Redondo via Gardena was a line 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 syst ...

. One of two routes to Redondo Beach, this one was faster than the

Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line The Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric. It operated between the Hill Street Terminal and Cliffton, south of Redondo Beach, through the company's Western Division. History The route began as ...

as a result of its routing along the quadruple-tracked Watts main line.

History

The southern half of this line was built by the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway Company (not to be confused with similarly named Los Angeles, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Railway Company) as part of the narrow gauge Los Angeles and Redondo railroad between Los Angeles and Redondo Beach. When the Pacific Electric Railway acquired the Los Angeles and Redondo Railway, the northern half (north of Broadway and Hawthorne in the city of Hawthorne) went to the Los Angeles Railway and Pacific Electric converted the southern portion to standard gauge to be used as part of the Redondo Beach via Gardena Line. Full standard-gauge service to Redondo Beach began on November 12, 1911 with cars making the run to Clifton the following October. Inbound cars initially terminated at the front of 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 ...

, but the inbound terminal was changed to the rear in 1914 and then to the elevated concourse in 1916. On October 26, 1933, the line was split in the center segment, with half of all trips routed through Delta to increase service in that area following the abandonment of the Redondo Beach via Hawthorne Line. The line between Delta and Strawberry Park was abandoned after February 26, 1939, effectively resuming the former frequency along the remaining line between Athens and Gardena. Passenger service ended on January 15, 1940. No replacement bus service was deemed necessary. By 1981, the remainder of the line had become the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...

Torrance Branch, with the segment between Gramercy Place and Clifton almost entirely removed. Union Pacific (successor to the Pacific Electric system) operates a small section in Gardena as a freight spur.

Route

The line started at the

in Los Angeles and shared the

Long Beach Line The Long Beach Line was a major interurban railway operated by the Pacific Electric Railway between Los Angeles and Long Beach, California via Florence, Watts, and Compton. Service began in 1902 and lasted until 1961, the last line of the sys ...

to Watts and the

Hawthorne–El Segundo Line The Hawthorne–El Segundo Line was an interurban railway route of the Pacific Electric Railway. It was built to transport oil from the Standard Oil Refinery in El Segundo, California, El Segundo and also saw passenger service. Unlike most corri ...

to the South Los Angeles Station. This line was originally double-tracked mostly within a private right of way on its entire length from Watts to Clifton (South of Redondo Beach). Starting from the South Los Angeles Station (Broadway at 117th Street), the double track line ran south on private way east of and parallel to Figueroa Street. At 149th Street the private way turned southwesterly and ran parallel to and south of that street to Vermont Avenue and Compton Boulevard (Strawberry Park Station). From Strawberry Park station, double track line turned south (left) and went on private way centered in Vermont Avenue south of Gardena Boulevard, the track curved to the west (right) parallel to and south of 166th Street. At Hermosillo Station (Normandie Avenue) the

San Pedro via Gardena Line San Pedro via Gardena (also known as San Pedro via Torrance) was an interurban line of the Pacific Electric Railway. This was the railway's original route to San Pedro. The line was essential in the establishment of light industry in Torrance. ...

branched south on private way along the west side of Normandie Avenue. The Redondo Beach via Gardena Line continued west as a single track on private way parallel to 166th Street until reaching the Bridgedale Station (Crenshaw Boulevard) where it turned Southwest (left) and became double track.Crossing Prairie the line changed to single track and turned west (right) parallel to and north of 182nd street and continued within private way. At El Nido Station (Kingsdale Avenue) the line joined the El Segundo–El Nido–Redondo segment from the north, turned southwest and became double track once again. The line crossed Prospect Avenue at Del Almo street, went westerly along what is now Del Almo Street, then turned southwesterly and leaving private way went along the center of Diamond street to Catalina Avenue where the single track Catalina cut-off went south (left) along Catalina Avenue to Pearl Street where it rejoined the Redondo Line. The Redondo Line went one block further down Diamond street to Pacific Avenue where it joined the

at the Redondo Beach Station (Diamond & Pacific) across from what is now Fisherman's Wharf. On the remainder of the line, the Redondo Beach via Gardena Line followed the route of the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line to its terminus at Clifton. The length of the line was from 6th and Main to South Los Angeles Station and from South Los Angeles Station to the Southern Terminus (Clifton) for a total length of .

List of major stations

References

Bibliography

External links