Los Angeles Pacific Railroad
After his arrival in Los Angeles in 1890 Sherman and his brother-in-law, Eli P. Clark, consolidated old lines and created new lines for a narrow-gauge street railway called the Los Angeles Consolidated Electric Railway Company (LACE).
[1] On April 11, 1894, Sherman and Clark incorporated the Pasadena & Los Angeles Electric Railway Company (P&LA), southern California’s first interurban line.
[2] In November, 1894, they incorporated the Pasadena & Pacific Electric Railroad Company (P&P) of Arizona, to build a second interurban line from Los Angeles to Santa Monica.
Car shops and a rail yard were built midway between Los Angeles and Santa Monica, in an area they named Sherman.
[4] Santa Monica promoters Robert S. Baker and Senator John P. Jones provided 225 acres near the Soldier’s Home, and Sherman and Clark sold it to raise funds for construction.
[5][6] On April 1, 1896, after passing through fields of wildflowers and freshly plowed farms, the first car entered into Santa Monica, where its arrival was celebrated.
The P&LA was sold by the court on April 27, 1898 and then reorganized as the Los Angeles-Pacific Electric Railway Company.
The Palms Division was built, encompassing a line from Vineyard through Ivy Station (the future Culver City) to Ocean Park.
[15] In September, 1902, the Los Angeles, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Railway Company was formed to create a line down the coast.
Opened on December 7, 1903, it was followed by a line from Playa Del Rey to Redondo Beach, which was inaugurated in late summer, 1904.
William Hook, principal behind the Los Angeles Traction Company (LAT), and developer Abbot Kinney were building a line to Venice as well.
After much wrangling between the two groups, the Southern Pacific purchased the stock of LAT, who then abandoned the proposed line, freeing Sherman and Clark to proceed with their plans.
When Robert C. Gillis' new Brentwood Park subdivision (in which Sherman and Clark were investors) was being built in 1906, LAP built tracks for the Westgate Line, which ran on San Vicente Boulevard to Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica) and then turned south to the Santa Monica Main Line.
Finally, in March, 1906 it was revealed that Harriman had purchased control of the Los Angeles Pacific.
[18] Plans for a subway from Fourth Street to Vineyard, along with a large terminal building were announced, along with addition a third and fourth track to the Venice Short Line, and tunnels north of the Hill Street station that would benefit the Hollywood line, but a business panic in 1907 and other projects interfered with these plans.
[20] In 1909, the company did build two tunnels north of the Hill Street Station, designed to make entry to Los Angeles easier for the Hollywood and Colegrove cars.
[23] In September, 1911, the Los Angeles Pacific brought to the new Pacific Electric Railway the following:[24] LAP passenger cars operated local service in the cities of Los Angeles, Pasadena, Hollywood, Sawtelle, Santa Monica, and Ocean Park.
[41] The Balloon Route Streetcar Depot, West Los Angeles has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.
Passenger cars changed over time, reflecting the continual upgrading of the system from a simple country trolley line to a heavy-duty interurban railroad.
[51] In October 1906, the Harriman interests acquired another 13.81 acres after filling in nearby swampy areas and added additional shop buildings in mid-1907.
[56] In 1912 the Pacific Electric Railway moved all repair services to their Seventh Avenue & Central shops in downtown Los Angeles, but the Sherman facility remained open for local maintenance.
As early as 1898, they used electrified steam cars (obtained from two steam railways they acquired earlier) to transport boxcars of lemons from the groves in Colegrove and Hollywood to either Los Angeles for local consumption, or to Ocean Park, where it was transferred to Santa Fe boxcars (due to the difference in rail gauges) for shipment to eastern cities.
[62] Early freight shipments also included decomposed granite from the Laurel Canyon area, which was transported throughout the system where it was used as ballast.
[64] By 1902, LAP acquired the Santa Fe’s Inglewood branch, and used steam equipment over the line until it was electrified in October.
This new track helped LAP increase its freight business, and also allowed shipments to be transferred to Southern Pacific boxcars for further delivery.
[66] The many lines radiating from Los Angeles made LAP vital to west side communities.
Starting in 1907, a newspaper train delivered Los Angeles papers to Redondo Beach via Hollywood and Colegrove.
Along with regular freight, LAP transported bulk commodities that included crushed stone, oil, lumber, citrus and more, usually shipped from late at night until dawn, when more power was available.
[66] Luther Ingersoll has credited the tremendous growth of the beach communities and other settlements along the trolley lines to the creation of these trolley lines, as they brought new settlers who purchased lots in the many developments, and brought pleasure seekers to the various beaches.
