Cable car street railways first began operating in Los Angeles in 1885 and lasted until 1902, when the lines were electrified and electric streetcars were introduced largely following the cable car routes. There were roughly of routes, connecting 1st and Main in what was then the Los Angeles Central Business District as far as the communities known today as Lincoln Heights, Echo Park/Filipinotown, and the Pico-Union district.
The first cable cars climbed Bunker Hill on October 8, 1885.[1] A total of three companies operated in the period through 1902.[2]
The Los Angeles Cable Railway operated the system of the greatest length at 108274feet of track, featuring: 99328feet of straight surface tracks; 4250feet of viaducts, 2124feet of bridges, 2010feet of curves, and 562feet of pits. It operated the following lines as of August 1888:[3]
The Temple Street Cable Railway began service on July 14, 1886. It was bought by and merged into the Pacific Electric Railway, which replaced the cable cars with electric streetcar service on October 2, 1902. The route was transferred to the Los Angeles Railway in 1910. Service on the last remaining portion of the route was discontinued in 1946. The route was 8725feet long and went along Temple St. from Spring St. west to Edgeware Road in today's Echo Park district, just southeast of Angelino Heights.[5]
The Second Street Cable Railroad began service October 8, 1885 and ended service October 13, 1889. It operated one route via Second Street west, up Bunker Hill, to Second and Texas (now Belmont) Street. The powerhouse was at Second at Boylston, now a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power installation. Near the terminus at First and Belmont Avenue, a railroad line ran to Gardner Junction at what is now Gardner and Sunset in Hollywood; from Belmont to Temple, Coronado, south on a private right-of-way to First; on First and private right-of-way to Western and Temple, via Western to Hollywood Boulevard west and via private right-of-way to Gardner Junction. The Pacific Electric acquired this line and ran interurbans on it.[6]
Los Angeles also hosted several funicular railways.
See main article: Angels Flight. Angels Flight operated in Downtown Los Angeles from 1901 to 1969 when its site was cleared for redevelopment. The railway was rebuilt south of its original location in 1996. It was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1962 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
Court Flight[7] [8] ran up Bunker Hill between Broadway and Hill along "Court Street", between Temple and 1st. It operated from 1905 to 1943 when it was destroyed in a fire.[9]
See main article: Mount Lowe Railway. The Mount Lowe Railway was a tourist railway which featured a funicular section.
