View source for Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line

{{short description|Historic streetcar line in California}}
{{Infobox rail line
|name        = Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey
|image       = File:CROP Del Rey Redondo Pacific Electric 1915.jpg
|caption     =  Del Rey & Redondo (1915)
|color       = {{rcr|Pacific Electric|Redondo via Playa del Rey}}
|type        = [[Interurban]]
|system      = [[Pacific Electric]]
|locale      = [[Greater Los Angeles]]
|start       = [[Downtown Los Angeles]]
|end         = [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo Beach]]
|stations    = 
|routes      = 
|ridership2  = 
|open        = {{start date|1902|11|09}}
|close       = {{end date|1940|05|12}}
|owner       = 
|operator    = [[Pacific Electric]]
|character   = 
|stock       = 
|linelength_mi  =  25.01
|tracklength = 
|tracks      = 2
|gauge       = {{RailGauge|sg|allk=on}}
|electrification = {{600 V DC|conductor=overhead}}
|speed       = 
|elevation   = 
|map         = {{PE W Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey}}
|map_state   = collapsed
}}

The '''Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey''' was an [[interurban railway]] route of the [[Pacific Electric]]. It operated between the [[Subway Terminal Building|Hill Street Terminal]] and Cliffton, south of [[Redondo Beach, California|Redondo Beach]], through the company's Western Division.

The route ran along the coastline of the Santa Monica Bay uninterrupted from Playa Del Rey to the northern edge of the [[Palos Verdes Peninsula]]. Despite the obvious desirability of the route, which connected all of the beachfront communities to one another and to the urban core, it was mostly never replaced with alternative types of transit. Portions of local bus routes run by various local agencies, including [[Culver CityBus]] and [[Beach Cities Transit]] serve some parts of the former route, but no regular, continuous service exists down the length of the [[South Bay (Los Angeles County)|South Bay]] coastline. The former route is, however, mostly traversable by bike since some of the portion along Culver Boulevard has been converted into a bike trail, and the [[Marvin Braude Bike Trail]] roughly parallels the former route and in many places runs on the former right of way.

==History==
The route began as the Los Angeles-Hermosa Beach & Redondo Railway Company,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=W. W. |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102219019 |title=Culver City: a calendar of events in which is included, also, the story of Palms and Playa Del Rey together with Rancho La Ballona and Rancho Rincon de los Bueyes |last2=Title Guarantee and Trust Company (Los Angeles |first2=Calif) |date=1939 |publisher=Title Guarantee and Trust Co. |location=Los Angeles |page=21}}</ref> which was succeeded quickly by the [[Los Angeles Pacific Railroad]]. The first train ran from [[Culver City]] to [[Playa del Rey]] on Sunday, November 9, 1902.<ref>"PLAYA DEL REY." ''Los Angeles Times'', Nov 09, 1902, pp. 11''.''</ref> The [[Manhattan Beach, California|Manhattan Beach]] to Redondo Beach segment was constructed in 1903, and the gap between the two also completed later that year.<ref name=erha /> [[Culver Boulevard]], originally called Speedway, was laid out in parallel to the rail line beginning in 1904. 

Circa 1903, "First car leaves 6:40 a.m., last car 11:40 p.m." The Los Angeles Pacific depot was located at 316 W. 4th Street.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100493545 |title=Newmans's directory and guide of Los Angeles and vicinity: a handbook for strangers and residents. |date=1903 |publisher=T. Newman Publ. |location=Los Angeles, Calif.}}</ref>

The tracks were converted from their original [[narrow gauge]] to [[standard gauge]] in 1908.<ref name=Hilton>{{Cite book |last1=Hilton |first1=George W. |title=The Electric Interurban Railways in America |last2=Due |first2=John F. |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |year=2000 |isbn=0-8047-4014-3 |location=[[Stanford, California]] |orig-date=1960 |page=412}}</ref> Los Angeles Pacific built a rail spur for the [[Los Angeles Motordrome]] around 1910.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gnerre |first=Sam |date=2011-01-12 |title=Los Angeles Motordrome {{!}} South Bay History |url=http://blogs.dailybreeze.com/history/2011/01/12/los-angeles-motordrome/ |access-date=2022-12-13 |website=Los Angeles Daily Breeze}}</ref>

Pacific Electric acquired the line in 1911.<ref name="erha">{{cite web |title=Redondo Beach-Del Rey Line |url=http://www.erha.org/pewrbdr.htm |publisher=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California |access-date=21 January 2021}}</ref> 

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.<ref name=1958History /> A spur existed from approximately 1920 to 1927 that allowed [[Al G. Barnes Circus|Barnes Circus]] trains access to their winter quarters at Barnes City.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Borders | first=Gordon | publisher=Circus Historical Society | title=Famous Circus Landmarks: Al G. Barnes Winter Quarters at Culver City, Calif.|url=http://archive.org/details/1967-vol-11-no-4 |magazine=Bandwagon | volume= 11 |issue=4 |date=July–August 1967 | pages=11–13 }}</ref>

The Palos Verdes Transportation Company began a bus service between [[Malaga Cove]] and the Redondo Beach station in 1925.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sugimoto |first1=Monique |last2=Piotrowski |first2=Dennis |title=PV History: How transportation would have changed had the Pacific Electric Railway been built |url=https://www.pvnews.com/lifestyle/pv-history-how-transportation-would-have-changed-had-the-pacific-electric-railway-been-built/article_cc0b1b44-2419-11e9-b255-efe26ab542e5.html |access-date=8 April 2021 |agency=Palos Verdes Peninsula News |date=4 February 2019}}</ref>

On May&nbsp;5, 1930 service was reduced to a single [[reverse commute]] round trip car run to maintain the franchise. The route was discontinued after November&nbsp;18.<ref name=1958History>{{Veysey-PE-1958 |pages=55, 56}}</ref>

[[File:Pacific Electric Ballona.jpg|thumb|left|Ruins of the route through [[Ballona Wetlands]] (2022)]]
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==
[[File:Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey circa 1906.jpg|thumb|190px|Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey route map and stops {{circa|1906}}]]
From the Hill Street Station to [[Culver Junction]], the Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey Line followed the route of the [[Venice Short Line]].<ref name=Hilton /> From Culver Junction, dual tracks branched southwesterly from the [[Venice Short Line]] in the center of the pavement of [[Culver Boulevard]], past [[Washington Boulevard (Los Angeles)|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.

The dual tracks in private way continued southeasterly alongside of Culver Boulevard approximately {{convert|1/2|mi|spell=in}} before ramping up on fill to cross over [[Lincoln Boulevard (Los Angeles County)|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. 

[[File:Ballona Creek Subproject No. 132 - Era Funds - Hired Labor - Taken June 23, 1937. Vol. VII No. 7 - In the Foreground... - NARA - 295339.jpg|thumb|left|Reconstruction of Ballona Creek rail crossing (1937), Culver Boulevard automobile bridge is to the left; camera is facing north toward [[Westchester, Los Angeles|Westchester]], note "L" for [[Loyola Marymount University]] is visible on bluffs]]

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 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.

[[File:Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey railway bridge over Lincoln Blvd immediately adjacent to Culver Blvd 01.jpg|thumb|Railway bridge remnant over Lincoln Blvd.]]
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&nbsp;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 [[Palos Verdes Estates, California|Malaga Cove]].

{{Seealso|Alla Junction|Motordrome, California|Cypress Grove, California}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Free-content attribution|
| title = 1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes
| author = [[California Department of Transportation]]
| publisher = 
| source= [[Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority]]
| documentURL = http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/pacificelectric/1981-caltrans-inventory-of-routes.pdf
| License statement URL = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:PD-CAGov
| license = the [[public domain]] as a work of the [[State of California]].
}}

==External links==
* [http://militantangeleno.blogspot.com/2015/11/pacific-electric-week-militants-pacific.html?m=1 The Militant's Pacific Electric Archaeology Map - old PE Streetcar lines shown on contemporary map]
* [https://doi.org/10.25549/acsc-m356 Playa Del Rey Line: Culver & Centinela, 1929]
* [https://www.pacificelectric.org/pacific-electric/western-district/rumbling-through-playa-del-rey/ PE Rumbling Through Playa Del Rey 1939]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100401152133/http://www.uncanny.net/~wetzel/redondo.htm Photos of the Redondo Beach via Playa Del Rey Line]

{{commons category}}

{{Pacific Electric Railway}}

[[Category:Pacific Electric routes]]
[[Category:Light rail in California]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1902]]
[[Category:1902 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Railway lines closed in 1930]]
[[Category:1930 disestablishments in California]]
[[Category:Closed railway lines in the United States]]
[[Category:Westside (Los Angeles County)]]
[[Category:Ballona Creek]]
[[Category:History of Culver City, California]]
[[Category:Transportation in Culver City, California]]
[[Category:Mar Vista, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Playa del Rey, Los Angeles]]
[[Category:Del Rey, Los Angeles]]