Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot

Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot
Palms Depot, formerly known as the “Grasshopper Stop”
Location	Heritage Square, 3800 N. Homer St., Montecito Heights, Los Angeles, California
Governing body	Private (Heritage Square)
Location of Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot in California

Palms-Southern Pacific Railroad Depot is a historic railroad depot built between 1886 and 1888 at Palms, Los Angeles, California. Some sources stated it opened in 1886, though others indicate it opened in 1888. The two-story wood depot was originally located at the corner of National Boulvard and Vinton Avenue.

When the depot first opened, it was known as the “Grasshopper Stop” because at the time “grasshoppers were present in veritable clouds.” The Southern Pacific later changed the depot’s name to “The Palms,” and the surrounding community adopted the name. As one of only two depots between Los Angeles and Santa Monica (the other being the Ivy Substation in Culver City, the Palms Depot served as the hub of a growing agricultural community.

From the 1920s to the 1940s, the motion picture business became the dominant business in the Palms-Culver City area, and movie stars, including Clark Gable, could be seen getting of the Red Cars on their way to work at the nearby studios.

In 1953, the Red Car line was shut down, and the depot was abandoned. As the surrounding area became a suburban residential community, the depot became “a symbol of another day and reflective of what has happened to Palms.”

In the early 1960s, the Culver-Palms Boy Scout Troop 49 undertook a beautification of the depot and used it as a meeting place. The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Board declared the depot to be a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1963. It was the 22nd structure to receive the historic monument designation. Despite the designation, the depot remained vacant, was victimized by vandals and graffiti, and fell into serious disrepair in the early 1970s.

The Los Angeles Fire Department ultimately condemned the structure, but preservationists sought to save it from demolition. In 1976, the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Foundation raised funds to move the structure to Heritage Square Musuem in Montecito Heights. The depot presently sits at the entrance to Heritage Square and houses the museum gift shop.