Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line

Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey
Ruins of the Pacific Electric route through Ballona Wetlands
Overview
Locale	Greater Los Angeles
Termini	Downtown Los Angeles Redondo Beach
Service
Type	Interurban
System	Pacific Electric
Operator(s)	Pacific Electric
History
Opened	1902 (1902)
Closed	November 18, 1930 (1930-11-18)
Technical
Line length	25.01 mi (40.25 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	600 V DC Overhead lines
Route map Hill Street Station Subway Terminal Echo Park Avenue Edendale  J   R   S   N   W   P   9   J   9   W   A  Vermont Avenue  V  Berendo Street siding Western Avenue 3rd Avenue siding Vineyard  P  Sawtelle / Westgate Roberto Hauser Arnaz Barnhart National Boulevard Culver City Air Line Venice Short Line First Street Palms Ellenda Bundy Cypress Grove Alla Venice–Inglewood Motordrome Del Rey Junction Venice–Playa del Rey Holton Hyperion El Segundo Peck's Beach Manhattan Beach Hermosa Beach Redondo via Gardena Redondo Beach Cliffton

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 a line built by Los Angeles Pacific Railroad from Culver City to Playa del Rey in 1902. The Manhattan Beach to Redondo Beach segment was constructed in 1903, and the gap between the two also completed later that year. The tracks were converted from their original narrow gauge to standard gauge in 1908. Pacific Electric acquired the line in 1911.

Local Manhattan–Redondo service was established for the summer and fall of 1916, and made year round runs from February 1922 to June 1924, extending to Clifton in 1923. The Palos Verdes Transportation Company began a bus service between Malaga Cove and the Redondo Beach station in 1925.

On May 5, 1930 service was reduced to a single reverse commute round trip car run to maintain the franchise. The route was discontinued after November 18.

By 1981, no rails remained on the entire route. Much of the route in Culver City and West Los Angeles on Culver Boulevard was converted into the Culver Boulevard Median Bike Path.

Route

From the Hill Street Station to Culver Junction, the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line followed the route of the Venice Short Line. From Culver Junction, dual tracks branched southwesterly from the Venice Short Line in the center of the pavement of Culver Boulevard, past Washington Boulevard to Madison Avenue. Here, the dual tracks entered an unimproved private way on the northerly side of Culver Boulevard, and ran past the MGM Studios, Overland Avenue, Sepulveda Boulevard and Centinela Boulevard, to the Culver City boundary.

Former bridge abutment of the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line at Culver Blvd. and Lincoln Blvd., July 2017

The dual tracks in private way continued southeasterly alongside of Culver Boulevard approximately one-half mile (0.80 km) before ramping up on fill to cross over Lincoln Boulevard on a bridge immediately north of the bridge for Culver Boulevard roadway. West of Lincoln Boulevard, the dual tracks converged to a single track before crossing over Ballona Creek on a long steel bridge. The single track then expanded again to two tracks in private way, and continued the run, across open country roughly paralleling Culver Boulevard, into Playa Del Rey. The rails had a short stretch of street running in Playa Del Rey. This was in crossing Culver Boulevard and a small section on Vista Del Mar Lane.

From Playa del Rey, the dual rails ran southerly on unimproved private way along the edge of the bluffs bordering the Pacific Ocean, past the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant and Imperial Highway into the City of El Segundo. Still on unimproved private way bordering the ocean, the dual tracks continued southerly running by the Standard Oil Company Refinery, the City of Manhattan Beach, and into the city of Hermosa Beach.

In Hermosa Beach the dual rails entered another section of unimproved private way in the center of Hermosa Avenue. The rails followed this private way southerly through the business district of Hermosa Beach into the City of Redondo Beach to the center of the city at Diamond and Pacific Avenues. Here, the Redondo Beach via Gardena Line terminated its run from the east.

From Downtown Redondo Beach, the dual tracks ran southerly, in the pavement of Pacific Avenue as far as Torrance Boulevard, then they ran in another unimproved private way in the center of Catalina Street south to Avenue I in the Clifton Beach Area. The dual tracks then converged to a single track for the short cross country run on private way to the terminus of the Line at Clifton-by-the-Sea, located on the bluff overlooking the Ocean just north of Malaga Cove.

References

 This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under the public domain as a work of the State of California. (license statement/permission). Text taken from 1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes​, California Department of Transportation. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.