Photographs of Pacific Electric Railway Company motor coaches and railroad cars, 1927-1950 LSC.94/6

Jane Carpenter with assistance from Simon Elliott; machine-readable finding aid created by Caroline Cubé.
UCLA Library Special Collections
© 2013
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
spec-coll@library.ucla.edu


Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Photographs of Pacific Electric Railway Company motor coaches and railroad cars
Creator: Pacific Electric Railway Company
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.94/6
Physical Description: 4 boxes (875 photographic prints) : b&w, 27 x 33 cm or smaller in boxes 29 x 40 cm or smaller.
Date (inclusive): 1927-1950. Range of dates from dates on photographs and manufacturing specifications.
Abstract: Collection of 875 unmounted photographs (including duplicates) of motor coaches and railroad passenger cars in operation between 1927 and 1950 on routes of the Pacific Electric Railway Company and related bus and train systems of Los Angeles, California, and environs.
Physical Location: Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.
Language of Material: English .

Restrictions on Access

Open for research. STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact UCLA Library Special Collections for paging information.

Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

Property rights to the physical object belong to the UC Regents. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Photographs of Pacific Electric Railway Company motor coaches and railroad cars (Collection 94/6). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.

Processing Information

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UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9967126583606533 

Scope and Content

The photographs, probably assembled by the Pacific Electric Railway Company public relations department, for use in a pictorial history book of early Southern California transportation, include detailed interior and exterior views of the different models of vehicles in use by the Company, close-up views of some of the bus engines, and shots of the buses and trains carrying passengers on routes throughout the Los Angeles area, in towns such as Glendale, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Torrance, San Pedro, and Riverside. In several of the photographs, a Pacific Electric bus winds its way up Sunset Boulevard past the UCLA campus in its early years--with Royce Hall, Powell Library, and Stone Canyon Reservoir visible in the distance--all the way to the end of the Castellamare line in Pacific Palisades. In other street views, a bus passes Los Angeles High School; Otis Art Institute, at that time housed in the Spanish-Moorish mansion donated in 1918 by Gen. Harrison Gray Otis, founder and publisher of the LA Times; and the lotus-filled lake of Echo Park. Another early photo shows a 1911 coach surrounded by oil wells. Three photos document the Pacific Electric Camp in Agua Fria, east of Highway 89, a vacation camp built in 1917 by the Company for its employees in which they lived in tent houses, and enjoyed the dining room, social hall, swimming pool and other amenities. Close-up views of the display window of a local travel agency reveal brochures and posters for Pacific Electric Company vacation tours. There are also shots of railroad sidings, terminals, machine shops, track maintenance workers, railway personnel, drivers, conductors, porters, and freight checkers, including one photo of a stylishly-dressed woman freight checker. Several photos document hundreds of shipbuilding workers entering and leaving the shipyards in Long Beach. The United States Maritime Commission, which oversaw ship construction had its own private railroad car, the subject of one of the photos. Buses, trains, and trucks of other lines, including the Santa Monica Municipal Bus Line, Pacific Electric Motor Transport Company, the Los Angeles Motor Coach Company, People's Motor Bus Company--known for double-decker buses, Southern Pacific Company, and Los Angeles Railway are also documented. Included with the photographs are typed leaves of specifications of the vehicles, providing model series numbers, body dimensions, paint details, upholstery, engine size, date of manufacture, manufacturer, and many other details. Manufacturers included White Motor Coach Co., Mack Trucks, Inc., GMC, and Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company. Most of the photographs bear the stamp of Arrow Studios of 1053 S. Hill St. in Los Angeles, although other studios, such as Isham-Robinson (1722 Los Angeles St.), Keystone Photo Service, Arts Engraving Co., Inman Company, and Stagg are also represented.

Related Material

Part of the Photograph Album Collection (Collection 94)   in UCLA Library Special Collections.
Additional information available at the website of the Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society at peryhs.org. 

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Photographic prints.
Pacific Palisades (Los Angeles, Calif.) -- Photographs.
Transportation -- California, Southern -- Photographs.
Transportation -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Mechanics (Persons) -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Machine shops -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Oil wells -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Travel agents -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Railroad passenger cars -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Electric railroads -- Cars -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Buses -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Buses -- Design and construction -- Photographs.
Bus travel -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Bus terminals -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Railroad terminals -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Railroad accidents -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Railroad sidings -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Road rollers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Bus drivers -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Shipbuilding industry -- Employees -- Photographs.
Shipbuilding industry -- California -- Long Beach -- Photographs.
Trucks -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Yellow Coach Manufacturing Company.
University of California, Los Angeles -- Photographs
Otis Art Institute.
Pacific Electric Railway Company -- Photographs
Arrow Studios.
Arts Engraving Co.
General Motors Corporation.
Inman Company.
Isham-Robinson Photography.
Keystone Photo Service.
Los Angeles High School (Los Angeles, Calif.) --Photographs.
Los Angeles Motor Coach Company --Photographs.
Los Angeles Railway --Photographs.
Mack Trucks, inc.
Pacific Electric Camp -- Photographs
Pacific Electric Motor Transport Company -- Photographs
Pacific Electric Railway Company --Employees --Photographs.
People's Motor Bus Company -- Photographs
Santa Monica Municipal Bus Lines -- Photographs
Southern Pacific Company --Photographs.
Stagg Photographer.
White Motor Coach Co.