Trolley Tuesday 2/16/21 - The Pacific Electric Hollywood Cars

In the common person's mind and in popular culture, there is no more an evocative image than a red-and-orange streetcar rolling down Hollywood or Sunset Boulevard in mid-century Los Angeles. After all, who can blame them? Everything can be glamourized in Los Angeles, even and especially its public transit vehicles. The one-hundred-and-sixty "Hollywood Cars" of the Pacific Electric (PE) stood and continue to stand as those immaculate pieces of Angelino-stalgia, from the old folks who used to ride them regularly to modern fans that recognize representations of this car in films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and "Gangster Squad". But how did such a legendary streetcar come about and last over 30 years in service AND 60 years in preservation? Find out on today's Trolley Tuesday as we ride in style on the poor man's limousine, the Pacific Electric Hollywood Car!

The Perfect Center-Entrance Car

A Pacific Electric diagram from 1931, explaining
the features in the original fifty 600-Class cars.
(Ira L. Swett)

In the 1910s, PE had already tested two classes of low-floor, center-entrance "Pay As You Enter" cars, the J.G. Brill Hedley-Doyle "Dragon" and the Pullman Car Company "Submarine". The goal was to take these two cars and build a new type of strong steel, go-anywhere car that could do the work of a suburban and an interurban car, displacing many of the wooden city cars such as the Twos and Fours. Further development of the class began in 1921, when three PE officials (Mr. Annable, Mr. Small, and Mr. White) began touring the Eastern United States with St. Louis Car Company President Mr. Kippenberger. The four men examined what made the East Coast's streetcars (including the Peter Witt of Cleveland, OH) work for them and, upon making their final decision, holed themselves up in a New York City Hotel to generate their own ideas.

In this artistic rendering of an actual photo, PE 600-Class
No. 614 exits the Hill Street Tunnel with another car in tow,
as it would have looked in normal service.
(Ira L. Swett)

Out of that intense jam session came the 600 class, a contracted fifty cars by St. Louis Car Company that blended everything the PE wanted into one "super car". There was a center farebox and entrance with a conductor, while the motorman had control of the end-exits, making it easy to cycle people in and out during heavy rush-hours. The cars could run single-unit or multiple-unit using the standard Westinghouse H2A air-electric couplers, but only three at a time as testing revealed that brake efficiency and rapid application was halved at four or more cars. For the sixty-five passengers it could sit, the cars initially featured rattan seats and (most impressively for an all-enclosed car in Los Angeles) heaters for those cold, crisp winter days. A low center of gravity and smooth riding was achieved by a concrete-laid floor, which was a common way of steel car sound insulation. Performance-wise, the cars used four Westinghouse 532-AR motors that delivered 50 horsepower each to some very tiny wheels, giving them a top speed of 28 miles an hour, and used the "HandLine" (or HL) remote relay controls for safety and smooth acceleration. The fifty cars (600-649) left St. Louis on flatbeds bound for LA in the summer of 1922 and were pressed into service almost immediately, with parent company Southern Pacific (SP) footing the bill.

The second order of Hollywood Cars (Nos. 650-699) leaves
St. Louis Car Company on flatcars to Los Angeles in 1924.
(Andrew D. Young)

Suburban Service Workers

A car no mere mortal can dare to ride, PE Car No. 666
is spotted on Hill Street on a balmy afternoon, working
the Vineyard Junction shuttle in 1937.
(Dick Whittington, Dave Garcia)

To say the cars were a success would be an understatement. Upon their first assignment to the Hollywood Blvd-West 16th St. line in Summer 1922, the 600s displaced the old 400s hanging around Hollywood. Passengers found them incredibly comfortable and sturdy by comparison to the California Car-style Fours, and motormen and conductors alike praised their modernity and ease of operation. Even the burgeoning silent movie industry got in on the action, as film productions throughout Hollywood caught the cars rolling through in background shots, giving them their familiar appellation of "Hollywood Cars". The cars were so successful that, in 1924, PE contracted St. Louis for an additional one-hundred cars across two orders, Nos. 650-699 and Nos. 700-750. However, St. Louis was already at peak production at the time and could not handle more than it could make, so Nos. 700-750 were passed onto their main rivals J.G. Brill, of Philadelphia, PA, to assist in the construction.

PE No. 700's steel exterior at Brill, 1924.
The larger vents are clearly noticeable.
(SCRM)

The handsome interior of PE No. 700 at Brill, sporting
its Pantasote change-over seats and dark maroon interior colors.
(CSRM)

The hundred new cars sported various refinements and improvements to the original 600s, mostly focused on passenger comfort. The original rattan seats were now replaced by wooden transit seats clad in "Pantasote" imitation-leather, while larger vents on the roof helped to dissipate heat inside the car. Even the center doors (which were originally solid, sliding doors) weren't overlooked, as they received handsome arched corners for better looks. With the class now totaling one-hundred-fifty cars, PE could now retire the rest of their old, tired wooden car fleet, as the Hollywoods enjoyed success in opening the Hollywood Subway in 1925 and providing local services in the San Fernando Valley, the San Bernardino-Redlands Area (where they were transferred by flatcar due to the 1200V San Bernardino Line), and some of the older cross-town lines like the Edendale and Echo Park Lines. 

PE No. 741 graces the Christmas issue
of Pacific Electric Magazine, 1925,
celebrating the opening of the Hollywood Subway.
(PERYHS)

In November 1940, a yet-unrebuilt No. 716 works the Edendale Line,
inbound to Los Angeles. Notice the bell on the top and the old
Eclipse Safety Fender, indicative of the early Brill cars.
(Charles Wright, Jeffrey J, Moreau, SCRM)

I can't find any photos of the 750-759s in original condition,
so here's 717 (as built) and 705 on the
 Watts-Sierra Vista Line in the 1930s.
(Mark Effle, SCRM)

The last Hollywood Cars built were Nos. 750-759, a ten-car order from St. Louis Car purchased in 1928 and sporting even more modernities, refinements, and luxuries. These cars featured roller-bearing axles (all others were standard friction bearing), brass window sashes, and Spanish leather divided seats. Due to their refinements, they were planned for service on the South Pasadena Line (which served much of Los Angeles' old money neighborhoods), but they instead worked the glamorous beach traffic line between Hollywood and Venice Beach. In total, the class now stood at one-hundred-and-sixty cars, PE's largest class of standard cars and most certainly the largest class of cars ever built for one system by St. Louis Car (one-hundred-and-ten).

The Valley Sevens

PE "Valley Seven" No. 738 and PE "Eleven" No. 1137 wait to

depart on their respective journeys at the 6th and Main Station.

Note the "X738" number in 738's smaller destination board.

(Jack Finn, PERYHS)

A three-car train of Valley Sevens (led by PE No. 742) work a
Rose Parade duty on New Years Day, 1940, rolling on the 
Northern District "four tracks".
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

After the carbuilding part was complete, the next step for the Hollywood Car's evolution came in 1938, when PE planned to speed up service between Los Angeles and Van Nuys. The job demanded cars that could climb Cahuenga Pass at an alarming rate and replace the usual stock of power there (which was the wooden 800 Class, or "Eights"). Nos. 735-749 were immediately sent to the Torrance Shops to be fitted out for their new San Fernando Valley service. The conversion involved re-winding their motors to wring an extra 16 MPH (from 28 to 45 MPH) and 15 HP (from 50 to 65 HP) out of them, installing larger destination signs affixed to their roof to replace their above-windscreen destination signs (the larger signs were salvaged from the 500-class, while the smaller destination signs were retained for train numbers), providing whistles for increased auditory visibility, and giving them a brand-new paint scheme that involved putting a cream stripe across the windows, a stark departure from the all-red cars PE painted on everything else. Due to their uniqueness and service area, they were quickly nicknamed "Valley Sevens" and could usually be seen speeding along in threes west down Hollywood Boulevard, before turning right at Highland Avenue and going up the steep grades of Cahuenga Pass, before there was even a 101 Freeway to speak of.

50% Speed, 50% Power, 100% Streetcar

Los Angeles Railway, still an independent organization under the Henry Huntington Estate,
welcomes its first batch of PCC cars from St. Louis Car Company in 1938 with
Mayor Frank Shaw and actress Shirley Temple in attendance.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

However, the Valley Sevens did not stay so unique for so long. By 1938, public opinion and the opinions of the California Railroad Commission (CRC) had reached the PE boardroom and something had to be done. With the Los Angeles Railway (LARy) fully invested in buying the new PCC Car from St. Louis Car Company, the PE had to compete with them somehow, as their streetcars were now looking quite antiquated by comparison. A plea to their parent company was quickly struck down as SP was hesitant about the cost to purchase new cars rather than rebuild the one-hundred-and-sixty city cars PE already had. Eager to improve their public image and save money while doing it, the Torrance Shop crews that rebuilt the Valley Sevens were tasked with rebuilding Car No. 608 into something the public would like to ride.

The interior of PE No. 655, showing off the changes
made to the the interior during the "5050" Program.
(Collectors Weekly)

The rebuilt car featured integrated destination signs cut into the front part of the roof, integrated tail-lights that eliminated the need for separate train lanterns, an integrated people-catcher at either end that removed the bulky Eclipse Safety Fender from use, and finally skirting all around to better streamline its lines. The trolley gong was also moved below the floor as a stomp-bell, with a whistle retained in case of any interurban work. Inside, the cars' faux-leather seats were replaced with metal-framed, zebra-striped mohair seats and the interior was now a handsome two-tone Sea Foam-and-Evergreen color, with "Bullseye" light fixtures above every single seat. Most shockingly, the car also featured a streamline-modern scheme of red with cream curves, windows, and wings, with black lining and a silver roof, in what was quickly dubbed the "Teardrop" scheme. 

Thank the Heavens we never saw this in color.
No. 608 models its "Teardrop" scheme in 1939 at Torrance shops.
(Ira L. Swett)

Four Hollywood Cars are seen undergoing 5050-Class
rebuilding, with one already sporting a cutout for the new
destination boards. Portland Twelve No. 1256 is in the background.
(SCRM)

PE Management were quick to reject the new scheme, and a new one was designed based on the then-planned scheme to be placed on the rebuilt "Butterfly Twelves". In their striking Coast Daylight-inspired red-and-orange winged scheme, Car No. 608 became the face of the retroactively-dubbed "5050 Program", an enormous undertaking to rebuild all one-hundred-sixty Hollywood Cars to 608's spec. However, there was just one small thing the United States War Board and shop crews had issues with: the aluminum painted roof. For the shop crews, the stuff was caustic to paint and breathe in, while the War Board stated any enemy aircraft could see the aluminum roof shine and target a streetcar for an attack. Heeding the War Board's advice, the rest of the rebuilt Hollywood Cars featured tan roofs.

PE No. 671 is seen rolling down Sunset Blvd, outbound to Hollywood,
on December 18, 1949, and resplendent in its Daylight-inspired livery.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

The Watts Local

A PE train led by Hollywood Car No. 671 rolls through
the crowds after the 1950 Rose Parade had concluded,
bringing people home.
(Metro Library & Archive)

The Hollywoods continued in their normal capacities following the mass-rebuilding, just in time for World War II. Due to the speed of the rebuilding, the Hollywoods saw massive numbers of passengers riding them everyday through Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley, or down the Long Beach Line on their venerable "Watts Local" service. Their biggest assignments usually came every January 1st after World War II, as the cars were pressed into Northern District service for the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, and no car was caught slacking then. By the end of the decade, in 1949, PE decided to make one final effort to rebuild the cars by making them one-man operation, with the center-entrances becoming a center-exit using an air-powered safety treadle to open the doors for exiting passengers. With this attempt at a rebuild (apart from the Valley Sevens), the cars were reclassified as the "5050 Class", and were correspondingly renumbered (Nos. 683-699 became 5050-5066, Nos. 608-682 became 5067-5141, and Nos. 600-607 and 700-731 became a collective 5152-5181). The one-manned 5050s primarily served with the 5000 Class PCCs on the Glendale-Burbank Line.

PE Car 5179 (formerly 729) is seen on the Hollywood Freeway center divider,
inbound to Hollywood and Los Angeles, in the early 1950s.
(Alan Weeks, PERYHS)

PE Car No. 5116 (formerly 633) is seen working a Watts Local
Service, southbound at Firestone Boulevard in 1950. The dark strip
along the roof is actually green, and was used to hide wire grease drippings
on the roofs of the cars, which it shared with the PCCs and Blimps.
(Metro Archive & Library)

From there and into the 1950s, the Hollywoods had the dubious honor of closing down many of the lines they served on, including the San Fernando Valley Line to North Hollywood in 1952, the Santa Monica-Beverly Hills line in 1954 (which also included their namesake line down Hollywood Blvd.), and the Glendale-Burbank Line in 1955. By 1959, the last sixteen Hollywood Cars were caught working on the Watts Local between Main Street Station and Watts Junction, now wearing LAMTA (Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority) ovals over what was once a PE logo and sporting new 1800-series numbers). By this point, the cars were old, tired, and only a few dedicated shop crews were keeping them in relatively-good condition, with the rest laying in various carhouse yards, awaiting the scrapper's torch, or sold off. On November 2nd 1959, LAMTA No. 1815 (formerly PE No. 5167, and before that PE No. 717) ran the last Watts Local round-trip service. What was left behind to scrap was piled four-high at National Metals in Terminal Island at the Port of Los Angeles, a testament to the mass abandonment of streetcars and interurbans all across Southern California. 

A stack of Hollywood Cars at Terminal Island, 1960.
(SCRM)

Prodigal Sons

Rebuilt Hollywood Car FCGU No. 1745 (formerly PE 745)
in Bueno Aires Argentina, with a new door built and new offset headlight.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

A few cars, like FCGU No. 1733 (formerly PE 733) only had
vestibules at one end, as these were leading cars. The car behind it
is rendered a "trailer", hence no poles. Also notice the restored aluminum roof.
(Ralph Cantos)

What wasn't scrapped found new life elsewhere in the United States and Argentina. This began in 1952, when the Ferrocarriles General Urquiza (FCGU) of Buenos Aires, Argentina, expressed interest in buying Nos. 732-759, renumbering them with a "1" preceding each number. This was the first of three car classes purchased by the FCGU, with the Elevens and the PCCs joining them much later. The cars were rebuilt in their new home as electric-multiple-units (EMUs) rather than streetcars, so they were semi-permanently coupled to each other with vestibules and diaphragms built into the center of each car end. One car, No. 758 (now 1758) was rebuilt into a line car with an insulated wood platform on the roof. The cars ran with their PE cousins until the 1970s, when they were retired in favor of more modern EMUs. All but one are assumed lost and scrapped.

What was given was also taken, as PTC No. 4021 (ex-PE is seen
next to a Brill "Master Unit" in 1958, awaiting scrapping.
(Stephen Dudley, PERYHS)

Flames engulf PTC No. 4017 (ex-PE 650) as it's scrapped in
1958. The point was to burn all of the wood fixtures away before
cutting up all the metal fixtures. Quite barbarous.
(Oregon Encyclopedia)

In 1953, the Portland Traction Company (PTC) of Portland, Oregon, purchased eight Hollywood Cars for use in interurban service between Portland, Oregon City, and Bellrose. These new cars were picked variously, so their numbers are erratic, but Nos. 677/5072, 650/5099, 691/5058, 674/5075, 671/5028, 673/5076, and 680/5069 became PTC Nos. 4015-4022. The cars were also modified with a metal plate welded across their center doors, leaving them as end-entrance cars only, and were repainted into a flash red-cream scheme. The cars continued to operate in their new adopted home until 1958, when passenger service on the PTC ended and all but one was systematically burned for scrap. 

Hooray for Hollywood

PE No. 721 rolls down Sunset Boulevard with two youths and a detective in tow.
Helps to have your fare, Det. Valiant, not just a check from Mr. Acme.

(Touchstone Pictures)

The same prop, as photographed in March 1997 on the
Disney-MGM Studios Backlot Tour.
(Andy961)

But the Hollywood Cars never really died following their own ignominious deaths. Even after the last car was cut up at Terminal Island, their red-and-orange butterfly schemes graced film and television in both monochrome and technicolor, giving a new generation of Angelinos a taste of old Los Angeles. This streetcar romance culminated during production of the Touchstone Pictures film, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", where propmakers from the Walt Disney Studios visited the Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM) of Perris, California to consult them about building a full-sized Hollywood Car prop on a bus chassis for the film. Due to the film's plot cribbing plenty from history about how the Great American Streetcar Scandal affected Los Angeles, with toons instead of trolleys, it made perfect sense to use a still-extant piece of LA history for the film. (And it wasn't the only one too.) Today, this prop is in storage at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Another prop made for the film Gangster Squad (2013),
which appropriates a Thomas-Built bus chassis to make
the ever-iconic Hollywood Car.
(Cinema Vehicles)

The Red Car Trolley color sheet, as drawn by Walt
Disney Imagineering. Tiny, aren't they?
(Disney Parks Blog)

Volunteer Gary Starre was the lead consultant for the film, and directed the propmakers to use one of their surviving cars (PE No. 717) as a reference, with some liberties made to accommodate the filmmakers' wants and needs. To make it look like two cars were used in the film, one end and side was numbered "721" and the other was numbered "717", as you never see more than two sides of a streetcar at once. After filming, the use of the prop and the history uncovered brought a new wave of nostalgia and longing for the Red Car, and Disney once again knocked on the SCRM's door in 2012 when designing two new ride vehicles for their redevelopment of Disney's California Adventure. While consulting for Walt Disney Imagineering, the museum not only helped them shrink down two of their cars (Nos. 717 and 655), but other volunteers also trained cast members on realistic streetcar operations and provided sound recordings to make the cars absolutely authentic. Despite being only 1000mm gauge and sporting one center entrance, the Brookville-built cars are every bit a Red Car as the original.

Cars 717 and 623 grace the streets of Hollywood at Disney's California Adventure.
The two numbers hold special significance to Disney history, as June 1923 (623) was when
Walt Disney first arrived in Los Angeles, while July 17, 1955 (717) was the date Disneyland opened.
(Inside the Magic)

Hollywood Forever

In total, seven original Hollywood Cars are known to still exist around the world, with five St. Louis Cars and two Brills. Five of them are now preserved in various stages at the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, CA, which holds Nos. 626, 637, 655, 716, and 717. Ex-Portland Traction No. 4022 (ex-PE 680) is held in the collection of the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, ME, while Car No. 758 is preserved intact by the Ferroclub Argentina of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ex-PE No. 758, now FCGU 1758, is seen in retirement before being
purchased by the Ferroclub Argentina.
(Ralph Cantos, PERYHS)

PE No. 717, as originally restored into a "Valley Seven"
has both poles up as she turns around to head back into
the SCRM campus in the Summer of 1994.
(Rob van der Bijl)

The only one operable is 717, which was built in 1925 by Brill and was sold to the SCRM in 1960, with volunteer Walter Abbenseth taking the lead on restoring the car. Abbenseth saw that the other cars purchased by the SCRM (all but 655) were of the later "5050 Class" rebuild and desired a "Valley Seven" to complete the collection. Though 717 was not a Valley Seven, that didn't stop him from kitbashing the trolley car into his own image. The skirts were grinded off and the original people-catcher holders were re-bolted onto the front ends, while the original destination boards above the front windows were re-installed right below the larger, integrated ones. To the rest of the museum, 717 is neither a "Valley Seven" nor a "600 Class", but a "Neverwas": a 5050 Class backdated with parts from the other two classes. In 2018, the car had a rear-end collision when it hit ex-LARy No. 1201 from behind due to operator error. After two years of rehabilitation and servicing, the car is once again operable and can be ridden today, perhaps with this motorman at the controls.

Pacific Electric No. 717 as she looks now, following rebuild of damage to her front end.
(Myself)

PE No. 655 gets some rare outside time, displayed during

the 2010 Pacific Electric Day Festivities at the SCRM.

(John Smatlak, SCRM)

The other Hollywood Car on display, No. 655, formerly belonged to Richard Fellows, the man who rebuilt the roadgoing "Ten" No. 1058. When 1058 was finished, Fellows planned to make 655 his next roadgoing project and set it aside at his Terminal Island Yard after he saved it in 1960, but he never was able to get around to it. Following his death, the car and its seats were sold separately at his estate auction for his widow but, following a lengthy court case involving fraudulent buyers and sellers, the seats were purchased and the car was donated to the SCRM as a legal fee. Due to Mr. Fellow's dedication in restoring the car, much of the paint and the interior is original, down to the mohair cloth on the seats. It today sits in Carhouse 4 as a testament to the downright-perfect restoration of Mr. Fellows, and sits on trucks formerly used (and worn out) by Car No. 717. 

PE No. 637 sports a fresh lick of paint at the SCRM in 2003.
(AirNikon, Railpictures)

As for the other three Hollywood cars at the SCRM (626, 637, and 716), all are in deep storage in Barn 7, pending any and all restoration work. In the past, No. 637 sported a repainted scheme and was on display outside Barn 2, but the paint has since faded away apart from the orange. You would also think that 717 has picked spare parts from these cars before, and you'd be right, but body panels is one thing not interchangeable with every car. For some reason, even among its own manufacturers, most of the body panels on the Hollywoods have mismatching rivet lines which makes it impossible to replace should any car (like 717) have a purely-cosmetic accident.

Pacific Electric No. 680, as recently photographed by
Seashore volunteer and all around excellent guy, John Benoit.
(John Benoit) 

The last car worth talking about (due to the lack of information about PE No. 758) is Pacific Electric No. 680. After much of its sisters were burned and scrapped, this car was retained by the Oregon Electric Railway Museum (OERM) in 1958. However, after project after project failed to get off the ground, the car was sold to private collector Eugene M. Stoller. By this time, the car was suffering in its wet environment, with rust starting to form all over the car. By 1992, the car was dilapidated enough for Mr. Stoller to sell it to the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, ME, where it has sat outside, under cover, since 1994. There is currently a fundraiser to restore No. 680 to operation, led by a group of young volunteers such as John Benoit, and more information about that can be found in the outtro. 

Thank you for reading today's Trolley post, and watch your step as you alight on the platform. My resources today included "Interurban Special No. 28 - City and Suburban Cars" by Ira L. Swett, the Electric Railway Historical Society, the archives of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society, the Seashore Trolley Museum of Kennebunkport, ME, and the volunteers and archives of the Southern California Railway Museum who have related most of the facts and stories found within. If you would like to help #Save680, consult my friend John Benoit on Twitter here. If you would like to listen to what the Watts Local sounded like in the final years of service, click here. The trolley gifs in our posts are made by myself. On Thursday, we look at Pacific Electric's other iconic class of cars, the Blimps! For now, you can follow myself or my editor on Twitter, buy a shirt or sticker from our Redbubble stand, or purchase my editor's self-developed board game! It's like Ticket to Ride, but cooler! (and you get to support him through it!) Until next time, ride safe!