The B was a streetcar line in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. It was operated by the

Los Angeles Railway The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...

from 1920 to 1948, originally running from

Ramona Boulevard ''Ramona'' is a 1884 American novel written by Helen Hunt Jackson. Set in Southern California after the Mexican–American War, it portrays the life of a mixed-race Scottish– Native American orphan girl, who suffers racial discrimination and ...

and Miller Street in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

to Ascot Avenue and 51st Street.

History

Brooklyn and Ascot Lines (1895–1911)

The first Brooklyn line was built in 1895 by the Los Angeles Consolidated Railway as a

horsecar A horsecar, horse-drawn tram, horse-drawn streetcar (U.S.), or horse-drawn railway (historical), is an animal-powered (usually horse) tram or streetcar. Summary The horse-drawn tram (horsecar) was an early form of public rail transport, wh ...

road. It terminated at the intersection of Brooklyn Avenue and Evergreen Avenue. The line was electrified the following year and rerouted downtown. In 1902 the route was bought by the

Pacific Electric Railway 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 ...

to be

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

d, but never was. In 1908, the Brooklyn Avenue Line ran from Arcade Depot to Evergreen Cemetery via 5th Street, Main Street, Macy, Pleasant Avenue, Bridge, and Brooklyn Avenue. Following the Great Merger of 1911, control of the route returned to the Los Angeles Railway. They extended the route north and east along Evergreen and Wabash Avenues to the city limits in 1915.

Expansion and later removal (1911–1949)

The line was rerouted on May 9, 1920 and given the letter designation B the following year. Tracks on 9th Street were taken over by the

N Line N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...

and the remaining service was merged with the Ascot Line, a previously unconnected route which ran by way of Main Street, 12th Street, Hooper Avenue, a private right-of-way alongside the

Santa Monica Air Line The Santa Monica Air Line was an interurban railroad operated by the Pacific Electric between Santa Monica and downtown Los Angeles. Electric passenger service operated over the line between 1908 and 1953. After abandonment as a freight railroad, ...

, and Ascot Avenue. (A section of this, between

Adams Boulevard Adams may refer to: * For persons, see Adams (surname) Places United States *Adams, California *Adams, California, former name of Corte Madera, California *Adams, Decatur County, Indiana *Adams, Kentucky *Adams, Massachusetts, a New England town ...

and 41st Street, has since been filled in.) In 1924, rush hour trips were extended northeast along the newly built Harrison Street (later Ramona Boulevard, and later still City Terrace Drive) to Alma Street in East Los Angeles. Completion of the Macy Street Bridge in April 1926 allowed through-routing to Brooklyn Heights. The line began serving Union Station upon its opening in 1939. The final extension of the line was north to City Terrace and Miller Street on March 13, 1931. Streetcars were replaced with

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

es on December 5, 1948.

Sources

External links

B Line Archives
— Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society * Los Angeles Railway routes Eastside Los Angeles Railway services introduced in 1920 Railway lines closed in 1949 1920 establishments in California 1948 disestablishments in California {{California-transport-stub