Los Angeles began making the shift from interurban streetcars to an automobile dominated society as early as 1920. With the introduction of Ford's new assembly line, cars became cheaper and easier to produce causing ownership to skyrocket. As congestion built from the increasing number of transportation devices on the road, a battle began for the streets of LA. Initially, the streetcars had the upper hand, passing a bill that limited the hours in which automobiles could park in the downtown area. However, this arrangement only lasted for two years before the voice of the automobile repealed the bill. Throughout a period of utility monopoly scandals, the public lost faith in the interurban system. The Pacific Electric Railway changed its focus from passenger cars to freight cars and ultimately sold a large portion of its lines in 1945 to a public transit company known as National City Lines. However NCL was financially backed by Standard Oil and General Motors who favored new direction for the company, buses. Ultimately car and bus culture usurped the interurban system Los Angeles' favorite mode of transportation. The "multi-centered" nature of the city favored such a transition.
Gottlieb, Robert. Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2007.
Speaking with a longtime resident of the Glassell Park/Eagle Rock community, I could not help but ask how people got to downtown before the existence of the 2 freeway. The man remarked that people used to take Verdugo all the way to downtown. He nostalgically remembered the existence a streetcar running up Eagle Rock Blvd. in his youth (1950s). The 2 Freeway opened in 1962. I didn't have the chance to ask how he felt the freeway had impacted the community, but it has undoubtedly changed the nature of the trip for suburban commuters from North/East Los Angeles.
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