It ran between 1905 and 1958 (with the southern end truncated to Bellflower in 1950) and was predominantly operated by the Pacific Electric Railway for its history.

[citation needed] The railway built a new station in the city in late 1927, and cars were rerouted to serve it.

(PE continued to serve the Bellflower to Santa Ana segment with motor coaches.

[8] The latter segment's diagonal running was a stark contrast to the cardinally-aligned road grid of Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

The route was quadruple-tracked through the Watts trunk line, while the Santa Ana Branch was double-tracked except at single-track bridges.