Wednesday, August 5, 2009

RECENT PROPOSAL OF THE REVIVAL OF THE PASADENA SHORT LINE - LAKE AVENUE RED CARS OF THE PASADENA-ALTADENA REGIONAL TROLLEY SYSTEM





All that's old is new again. Here is an introduction to the Pasadena-Altadena Regional Trolley System, a proposal which has been in the works for the last year and has been the recipient of some generous consultancy work, which we hope shows in the thoughtfulness of the proposal. The idea is to link the city by trolley going east from Old Pasadena on Green Street to PCC and then return traveling west on Union Street, than using the old Union Pacific Right of Way now on Caltrans property along the 210 Freeway outer edge and travel up behind Muir High School, travel east on Woodbury which has a median strip, travel north on Fair Oaks which is wide and fairly calm on this section, turn east on Mariposa, which is wide and calm, turning south on Lake Avenue going south to connect with the Union Green Street loop in the City Center.

This will link the greater city with historic trolleys as seen by the large San Francisco loop from the Presidio to Fisherman’s Wharf to the Market District presently in service. In conjunction with the Pasadena Arts Bus System, this would give a world class city, Pasadena, world class public transportation. The City of Pasadena does well with national and international tourism around the New Year’s Holiday; let us embark on a bold step to continue this green revenue stream of tourism the entire year, as was once the case in Pasadena’s proud history.

By making Pasadena a world class all year tourist destination, expanding our number of museums (the proposed JPL/NASA Space and Aeronautics Museum and the proposed Museum of the New World, for example) and other touristic venues and events (Pasadena as a possible venue for an upcoming World Fair and/or Olympic Games), it will allow us to truly make the City of Pasadena the center of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Science, and Natural Wonders of the West, truly the Athens of the West as envisioned by our City Father George Ellery Hale.

Downtown Los Angeles is planning the same idea as seen in the LA Times July 31, 2009. Street trolley gaining steam in downtown Los Angeles
11:40 AM July 31, 2009
Transportation planners are considering three different routes for a proposed street trolley that would run through downtown Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Street Car Inc. has been working with city officials and downtown property owners on the trolley concept, which is designed to connect the sprawling city center. It comes as officials are working on a plan to revive the movie palaces along Broadway, which is where the streetcar would run. Here are the proposed routes:
-- Option 1: The streetcar would run from Bunker Hill to the South Park area, running by Disney Hall and the Music Center, then on Broadway and Hill Street. It would then veer west on Pico Boulevard to Figueroa Street, hitting the Convention Center, Staples Center and L.A. Live.
-- Option 2: This route is somewhat shorter, with a smaller run along Figueroa.
-- Option 3: This route would not go as far south, ending at 11th Street.
Downtown boosters have hailed the trolley system as a way of getting visitors and workers around within the area.
The trolley would be the centerpiece of an effort to turn Broadway into the theater and dining district. Government officials and private developers have earmarked nearly $40 million, hoping to pull the gentrification that has swept much of downtown into the district's main commercial area. They envision many of the movie facades giving way to a live theater district forming on the street, with a trolley car system running down its center.
-- Shelby Grad

Be sure to click on the different routes link in the above to see what LA is planning.

The interurban railway of the Pacific Electric Company brought the "Big Red Cars'' to North Lake Avenue in 1902, in which crowds of hikers would arrive early on Saturday morning bound for the local canyons to the north. Come Sunday evening the reverse migration would occur. At its peak in the year 1921, when 160,930 passengers were carried, Mt. Lowe cars operated from Pasadena to Altadena via North Fair Oaks, Mariposa, and North Lake including via North Lake from Colorado Boulevard. Another nearby local tourist destination was the home and gardens of noted local botanist and Southern California Missions booster Charles Francis Saunders, located at 580 North Lake Avenue, located just south of Orange Grove Boulevard, which was visited by many traveling on the Pacific Electric cars going up and down to the mountains.
The hiking era came to a close soon after the Angeles Crest Highway was opened in 1936 and the automobile began to dominate people's lives. Roads were driven into the San Gabriel Mountains and few people ventured more than a few hundred yards from their automobiles. The number of visitors today is probably a few percent of the number who came in 1921.The North Lake Pacific Electric Line was extremely busy until shortly before its abandonment in 1941. The businesses saw their fortunes decline after the closing of the Mount Lowe tourist attraction in 1936, the opening of Angeles Crest Highway into the mountains also in 1936, the ending of trolley traffic in 1941, the onset of World War II and the general availability of automobiles and cheap gasoline for the common man. We hope the trolley on Lake Avenue can be put back in order to bring the tourist trade life blood we have been missing since 1936.






8 comments:

  1. Nice information shared,great work.

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  2. Green street is tricky, maybe a further north route like Walnut would be more appropriate.

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  3. And let's make sure this isn't another scam like the centennial streetcar. If they really want to provide a service to the eastern and northern hoods, they'll have to make it more reliable than a standard tourist trap streetcar.

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  4. The consultants hired by the city are looking at the proposed routes, with the main emphasis in linking up Old Pasadena, the Playhouse District, South Lake and Pasadena City College. We are trying to convince the city that they should also try to hook up the north part of the city including Altadena and the San Gabriel mountain access, and include those stretches in any trolley plans or proposals. We are talking about a streetcar system like in San Diego, one that covers the greater area and takes you all the way to the international border at San Ysidro and also to nature in Balboa Park.

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  5. This is a great idea and it looks like there has been some more efforts by the city and others who paid for the recent financial feasibility study that was recently released to the public.

    This streetcar idea is a no-brainer for anyone who understands that there are MORE limitations for a city to rely strictly on automobile-oriented transit infrastructure than one that is expanded by mass transit alternatives.

    Pasadena is NOT perfect (as we have seen with the miserable decline of Paseo Colorado and South Lake Avenue), but it has GREAT bones and investing in a streetcar could be the answer to rejuvenating the rest of Downtown Pasadena outside of Old Pasadena.

    We, as a society, need to have unwavering support in thinking outside the box when it comes to moving residents and visitors around the city sans automobiles. The streetcar worked prior to cars, and it'll work now based on the success many other cities have had with their own streetcar system (Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, DC, Amsterdam, Melbourne, etc.).

    Build it!

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  6. The only way for Altadena to recover its lost prominence and vitality is to reestablish three things: the tourists, civically minded millionaires and a trolley line up Lake Avenue.

    Eco-tourism in our mountains, with the final reestablishment of the Altadena Crest Trail to connect with the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Rim Trail, would be a wonderful destination for more hikers than have been seen in Altadena since pre World War II.

    At one time recently, the Zane Grey Estate was going to become a bed and breakfast, establishing a place where eco-tourists could stay overnight before venturing into our wilds.

    A perfect place for a guesthouse for eco-tourists would be the Old Lodge at Hygeia which is just at the base of the Sam Merrill Trail to Echo Mountain.
    http://www.traillink.com/trail/lower-sam-merrill-trail.aspx

    Also, reestablishment of a trolley line up North Lake Avenue to the mountains would bring tourists and shoppers alike, helping reinvigorate dining, entertainment and retail that now exists and invite more of what is lacking in Altadena, meaning higher sales tax revenue leading to the possibility of cityhood.
    http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena.blogspot.com/2009/08/recent-proposal-of-revival-of-pasadena.html

    In the past, civically minded wealthy residents of Altadena, like Gartz, McNally, Grey, Green and others took a lead in Altadena civic affairs and made good things happen. Where are the civically minded wealthy in Altadena today in all this discourse about the sad state of affairs. With the recent Billionaire Club of Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet and Ted Turner et al clamoring to give back their riches to society, couldn’t the same happen with the Altadena very wealthy citizens?

    Hopefully as a start towards a new there “there”, the new owners of Webster’s will remodel their storefront into something historic looking to match the look of the Altadena Hardware Block on Mariposa. Webster’s storefronts need large display windows to make their interiors vibrant and inviting again, and a soda fountain sounds like exactly the right prescription.

    New owners of landmark Webster's Pharmacy vow to take it back to its roots as community center
    http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_16737029

    ReplyDelete
  7. The only way for Altadena to recover its lost prominence and vitality is to reestablish three things: the tourists, civically minded millionaires and a trolley line up Lake Avenue.

    Eco-tourism in our mountains, with the final reestablishment of the Altadena Crest Trail to connect with the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Rim Trail, would be a wonderful destination for more hikers than have been seen in Altadena since pre World War II.

    At one time recently, the Zane Grey Estate was going to become a bed and breakfast, establishing a place where eco-tourists could stay overnight before venturing into our wilds.

    A perfect place for a guesthouse for eco-tourists would be the Old Lodge at Hygeia which is just at the base of the Sam Merrill Trail to Echo Mountain.
    http://www.traillink.com/trail/lower-sam-merrill-trail.aspx

    Also, reestablishment of a trolley line up North Lake Avenue to the mountains would bring tourists and shoppers alike, helping reinvigorate dining, entertainment and retail that now exists and invite more of what is lacking in Altadena, meaning higher sales tax revenue leading to the possibility of cityhood.
    http://avenuetotheskylakeavenuepasadena.blogspot.com/2009/08/recent-proposal-of-revival-of-pasadena.html

    In the past, civically minded wealthy residents of Altadena, like Gartz, McNally, Grey, Green and others took a lead in Altadena civic affairs and made good things happen. Where are the civically minded wealthy in Altadena today in all this discourse about the sad state of affairs. With the recent Billionaire Club of Bill and Melinda Gates, Warren Buffet and Ted Turner et al clamoring to give back their riches to society, couldn’t the same happen with the Altadena very wealthy citizens?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hopefully as a start towards a new there “there”, the new owners of Webster’s will remodel their storefront into something historic looking to match the look of the Altadena Hardware Block on Mariposa. Webster’s storefronts need large display windows to make their interiors vibrant and inviting again, and a soda fountain sounds like exactly the right prescription.

    New owners of landmark Webster's Pharmacy vow to take it back to its roots as community center
    http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/ci_16737029

    ReplyDelete