This film depicts the end of Pacific Electric trolley car service in Los Angeles. The “Big Red” streetcars were a beloved part of the fabric of Southern California. Pacific Electric was established in 1901 by Henry E. Huntington and it had become the world’s largest electric transit system linking communities throughout Southern California. Their final ride took place in 1961. Alan Fishel filmed one of it’s last rides through the area; this film was made using his footage. The location shown at the start of the film is the Pacific Electric Building (also known as the Huntington Building, after the railway’s founder, Henry Huntington, or simply 6th & Main), which opened in 1905 in the core of Los Angeles as the main train station for the Pacific Electric Railway,

The film opens with a shot of one of the Red Car’s (:09) and it was presented by Interurban Films (:30). Alan film’s one of the final rides on March 31st, 1961 on the Long Beach line from the front of one of the cars (:37). The train embarked from Pacific Electric’s main station in downtown LA (1:21) and began heading down the viaduct of San Pedro street (1:27). The train conductor is seen working the controls (1:32). The train was to be discontinued within the next upcoming ten days. The train is seen heading through the city as it approached 7th street (2:05). It then bends onto 9th street which would take it to North Long Beach (2:34). The Santa Monica Freeway is viewed under construction (3:41). The point in which Santé Fe’s harbor line crosses with Pacific Electric’s Whitter line and branches off to the left is pointed out (4:29). The Red Car is seen approaching 103rd street where the former Watt’s line had ended (5:03). A passenger pulls for a stop within the rail car (5:21). Watt’s is shown to be where the Santa Ana, Torrance and Redondo Beach lines branched off at (6:02). The next stop was to be Thompson Boulevard in Thompson (6:23). The train halts here for passengers to board (6:34). Just after riding under a bridge (9:01), Domingo Junction is seen (9:09). This is followed by a single-track bridge over the Los Angeles river (10:39). As it continued towards north Long Beach, it was to run along Long Beach Boulevard (10:45). Where the former Newport line had branched off to the left is pointed out (10:53). In the center of the view, is the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium (12:26) resting across from Ocean Avenue. Pacific Avenue was to be the final passenger stop for the line, though it would continue on past the Morgan Yard (13:08). The train halts and passengers step out into the street (13:17). The rail line is then seen crossing over a highway pointing to Long Beach Terminal Island (13:53). The film begins to wrap up as the credit screen is presented (14:33) and it had been produced by Richard Fellows and Bruce Frenzinger.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com