Owensmouth Line

{{short description|Former Pacific Electric interurban service}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2022}} {{Infobox rail line |name = Owensmouth |color = {{rcr|Pacific Electric|Owensmouth}} |image = File:1922 Cahuenga Pass Hollywood.jpg |image_width = 300px |caption = Cahuenga Pass in 1922 prior to freeway construction |type = Interurban |system = Pacific Electric |locale = Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, California |start = Downtown Los Angeles |end = Owensmouth/Canoga Park (1912–1938) North Sherman Way (1911–1912, 1938–1952) |stations = 34 |routes = |ridership2 = 1,038,622 (1926) |open = January 20, 1908 (Cahuenga Pass local) December 16, 1911 (to Van Nuys) December 7, 1912 (Owensmouth) |close = June 1, 1938 (Canoga Park–Sherman Way) December 29, 1952 (all service) |owner = Southern Pacific Railroad |operator = Pacific Electric |character = |stock = PE 5050 Class (last used) |linelength_mi = 29.1 |tracklength = |tracks = |gauge = {{RailGauge|ussg|allk=on}} |electrification = {{600 V DC|conductor=overhead}} |speed = |elevation = |map = {{PE W Owensmouth}} |map_state = collapsed }} The '''Owensmouth Line''' was a Pacific Electric interurban service that connected the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles. The route was largely developed as the result of real estate speculation along with the San Fernando Line which continued further north. Cars ran from Los Angeles and Hollywood through the Cahuenga Pass to the Valley in a private reservation, even after the Hollywood Freeway was built through the area. The line also utilized a portion of the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch. Service was truncated to Sherman Way in 1938, and cars were then referred to as the '''Van Nuys Line'''. All rail service ended December 29, 1952.

==History== {{See also|San Fernando Line}} The Ocean View Tract Company laid out Highland Avenue with a central reservation for future trolley use. Residents along the street had wanted improvements made to the road, but this strip had been an impediment on their plans. On November 21, 1906, the Los Angeles-Pacific Railway (LA-P) sent out a construction to build north of Prospect in the trolley reservation. About two blocks had been plowed up when Hollywood's Street Superintendent, acting under instructions from the City Attorney, arrived with a police officer and ordered the work stopped. The foreman ordered his men to go ahead and the entire outfit was placed under arrest, and later released in bonds of $100{{efn| equivalent to ${{format price|{{inflation|US|100|1906}} }} in {{inflation year|US}} adjusted for inflation}} each. The land in the center of Highland had never been deeded to the city, and the route had been used as a normal thoroughfare since being platted which, as the city claimed, precluded the railway from having title to build a line.<ref>{{Source attribution| {{cite news |title=Whole Outfit is Arrested |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-whole-outfit-is-ar/185118430/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=November 22, 1906 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} |inline=y}}</ref> Residents appealed to the city to offer a franchise on the road for a street railway, and LA-P purchased the rights the following September for $1000,{{efn| equivalent to ${{format price|{{inflation|US|1000|1907}} }} in {{inflation year|US}} adjusted for inflation}} a surprising sum.<ref>{{cite news |title=Surprise is Franchise |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-big-surprise-is-fr/185118889/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=September 5, 1907 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=II-10 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Regular car service began on January 20, 1908, between Santa Monica Boulevard and the city limits.<ref>{{cite news |title=Steel Way To The North End |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/106446247/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times |date=January 21, 1908 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=II-8 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=News of the Week |url=https://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/ERJ/srj-street-railway-journal/1908-srj-volume-31-no-05-february-01.pdf |access-date=22 November 2025 |magazine=Street Railway Journal |volume=XXXI |issue=5 |publisher=McGraw Publishing Company |date=February 1, 1908 |page=196}}</ref> The company quickly filed deeds to extend the line over the pass further north.<ref>{{cite news |title=Plan Extension to Electric Line |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-plan-extensi/185123007/ |access-date=17 November 2025 |newspaper=Los Angeles Express |date=February 1, 1908 |location=Los Angeles, California |page=16 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

thumb|left|First car to North Hollywood, December 16, 1911 The Pacific Electric streetcar service to Owensmouth (present-day Canoga Park) was part of a real-estate development in Southern California.<ref>{{harvnb|Coscia|2011}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> Nearly the entire southern San Fernando Valley was bought in 1910 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, owned by a syndicate of wealthy Los Angeles investors, developers, and speculators: including Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Moses Sherman, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, and others.<ref name="mulholland">{{harvnb|Mulholland|1987}}{{page needed|date=November 2023}}</ref> It anticipated possible connections to, but was planned independent of, the soon to be completed (1913) Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens River watershed to the City of Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. To help promote sales of the land, General Moses Sherman's Los Angeles Pacific Railroad set off to build a streetcar line across the San Fernando Valley, to serve the three plotted new towns: Van Nuys (1911); Marion (now Reseda); and Owensmouth (now Canoga Park) (1912).<ref name="mulholland" /> At the time, streetcar lines were seen as a necessity to promote development. Alongside it across the Valley westward from Van Nuys was Sherman Way: the "$500,000 paved boulevard"{{efn| equivalent to ${{format price|{{inflation|US|500000|1911}} }} in {{inflation year|US}} adjusted for inflation}} with lush landscaping and no speed limit where one might get up to {{convert|35|mph}}, a separate dirt road for farm wagons/equipment, and telegraph lines.<ref name="mulholland" /> The route originally navigated the Cahuenga Pass in its own right-of-way on the west side of the state highway. Los Angeles Pacific Railroad later sold the line to the Pacific Electric.{{when|date=September 2020}} The line opened to Van Nuys on December 16, 1911, extending to Owensmouth on December 7 the following year.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=40}}<ref>{{cite news |title=Owensmouth's joy great because cars start |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-owensmouths/136020366/ |access-date=30 November 2023 |newspaper=Los Angeles Evening Express |via=Newspapers.com |date=December 7, 1912 |page=6}}</ref>

thumb|Sherman Way in Owensmouth, 1920, with Los Angeles Pacific Railroad lines Nearly all trips were routed into the new Hollywood Subway in 1926.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=42}}{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=77}} When the Hollywood Freeway was built in the 1930s, the line was relocated to the freeway's median strip.<ref name="1981survey">{{Cite web |date=February 1982 |title=1981 Inventory of Pacific Electric Routes |url=http://libraryarchives.metro.net/DPGTL/pacificelectric/1981-caltrans-inventory-of-routes.pdf |access-date=3 June 2020 |publisher=Caltrans}}</ref>

[[File:Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood, Calif (70198).jpg|thumb|Postcard depicting the private right of way in the Hollywood Freeway median strip (right of center frame), {{circa|1940}} ]] Even as the terminal community changed its name from Owensmouth to Canoga Park in 1931, after the Southern Pacific "Canoga" station there,<ref name="mulholland" /> the name of the Pacific Electric line was unchanged as Owensmouth until the demise of through service. Cars were truncated to North Sherman Way on June 1, 1938,<ref>{{cite news |title=Modernized Transportation Service in Valley About June 1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-van-nuys-news-and-valley-green-sheet/136060158/ |access-date=30 November 2023 |newspaper=The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet |via=Newspapers.com |date=April 25, 1938 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Improved Cars Now in Service |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-van-nuys-news-and-valley-green-sheet/136060029/ |access-date=30 November 2023 |newspaper=The Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet |via=Newspapers.com |date=June 2, 1938 |page=1}}</ref>{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=42}} and service was then generally referred to as the '''Van Nuys Line'''. The dedicated local cars along Highland Avenue were discontinued and service was then provided by the interurban runs.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=77}} Unlike other PE lines which saw a decrease in service after World War II, ridership greatly increased in the service's final years.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=42}} and one-man operation was implemented in 1950.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=43}} Services were finally replaced by buses on December 28, 1952.{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=43}} An excursion trip ran the following day before the power was shut off.<ref name="ERHA" />

Most tracks were promptly removed except a few segments used for freight movements. The Hollywood Freeway expanded into the former rail reservation in 1957 which added a lane in each direction.<ref name="ERHA" /> A survey conducted by Caltrans in 1981 reported that almost all of the line had either been removed or paved over for street use.<ref name="1981survey" />

===Modern light rail=== {{main|G Line (Los Angeles Metro)}} In the 2000s a new cross-Valley rapid transit line was built: the Metro Orange Line, a dedicated bus transit-way which uses part of the old Pacific Electric right-of-way (Chandler Boulevard east of Ethel Avenue) and the former Southern Pacific south and west Valley route (from White Oak Avenue to the Chatsworth station). Service commenced in 2005; it was renamed to the G Line in 2020.

Van Nuys Boulevard is planned to be rebuilt for light rail service in 2031 under the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project.

==Route== Leaving Downtown on the same tracks as the Hollywood Line, the line continued along the Sherman Line at Sunset Junction before turning north at Highland Avenue. The line continued on its own private right of way though the Cahuenga Pass, turning up Vineland Avenue through North Hollywood, and onto Chandler Boulevard. Proceeding west along the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch to the curve onto Van Nuys Boulevard, it ran through Van Nuys to a curve (Sherman Circle) off of Van Nuys Boulevard turning west onto Sherman Way to Owensmouth.<ref>{{harvnb|Crump|1977|pp=117–118}}</ref> On Shoup Avenue, named after Pacific Electric president Paul Shoup,<ref name="mulholland" /> the center was used as its end of the line sidings.

===List of major stations=== {{Sticky header}} {| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header-multi" ! class="unsortable"| Station ! class="unsortable"| Mile<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=September 1, 1934 |title=Pacific Electric Time Tables |url=http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/maps/and_timetables/1934-09-01PEsystemPTT.pdf |access-date=September 1, 2021 |website=wx4's Dome of Foam |publisher=Pacific Electric |page=28}}</ref> ! class="unsortable"| Major connections ! class="unsortable"| Service began ! class="unsortable"| Service ended ! class="unsortable"| City/neighborhood |-bgcolor = #{{rcr|Pacific Electric}} |colspan = "6"| |- |-bgcolor=dfdfdf | Canoga Park | 29.10 | | rowspan=2 | December 7, 1912 | rowspan=2 | June 1, 1938 | Owensmouth / Canoga Park |-bgcolor=dfdfdf | Reseda | 24.91 | | |- | North Sherman Way | 19.89 | San Fernando | rowspan= 8 | December 16, 1911 | rowspan= 15 | December 29, 1952 | rowspan=2 | Van Nuys |- | Van Nuys | 19.11 | San Fernando |- | Circle Drive | 17.72 | San Fernando | |- | Kester (Ethel Avenue) | 16.17 | San Fernando | |- | Lankershim {{small|(later North Hollywood)}} | 14.17 | San Fernando | rowspan=1 | North Hollywood |- | Rio Vista | 11.59 | San Fernando | |- | Universal City | 11.10 | San Fernando | |- | Barnham Boulevard | 9.99 | San Fernando | |- | Cahuenga Pass | 8.65 | San Fernando | rowspan=3 | January 20, 1908 | |- | Highland & Hollywood | 7.84 | Hollywood, San Fernando, Venice via Hollywood | rowspan=7 | Los Angeles |- | Highland & Santa Monica | 7.09 | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman |- | Colegrove | | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman | rowspan=3 | December 16, 1911 |- | Virgil Avenue | | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Western and Franklin Avenue |- | Sunset Junction | | Hollywood, San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue |- | Subway Terminal | 0 | Echo Park Avenue, Glendale–Burbank, Hollywood, San Fernando, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, Sawtelle, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate | February 7, 1926{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=42}}{{sfn|Veysey|1958|p=77}} |-bgcolor=dfdfdf | Hill Street Station | | | December 16, 1911 | February 6, 1926 |-bgcolor = #{{rcr|Pacific Electric}} |colspan = "6"| |}

==Rolling stock== Initial interurban service was provided by 800 class cars. Fifteen 700 class units were rebuilt in the late 1930s for improved speeds. The last few years of service saw the line operated by 5050 class cars.<ref name="ERHA" />

==Ridership== {| class="wikitable sortable" |+Passengers (fare and transfer)<ref name="ERHA">{{Cite web |title=San Fernando Valley Line |url=http://erha.org/pewsfv.htm |access-date=8 September 2020 |publisher=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California}}</ref> !Year !Passengers !Car miles (km) !Revenue |- |1913 |align="right"|368,688 |align="right"|{{convert|276,895|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$81,917 |- |1914 |align="right"|487,907 |align="right"|{{convert|378,151|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$115,228 |- |1916 |align="right"|454,942 |align="right"|{{convert|315,820|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$88,879 |- |1918 |align="right"|499,282 |align="right"|{{convert|381,858|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$101,452 |- |1920 |align="right"|815,483 |align="right"|{{convert|394,132|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$191,198 |- |1922 |align="right"|795,906 |align="right"|{{convert|494,037|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$202,058 |- |1924 |align="right"|912,075 |align="right"|{{convert|585,773|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$219,281 |- |1926 |align="right"|1,038,622 |align="right"|{{convert|624,206|mi|abbr=values}} |align="right"|$225,957 |}

==Notes== {{notelist}}

==References== {{reflist}}

===Bibliography=== {{refbegin}} * {{Cite book |last=Coscia |first=David |title=Pacific Electric Railway and the Growth of the San Fernando Valley |date=2011 |publisher=Shade Tree Books |isbn=978-1-57864-735-4}} * {{Cite book |last=Crump |first=Spencer |title=Ride the big red cars: How trolleys helped build southern California |publisher=Trans-Anglo Books |year=1977 |isbn=0-87046-047-1 |oclc=3414090}} * {{Cite book |last=Mulholland |first=Catherine |title=The Owensmouth Baby |date=1987 |publisher=Santa Susana Press (CSUN—California State University, Northridge) |isbn=0-937048-42-9}} * {{Veysey-PE-1958}} {{refend}}

==External links== {{Attached KML |display=title,inline}} *[https://www.raremaps.com/gallery/detail/31837df/untitled-map-of-the-pacific-electric-railway-routes-in-the-pacific-electric-railway Map of the Pacific Electric Railway Routes in the San Fernando Valley (1919)] — via Barry Lawrence Ruderman Antique Maps Inc.

Category:Pacific Electric routes Category:Canoga Park, Los Angeles Category:History of the San Fernando Valley Category:Public transportation in the San Fernando Valley Category:Reseda, Los Angeles Category:West Hills, Los Angeles Category:Winnetka, Los Angeles Category:Railway lines opened in 1908 Category:Railway services discontinued in 1952 Category:1908 establishments in California Category:1952 disestablishments in California Category:Railway lines in highway medians Category:Closed railway lines in the United States