Collection Guide
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Los Angeles Transit Lines records71-DPGTL
71-DPGTL
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Library and Archives
Title: Los Angeles Transit Lines records
creator:
Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher
Identifier/Call Number: 71-DPGTL
Physical Description:
10 Linear Feet
Date (bulk): 1945-1958
Date (inclusive): 1908-1963
Abstract: Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL), established when the five Fitzgerald brothers purchased controlling interest of Los Angeles
Railway from the Huntington estate, was a Los Angeles-based transportation agency in operation from 1945 to 1958. The records
in this collection consist of and concern the interactions of LATL and the Amalgamated Transit Union, property bought and
sold by LATL, operator instruction manuals, budget reports, meeting minutes, photographs, city planning reports and surveys,
and route maps.
Physical Location: LACMTA Research Library and Archive
Open for research. Advance notice is required for access. Contact LACMTA Research Library and Archive to make an appointment.
For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the LACMTA Research Library and Archive. Permission for reproduction
or publication is given on behalf of the LACMTA Research Library and Archive as the owner of the physical items. The researcher
assumes all responsibility for possible infringement that may arise from reproduction or publication of materials from the
LACMTA Research Library and Archive collections.
[Identification of item], Los Angeles Transit Lines records, 71-DPGTL. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Research Library and Archive.
This repository continues to add materials to this collection on a regular basis.
Processed by Allyson Bace with assistance from Angel Diaz; October-December 2016.
Los Angeles Transit Lines was a transportation company that operated in Los Angeles from 1945 to 1958. It was created when
the controlling interest in the Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars or LARy) was purchased from the Huntington
estate by the National City Lines (NCL) in 1945, a company that was purchasing transit systems all across the United States.
NCL was run by the five Fitzgerald brothers, and they renamed LARy Los Angeles Transit Lines (LATL). At the end of World War
II, LATL sought to substitute buses on most of the street car lines, of which there were 20. NCL, along with its investors
that included General Motors, Firestone Tire, and Standard Oil of California (now Chevron Corporation) were later convicted
of conspiring to monopolize the sale of buses and related products to local transit companies controlled by NCL and other
companies. This came to be known as the General Motors streetcar conspiracy.
LATL had a high ridership and its lines covered a large amount of area, compared to other notable Los Angeles transit systems
such as the Pacific Electric "Red Car" system. By 1950 some LATL bus lines reached as far as Beverly Hills. However, most
of LATL's services were in the area that would today be called "central Los Angeles".
LATL was acquired by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (LAMTA) in 1958.
This collection consists of a variety of material created mostly between 1945 and 1958 including deeds to land, labor union
agreements, correspondence, personnel records, plats, photographs, maps, meeting minutes, instructions for general operations,
ticket receipts, publications, and newspaper clippings documenting the operations of Los Angeles Transit Lines.
Arranged in 10 series from largest in extent to smallest. Series titles are as follows:
1. Labor Unions, 1945-1957
2. Land and Property, 1908-1957
3. General Operations, 1945-1963
4. Financial Records, 1946-1958
5. Retirement and Benefits, 1948-1963
6. Photographs, 1913-1963
7. Planning, 1940-1957
8. Publications, 1945-1955
9. History of Company, 1951
10. Maps, 1945-1958
Los Angeles Railway Corporation Legal Records and Correspondence, 73-DPGTL. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation
Authority Research Library and Archives
Partial Guide to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company Records, 1895-1991, Special Collections M1010, Stanford University
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Los Angeles Transit Lines
Los Angeles Railway
Local transit -- California -- Los Angeles County
Firestone Tire and Rubber Company
General Motors Corporation
Los Angeles (Calif.)