Line

Last updated

Owensmouth
1920 Sherman Way in downtown Owensmouth.jpg
Sherman Way in Owensmouth, 1920, with Los Angeles Pacific Railroad lines
Overview
Owner Southern Pacific Railroad
Locale Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, California
Termini
Stations34
Service
Type Interurban
System Pacific Electric
Operator(s) Pacific Electric
Rolling stockPE 5050 Class (last used)
Ridership1,038,622 (1926) [1]
History
OpenedDecember 16, 1911 (to Van Nuys)
December 7, 1912 (Owensmouth)
ClosedJune 1, 1938 (Canoga Park–Sherman Way)
December 29, 1952 (all service)
Technical
Line length29.1 mi (46.8 km)
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification Overhead line,  600 V DC
Route map

Contents

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29.10
Canoga Park
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De Soto
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Browns Canyon
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Winnetka
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Mapleton
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Aliso Canyon
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24.91
Reseda
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Pattenton
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Fremont
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Picover
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Bull Creek
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Solano
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Cabrillo
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Hanna
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19.89
North Sherman Way
terminus
after 1938
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19.11
Van Nuys
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17.72
Circle Drive
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Castro
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Cortez
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16.17
Kester Junction
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Tujunga Wash
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Garnsey
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Sadler
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Eucalyptus
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14.17
North Hollywood
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Hoffman
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11.59
Rio Vista (Los Nogales)
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11.10
Universal City
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Oak Crest
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9.99
Barham Boulevard
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Hollywood Park
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Dusky Glen
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8.65
Cahuenga Pass
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7.84
Highland & Hollywood
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7.09
Highland & Santa Monica
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Colegrove
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Virgil Avenue
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Sunset Junction
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0
Subway Terminal
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The Owensmouth Line was a Pacific Electric interurban service that connected the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles. The route was largely developed as the result of real estate speculation.

History

The Pacific Electric streetcar service to Owensmouth (present-day Canoga Park) was part of a real-estate development in Southern California. [2] Nearly the entire southern San Fernando Valley was bought in 1910 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Co., 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. [3] 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.

Cahuenga Pass in 1922 prior to freeway construction 1922 Cahuenga Pass Hollywood.jpg
Cahuenga Pass in 1922 prior to freeway construction

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). [3] 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" with lush landscaping and no speed limit where one might get up to 35 miles per hour (56 km/h), a separate dirt road for farm wagons/equipment, and telegraph lines. [3] Los Angeles Pacific Railroad later sold the line to the Pacific Electric.[ when? ] The line opened to Van Nuys on December 16, 1911, extending to Owensmouth on December 7 the following year. [4] [5]

Owensmouth was named in classic real estate "boosterism", as 'nearest' the outlet-'mouth' of the Owens River Aqueduct and echoing English and New England town names such as Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Plymouth. [3] It was actually 20 miles (32 km) away when founded in 1912 and used well water instead until being annexed to the city of Los Angeles in 1917. [3] The controversy of Valley land speculation and the aqueduct brought the community to change its name from Owensmouth to Canoga Park in 1931, after the Southern Pacific "Canoga" station there. [3] The name of the Pacific Electric line was unchanged as Owensmouth until the demise of through service.

The route originally navigated the Cahuenga Pass in its own right-of-way on the west side of the state highway. When the Hollywood Freeway was built, the line was relocated to the freeway's median strip. [6]

Postcard depicting the private right of way in the Hollywood Freeway median strip (right of center frame), c. 1940 Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood, Calif (70198).jpg
Postcard depicting the private right of way in the Hollywood Freeway median strip (right of center frame), c.1940

Services were truncated to North Sherman Way on June 1, 1938, [7] [8] [9] and service was generally referred to as the Van Nuys Line. Unlike other PE lines which saw a decrease in service after World War II, ridership greatly increased in the service's final years. [9] and one-man operation was implemented in 1950. [10] Services were finally replaced by buses on December 28, 1952. [1] [10]

A survey conducted by Caltrans in 1981 reported that almost all of the line had either been removed or paved over for street use. [6]

Modern light rail

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.

Van Nuys Boulevard is planned to be rebuilt for light rail service in 2031 under the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project.

Route

Leaving Downtown on the same tracks as the Hollywood Line, the line continues along the Sherman Line at Sunset Junction before turning north at Highland. 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 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. [11] On Shoup Avenue, named after Pacific Electric president Paul Shoup, [3] the center was used as its end of the line sidings.

List of major stations

StationMile [12] Major connectionsDate openedDate closedCity
Canoga Park29.1019121938
Reseda24.911912
North Sherman Way 19.89 San Fernando 1952 Van Nuys
Van Nuys 19.11 San Fernando 19111952
Circle Drive17.72 San Fernando
Kester (Ethel Avenue)16.17 San Fernando
Lankershim
(later North Hollywood)
14.17 San Fernando 19111952 North Hollywood
Rio Vista11.59 San Fernando
Universal City11.10 San Fernando
Barnham Boulevard9.99 San Fernando
Cahuenga Pass8.65 San Fernando 19111952
Highland & Hollywood7.84 Hollywood, San Fernando, Venice via Hollywood 19021955Los Angeles
Highland & Santa Monica7.09 San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman
Colegrove San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman 19021955
Virgil Avenue San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Western and Franklin Avenue 19021955
Sunset Junction Hollywood, San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue 19021955
Subway Terminal Building 0 Echo Park Avenue, Glendale–Burbank, Hollywood, San Fernando, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, Sawtelle, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate 19251955

Ridership

Passengers (Fare and Transfer) [1]
YearPassengersCar MilesRevenue
1913368,688276,895$81,917
1914487,907378,151$115,228
1916454,942315,820$88,879
1918499,282381,858$101,452
1920815,483394,132$191,198
1922795,906494,037$202,058
1924912,075585,773$219,281
19261,038,622624,206$225,957

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Nuys</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States

Van Nuys is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Electric</span> Southern California transit company

The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system in the world in the 1920s. Organized around the city centers of Los Angeles and San Bernardino, it connected cities in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Bernardino County and Riverside County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canoga Park, Los Angeles</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles

Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a rancho, and after the American victory it was converted into wheat farms and then subdivided, with part of it named Owensmouth as a town founded in 1912. It joined Los Angeles in 1917 and was renamed Canoga Park on March 1, 1931, after Canoga, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Fernando Valley</span> Valley in California, US

The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Situated northwards of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the incorporated cities of Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Hidden Hills and San Fernando, plus several unincorporated areas. The valley is the home of Warner Bros. Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reseda, Los Angeles</span> Neighborhood of Los Angeles in California, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moses Sherman</span> Los Angeles land developer (1853–1932)

Moses Hazeltine Sherman was an American land developer who built the Phoenix Street Railway in Phoenix, Arizona and streetcar systems that would become the core of the Los Angeles Railway and part of the Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles, California, and owned and developed property in areas such as the westside of Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, California. He also served on the Los Angeles Water Board. He was also known as M. H. Sherman and General M. H. Sherman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G Line (Los Angeles Metro)</span> Bus rapid transit line in Los Angeles, California

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Nuys station (Los Angeles Metro)</span> Bus rapid transit station in Los Angeles, California

Van Nuys station is a station on the G Line of the Los Angeles Metro Busway system. It is named after adjacent Van Nuys Boulevard, which travels north-south and crosses the east-west busway route and is located in the Van Nuys district of Los Angeles, in the San Fernando Valley. Adjacent to the station is the G Line Bikeway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isaac Newton Van Nuys</span> American land developer

Isaac Newton Van Nuys was an American businessman, farmer and rancher who owned the entire southern portion of the San Fernando Valley, an area 15 miles long and 6 miles wide. With the approach of the Owens River aqueduct and the possibility of intensive small farming, Los Angeles speculators, including Harry Chandler of the Los Angeles Times, combined to buy out Van Nuys in 1909 and develop the San Fernando Valley.

Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and 1970s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glendale–Burbank Line</span> Pacific Electric streetcar route (1904–1955)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Fernando Line</span> Part of the Pacific Electric Railway system

The San Fernando Line was a part of the Pacific Electric Railway system in Los Angeles County, California. It was designed to increase the reach of public transportation from the Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood into the San Fernando Valley, to support land speculation and development expanding Los Angeles.

The history of the San Fernando Valley from its exploration by the 1769 Portola expedition to the annexation of much of it by the City of Los Angeles in 1915 is a story of booms and busts, as cattle ranching, sheep ranching, large-scale wheat farming, and fruit orchards flourished and faded. Throughout its history, settlement in the San Fernando Valley was shaped by availability of reliable water supplies and by proximity to the major transportation routes through the surrounding mountains.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hollywood Line</span> Pacific Electric streetcar line (1909–1953)

The Hollywood Line was a local streetcar line of the Pacific Electric Railway. It primarily operated between Downtown Los Angeles and Hollywood, with some trips as far away as Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles. It was the company's busiest route prior to the opening of the Hollywood Subway. Designated as route 32, the line operated from 1909 until 1954.

Streetcars in Los Angeles over history have included horse-drawn streetcars and cable cars, and later extensive electric streetcar networks of the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric Railway and their predecessors. Also included are modern light rail lines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherman Way station</span> Bus rapid transit station Los Angeles, California

Sherman Way station is a station on the G Line of the Los Angeles Metro Busway system located at Sherman Way in downtown Canoga Park — a community of Los Angeles in the western San Fernando Valley. The station is in service on the Metro G Line Chatsworth Extension. It opened in June 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Owensmouth</span> Former city in Los Angeles

Owensmouth was a town founded in 1912 in the western part of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California. Owensmouth joined the city of Los Angeles in 1917, and was renamed Canoga Park on March 1, 1931. Owensmouth was named for the 1913 Owens River aqueduct's terminus in current Canoga Park.

The East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project, formerly the East San Fernando Valley Transit Corridor Project, is a transit project which is proposing the construction of a light rail line on the east side of Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, running on a north/south route along Van Nuys Boulevard and San Fernando Road.

Picover was a railway station on the former Pacific Electric Owensmouth Line. Now destroyed, it was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument. The name is of unknown origin.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "San Fernando Valley Line". Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  2. Coscia 2011 [ page needed ]
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Mulholland 1987 [ page needed ]
  4. Veysey 1958 , p. 40
  5. "Owensmouth's joy great because cars start". Los Angeles Evening Express. December 7, 1912. p. 6. Retrieved November 30, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  6. 1 2 "1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes" (PDF). Caltrans. February 1982. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  7. "Modernized Transportation Service in Valley About June 1". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. April 25, 1938. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  8. "Improved Cars Now in Service". The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet. June 2, 1938. p. 1. Retrieved November 30, 2023 via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  9. 1 2 Veysey 1958 , p. 42
  10. 1 2 Veysey 1958 , p. 43
  11. Crump 1977 , pp. 117–118
  12. "Pacific Electric Time Tables" (PDF). wx4's Dome of Foam. Pacific Electric. September 1, 1934. p. 28. Retrieved September 1, 2021.

Bibliography

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