Los Angeles Inter-Urban Electric Railway
The Los
Angeles & Glendale Electric Railway Company
History
If
you lived in or near Los Angeles between 1903 and 1910, you depended upon the
LAIU for a good portion of your transportation. Suppose you wanted to go to Glendale: you boarded a big green LAIU
interurban car on Sixth Street. If you
wanted to go out to Westlake Park to enjoy the band concert, you hopped on a
smaller green car and rattled out West Eighth Street. Or if you had to see a friend off at the
Arcade Depot or at the Santa Fe Le Grande Station, you depended on the LAIU's
East Third Street Line. Perhaps you had
to embark at San Pedro; you boarded a green car and were rushed off down
Vermont Avenue through Gardena. Maybe
you were a laborer on a Pacific Electric section gang busily laying steel for
the new Whittier Line; your paychecks were signed by the LAIU. If you were the cashier of the St. Louis Car
Company, the checks to pay for those ninety big interurban cars to be shipped
west to the PE were also from the LAIU. Whether you were a millionaire with a resplendent mansion on West
Adams street or a white-collar worker in a humble cottage on West Jefferson street,
the LAIU brought you home at night. Yes,
the LAIU was a mighty power hereabouts in that eight-year period of long ago. And yet you say you've never heard of this
electric traction enigma; not many have.
The
Los Angeles Interurban Electric Railway Company or LAIU had other distinctions
besides a jawbreaker name. It was a
ten-million-dollar corporation operating interurban lines and city lines, both
standard and narrow gauge. It
constructed extensions to several Pacific Electric interurban lines and
furnished the major part of that company’s most modern cars. In spite of all this, the LAIU is today known
only to historians and an unknown quantity entirely to most railfans. With this in mind, plus a desire to give
credit to an outfit that richly merited commendation, we bring you know the
story of the LAIU.
In
the period from 1896 to 1903 electric railways in Los Angeles enjoyed boom
times. Competition between them was
fierce and unrelenting. In the City of
Los Angeles Henry Huntington’s Los Angeles Railway was king, but there was
fierce competition from the mushroom growth of the Hook family’s Los Angeles Traction Company. Indeed, the aggressive
Traction Company was enough to worry any electric railway. Starting from scratch in 1894, the Hooks had
built up an extensive well-run system based out of the Georgia Street car
barns, shops and powerhouse. Not content
with being the sand in LARy’s shoe, the LAT went after the interurban business
through a subsidiary outfit, the California-Pacific Railway. In the interurban field operating out of Los
Angeles, the Los Angeles-Pacific Railway was the dominant company. It operated 150 miles of narrow-gauge line grid
ironing the territory between the city and the west beaches. The LAP’s Sherman and Clark were well
entrenched and could afford to look leniently on the ambitious plans of the
California-Pacific, especially as it seemed that the object of the later
company’s most malignant machinations was Huntington’s stripling Pacific Electric.
Between the city and Redondo, the Los
Angeles & Redondo Railway was busy converting its steam line to electricity,
while L. C. Brand and associates, entirely independent of the larger companies,
were grading their line to Glendale. The
year 1910 is usually regarded as the most notable year in the history of the
local electric railway railways, but the foundations of the Great Merger were
laid in 1903.
In
the early days of 1903, the Southern Pacific Railway’s business was considered
fair pickings for any traction executive worth his salt. By the end of that year, the S.P. was the
biggest single factor in the local electric railway situation. Henry E. Huntington first gained prominence
as a trained executive of the S.P. Under the reign of his uncle, the great Collis P. Huntington,
Henry rose rapidly in the councils of the mammoth corporation. He grew intimately familiar with all of the
ramifications of the S.P. and knew every one of that railroad’s methods of
crushing competition. Perhaps more than
any other man, HEH knew how successfully to compete with the Octopus of the
West. With the death of Collis P.
Huntington and the rise to power of Edward H. Harriman, Henry E. Huntington was
on his own, free to become a very irritating and persistent thorn in the side
of the supposedly impregnable S.P.
Huntington
believed firmly in the ability of electric railways to supplant steam trains. He came to Southern California with millions
in his pocket and set out to prove himself.
Huntington had had ample proof of the ability of the electric interurban
to compete with steam railroads. He had
seen the Pasadena & Los Angeles Electric Railway blitz the S.P., Santa Fe
and Terminal railroads out of the Pasadena picture and was so impressed he
immediately purchased that line. He saw
the Los Angeles Pacific repeat this annihilation of steam when its Santa Monica
Line was opened. So it happened that
the S.P. woke up one fine morning and found its lines out of Los Angeles to the
east and south being paralleled by a new electric railway with its own bright young
man, Henry E. Huntington, leading the onslaught. No one ever accused Harriman of avoiding a fight when challenged;
immediately the power of the S.P. millions was lined up against Huntington
ready to crush him when the first opportunity offered itself. The opportunity was not long in coming; the
first move was to send Senator W.A. Clark of Montana to Los Angeles to ask the
City Council for a blanket franchise for a new electric railway to cover all
parts of Los Angeles at a 3-cent fare. This was followed at the proper moment by rumors that the S.P.
would electrify its local service throughout Southern California. Then in April 1903, came a telling blow, the
S.P. purchased the Los Angeles Traction Company outright from the Hooks family.
With that franchise gained, plus the
California Pacific, which was by this time operating its narrow gauge cars to
San Pedro and projecting lines to Whittier, Pasadena and Venice-Santa Monica,
the S.P. now held a dominant local position.
Henry Huntington faced the fight of his life. The sensational skirmish, which bashed Huntington’s PE
juggernaut, attracted the interest of the entire Nation. The $110,000 franchise fight was Harriman’s instrument,
which finally brought HEH to San Francisco to talk peace. In May 1903, Huntington applied for a
franchise for an electric line on West Sixth Street from Figueroa to Alvarado. Ordinarily this move would have cost him
about $5,000. Harriman decided to make
this franchise the showdown. He
empowered a local real-estate man by the name of G.G. Johnson to act for the
S.P. in the bidding. Steadily the
bidding rose, with excitement increasing with every tick of the clock as word
flashed around City Hall that Huntington was to get his comeuppance. At $10,000 W.S. Hook of the Traction dropped
out leaving Huntington face-to-face with his greatest rival in the guise of
G.G. Johnson. The law required that
each new bid be at least 10% higher than the previous bid and it was not long
before the bidding had reached extravagant proportions. Mr. Johnson, appearing unaffected by the
sensation he was causing steadily topped Huntington’s excited bids. Johnson’s $82,500 was met by Huntington's
$100,000. When Johnson still refused to
withdraw, HEH heaved a great sigh and gave up. He knew that until he came to terms with Harriman, the SP’s
millions would prevent him from ever again securing a franchise in the City of
Los Angeles. Johnson took the franchise
for $110,000, which money was paid to the city treasury within twenty-four
hours. That night, Huntington took the
train for San Francisco and the headquarters of Harriman. Fast as he was, his partner in the
Huntington-Hellman syndicate was even faster. Harriman had already obtained Hellman’s interest in the PE! As Harriman had other more important irons in
the fire, he left responsibility for PE operations to Huntington and remained a
silent partner. The agreement reached
by Harriman and Huntington was not long in coming to light. Harriman publicly acknowledged in July of
1903 that he had purchased the Traction Company and stated further that he and
Huntington were in amicable accord. Huntington
would thereafter control and operate all the street railways in Los Angeles. In return for control of the Traction Company
and the California Pacific, Huntington turned over 50% of his PE stock to
Harriman. Not only did HEH gain the
famous (or infamous) Sixth Street Franchise, but he also acquired the
California-Pacific’s important franchises to Pasadena and Santa Monica—franchises
that he never used. Harriman gained
even more by the armistice however as he now had the Huntington electric
railways in his pocket; true he did not yet control them, but that would come. It would come in 1910.... (Nefarious laughter)
Thus
the infant LAIU entered a world of swift and far reaching changes. Just as Henry E. Huntington was the Pacific
Electric, so was Henry E. Huntington the Los Angeles Inter-Urban. The Huntington-Hellman syndicate had
incorporated the Pacific Electric Railway Company on November 13th, 1901 with a
capital stock of $10,000,000. By the
middle of 1903, so swift had been that company's expansion, the ten million was
practically depleted. Huntington, with
Harriman’s approval incorporated an entirely new electric railway company, the
Los Angeles Inter-Urban. On June 6th,
1903, articles of incorporation were filed with the County Clerk of Los Angeles
for the LAIU with a capital stock of $10,000,000. Its purposes and operations were to be similar to those of the PE,
with which it would be closely allied. Although
completely independent of the older company, the LAIU would build a system of
lines that would be extensions of those controlled by the Pacific Electric. With the additional millions at his disposal,
Henry E. Huntington could complete his network of electric lines covering
Southern California. The LAIU as originally
conceived was not to be an operating company—that is have its own cars—but
would supply the lines over which PE cars would operate. Epes Randolph, vice-president and general
manager of the Pacific Electric and the man called upon by Harriman to curb the
Colorado River’s rampage into the Imperial Valley, was chosen as the president
of the new interurban company. Randolph
was also elected president of the LAIU’s twin corporation, the Pacific Electric
Land Company, born at the same time. Huntington
desired the LAIU to lay 350 miles of track; this combined with the PE’s already
built 100 miles would comprise the complete system.
Broken
down into lines, the 350 miles of new track were to include:
1.
The completion of the PE
Whittier Line and the extension of this line into the La Habra area.
2.
The long contemplated
high-speed line via Santa Ana Canyon to Redlands and Riverside with a branch to
Colton, San Bernardino and Highland. For
this line the LAIU was to purchase unusually large interurban cars, which were
to be 60 feet long and weigh 93,000 pounds. Fitted with four 150-horsepower motors, these cars were to cover
the distance to Riverside in one hour. Each
would seat 72 passengers and would be fitted up in the most excellent taste. Fifteen or twenty were to have been
purchased.
3.
The line to Santa Ana,
Newport and Balboa; an extension was to run northward along the coast from
Newport to the PE line at Long Beach. A
branch was to tap Alamitos and Artesia thence to Los Angeles over the PE Santa
Ana Line.
4.
The high-speed line to
Santa Barbara by way of San Fernando.
5.
A line to Glendale and
Burbank in competition with the Brand line.
6.
A line to Ontario by way
of Covina.
In addition, the LAIU's funds were to supply
additional rolling stock for the PE. Ninety of the PE’s 800 class cars were purchased under this
agreement (800-889) and the LAIU paid the bill for many cars which were built
in their entirety in the Pacific Electric Shops at 7th and Central in Los
Angeles. This included cars 230-279 and
290-299, which were city cars similar to LARy’s type ‘B’ Standards, and the box
motors of the 1430-1444 class. Huntington’s
ambitious plans for the LAIU were not to come to fruition. Of the 350 miles of contemplated line, less
than half were built. The LAIU did
complete the Whittier and La Habra line. It did build the line to Santa Ana via Garden Grove. It did build down the coast from Long Beach
to Balboa. Instead of building a new
line to Glendale, it bought control of Brand’s Los Angeles & Glendale
Electric Railway. It did build to
Covina, but the dream line to Riverside via Santa Ana Canyon never
materialized, and the dream cars for that line never left the drawing boards. The extension to Santa Barbara via San
Fernando Valley was turned over to the Los Angeles-Pacific for exploitation.
The LAIU built one line, which proved to be
outstanding—the extension from Dominguez to San Pedro. The creation of San Pedro Harbor brought this
line close to the top of all PE passenger lines and its freight business ranked
it far ahead of the other lines. While
all these activities were in progress, LAIU was spending money at the rate of a
half-million dollars a month.
Huntington decreed the LAIU to be a non-operating
company, fate decreed otherwise. Early
in 1904 all the former Traction Company lines were turned over to the LAIU to
operate. In addition, the LAIU took
over the operation of the California-Pacific and the then building Glendale
Line. Traction Company cars were sent
to the PE’s shops and rebuilt. More
powerful motors were installed, air brakes added and bodies reconstructed. The most notable outward difference was the
addition of vestibule ends in place of the old open ends. The cars were not at once renumbered and the
Traction Company’s odd practice of using only even numbers was in evidence on
Los Angeles streets for several years more. Huntington had just completed a track rehabilitation program on
his LARy lines which had seen every foot of rail which was down when he arrived
ripped up and replaced with 60-lb. T-rail. He at once initiated a similar program on the Traction Lines. In all, well over a million dollars was
expended just on rehabilitating the Traction’s system. Lines which the LAIU took over from the LAT
were all narrow gauge and consisted of the following:
1.
West Jefferson, from
Hoover to Arlington
2.
West Adams, from 10th
Avenue to Normandie, 24th, Hoover, Burlington, 16th, Georgia, 11th, Figueroa,
8th, Hill and 3rd
3.
Vermont Avenue from 24th
Street south to Gardena, then over Normandie Avenue to the City of San Pedro
4.
West 8th Street from 1st
and Commonwealth to Wilshire, Hoover, 7th, Lake, 8th and Hill
5.
Belmont from Temple to
Loma Drive, Arnold Street (3rd), Flower to 5th
6.
3rd Street from Hill to
Hewitt Street; one branch proceeded to the Santa Fe Station, another on east
4th Street, Fresno Street to 1st Street
7.
Central Avenue from
Arcade Depot to East Third Street (joint LARy)
8.
Glendale Line from 6th
& Main Station to Flower to Third to Figueroa, Second, Glendale Boulevard
9.
East 6th Street from
Main to Arcade Depot.
One of Huntington’s first moves after getting the LAIU
lines in operation was to issue transfers from the old Traction lines to
certain PE local lines and to the Glendale Line. Although Huntington controlled LARy, that company was not included
in the transfer arrangement, much to the displeasure of Angelinos. It seems that Huntington felt that to issue
universal transfers was quite impossible as excluding himself, the stockholders
of the LARy and those of the other companies were different sets of people. Incidentally, several court decisions were
necessary before Mr. Huntington was able to convince the local citizenry that
this was an incontrovertible fact. Time
went on and LAIU continued to pay the bill. LAIU dollars enabled Huntington to purchase the right-of-way of
the old San Gabriel Valley Rapid Transit Company, which became the main line of the Northern District from the east bank of the Los Angeles River to the
vicinity of Atlantic Boulevard (Shorb Station). LAIU dollars paid for the four tracking of the Long Beach Line as
far as Watts. They set the PE up in the
freight carrying business. By the
middle of 1908, the PE and LAIU operated 550 miles of track with cars of the
two systems entering and leaving Main Street on a one-minute headway. This was quite a feat when you realize that
all cars had to change ends within the station and leave via Main Street. In those days there was no elevated structure
at the rear. Normal days saw 500 cars
operating from Main Street, while holidays swelled the load to more than 800. A novel trolley trough in the ceiling of the
station automatically reversed the poles for the return trip.
The end came for the LAIU in no burst of glory, but
rather in a very matter-of-fact fashion. In July of 1908 the public was informed that for reasons of
operating efficiency, the PE had leased the LAIU and would thereafter operate
it as a part of the PE system. It would
seem that with the exhaustion of its ten million dollars, the days of the LAIU’s
usefulness were at an end. The last
official act of the doomed railway was to let the contract for the grading of
the extension to La Habra.
LAIU cars continued to operate until the Great Merger
after which they were split between the new PE and the LARy. The LARy got the old Traction cars and the PE
kept the newer LAIU rolling stock. The
California-Pacific cars were renumbered in the 470-474 class and ran for many
more years. The California cars were
renumbered into the 200 class which was succeeded in 1924 by the 600 class “Hollywood”
cars.
Henry Huntington purchased the Los Angeles &
Redondo Railway in July 1905 for $2,500,000. This gave him control of about three-fourths of the town of
Redondo including its wharves, waterfront and most of its lots. The Los Angles Pacific succumbed to Harriman
in March 1906. Harriman declined to
turn its operation over to Huntington leaving him to retire to the operation of
the LARy. Five years later it was the
Los Angeles Pacific that swallowed the Pacific Electric as LAP officials constituted
the majority of officers of the new Pacific Electric after the Great Merger of
1911. The PE’s name was kept however as
it was deemed to be more descriptive of the overall system’s geographic range. Today there remains no evidence of the LAIU’s
existence.