The Pasadena via Oak Knoll Line was an

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 a ...

route of 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 ...

. It operated from 1906 until 1950, between

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

and Downtown Pasadena,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Cars ran as far as

Altadena Altadena () ("Alta", Spanish for "Upper", and "dena" from Pasadena) is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Verdugo Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, approximately 14 miles (23 km) from the downtown ...

during rush hours.

History

The route was originally built in 1906 to reach the Wentworth Hotel (later Huntington Hotel) in Oak Knoll from El Molino and was thusly known as the Wentworth Line, a designation it retained for some time. It tied into the

Monrovia–Glendora Line The Monrovia–Glendora Line was a route on the Pacific Electric Railway serving the San Gabriel Valley. It operated from 1902 to 1951, supporting nearby real estate development. History The route was established in 1902. Passenger service at ...

. The routing through Pasadena was changed in 1913 to Lake Avenue, Colorado Street, Raymond Avenue, and through the car house on Fair Oaks Avenue. A further rerouting in downtown Los Angeles occurred on December 3, 1916. The outbound terminus was changed for all trips to Altadena between October 1928 and May 1929. The routing was reverted after that, but rear cars of a few rush hour trains continued until January 18, 1941. Congestion at the

Pacific Electric Building The historic Pacific Electric Building (also known as the Huntington Building, after the railway’s founder, Henry Huntington, or simply “6th & Main”), opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Elec ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

forced Oak Knoll Line trains to utilize a loop route around Downtown instead of running directly to the terminal building starting in July 1943. Trains would continue to run to the Main Street Terminal every New Years Day to serve passengers traveling to the

Tournament of Roses Parade A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. The loop line was discontinued on October 5, 1947. Service was largely discontinued after October 8, 1950 with a single round trip operating between Pasadena and El Molino to maintain the franchise. This ended after December 28. It was the second to last Pacific Electric line to be decommissioned in Pasadena, and was the last line to run along Colorado Boulevard. By 1981, the tracks along the entirety of the route had been removed.

Route

The line followed the

to the end of the quadruple-track system at El Molino Junction. From that point (at Huntington Drive), two tracks in a private right of way ran northerly on Oak Knoll Avenue to the Huntington Hotel. At this point, the line proceeded north in the pavement of city streets, running on Oak Knoll Avenue and South Lake Avenue as far as Colorado Street. It then turned west and ran on Colorado Street through the Pasadena business district to Fair Oaks Avenue. Here, the line turned north and ran on Fair Oaks Avenue several blocks to the terminus of the route at the North Fair Oaks Carhouse.

List of major stations

References

External links

Last run to Pasadena (photograph)
Pacific Electric routes History of Pasadena, California History of Los Angeles County, California Light rail in California Railway lines opened in 1906 1906 establishments in California Railway services discontinued in 1950 1950 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub