{{short description|Los Angeles streetcar route (1901–1940)}} {{use mdy dates|date=November 2023}} {{Infobox rail line |name = Sawtelle |image = File:Los Angeles Pacific Railroad Map 1909.png |image_width = 300px |color = {{rcr|Pacific Electric|Sawtelle}} |type = Interurban |system = Pacific Electric |locale = Los Angeles |start = Pacific Electric Building |end = Santa Monica, California |stations = 17 |routes = |ridership2 = 2,286,461 (1938)<ref name=ERHA /> |open = 1896 |yearcompleted = 1901 |close = {{end date|1940|11|18}} |owner = Southern Pacific Railroad |operator = Pacific Electric |character = |stock = |linelength_mi = 10.19 |tracklength = |tracks = |old_gauge = narrow gauge |gauge = {{RailGauge|sg|allk=on}} |electrification = {{600 V DC|conductor=overhead}} |speed = |elevation = |map = {{PE W Sawtelle}} }} The '''Sawtelle Line''' was an interurban railway route primarily operated by the Pacific Electric Railway that ran between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California. The line was established by the Pasadena and Pacific Railway between 1896 and 1901, with passenger service running until 1940.

==History== The line was constructed in segments by the Pasadena and Pacific Railway: Beverly Hills to Santa Monica and Santa Monica to Ocean Park in 1896, 4th and Hill Streets, to Beverly Hills in 1897,<ref name=LeavesTown>{{Schwieterman-Leaves-Western|pages=28–29}}</ref> and finally Ocean Park to Venice in 1901. In 1908 the entire line was converted to standard gauge, with service beginning on May&nbsp;1.<ref>{{cite news |title=Falls and breaks arm |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/106452395/ |access-date=28 July 2022 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |via=Newspapers.com |date=2 May 1908 |page=20}} {{free access}}</ref> The line came under control of the Pacific Electric in 1911 under the terms of the Great Merger.

When Pacific Electric took over operations, the service went as far as Venice. Cars ran as far as Playa del Rey between May and August 1916. The line was briefly through routed with the Venice Short Line for three months starting in November 1926, creating a loop service. By February 1927, most trips terminated at Santa Monica, with some cars serving the Ocean Park car house.<ref name=1958History>{{Veysey-PE-1958 |page=82, 118}}</ref> Annual ridership peaked at 2,644,512 trips in 1929.<ref name=ERHA>{{cite web |title=Santa Monica via Sawtelle Line |url=http://erha.org/pewsms.htm |publisher=Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California |accessdate=8 September 2020}}</ref>

Service was virtually discontinued after July&nbsp;7, 1940, as Pacific Electric only ran a single daily car between Vineyard and Beverly Hills to maintain the franchise. Full abandonment occurred on November&nbsp;18, 1940.<ref name=1958History />

Rails along the line had been removed by 1981.

==Route== thumb|350px|left|A streetcar running along Santa Monica Boulevard in Sawtelle prior to Pacific Electric taking over the line, {{circa|1901}} The Sawtelle Line followed the Venice Short Line as far as Vineyard Junction. At Vineyard Junction, the Sawtelle Line branched northwesterly. Inside the Vineyard grounds, dual tracks ramped upon fill to join a massive grade separation structure that carried the tracks over Pico Boulevard and down on to an unimproved private way in the center of the twin roadways of San Vicente Boulevard.

Continuing northwesterly, in the center of San Vicente Boulevard the dual tracks crossed the major intersections of La Brea, Hauser, and Olympic Boulevards, Fairfax Avenue, as well as Wilshire and La Cienega Boulevards. Then they continued one block west of La Cienega to Sherman Junction (at Le Doix Road), where the Sherman cut-off branched north (in the middle of San Vicente Boulevard) to Sherman (West Hollywood). From Sherman Junction, the Sawtelle Line turned west into private way, in the center of the twin roadways of Burton Way. Running west, the dual tracks crossed Robertson Boulevard, Doheny Drive, and some of the downtown Beverly Hills Streets to reach the Beverly Hills Station (located adjacent to Santa Monica Boulevard near Beverly Drive).

At the Beverly Hills Station, the Sawtelle Line joined the Hollywood–Venice Line, and both lines were identical from that location to their common terminus at Woodward Avenue in Venice.

This line was one of four lines between Downtown and Santa Monica that did not run through Hollywood. This was the shortest route to Santa Monica.

===List of major stops=== [[File:Beverly Hills station.jpg|thumb|The first Beverly Hills station, {{circa|1915–1920}}]] thumb|The former Ocean Park car barn {| class="wikitable" ! Station ! Mile<ref name=1958History /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://wx4.org/to/foam/sp/maps/and_timetables/1934-09-01PEsystemPTT.pdf |title=Pacific Electric Time Tables |date=September 1, 1934 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |publisher=Pacific Electric |website=wx4's Dome of Foam |access-date=September 1, 2021 |page=18}}</ref> ! Major connections ! Date opened ! Date closed ! City |-bgcolor = #{{rcr|Pacific Electric}} |colspan = "6"| |- | Hill Street Station | 0 | Echo Park Avenue, Glendale–Burbank, Hollywood, Owensmouth, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, San Fernando, Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate | 1905 | 1955 | rowspan=3 | Los Angeles |- | Vermont Avenue | 2.99 | Venice Short Line, Westgate<br />Los Angeles Railway V |- | Western Avenue | 3.99 | | | |- | Vineyard Junction | 5.56 | Venice Short Line, Westgate<br />Los Angeles Railway P | | 1950 |- | Carthay Center | 7.73 | | | |- | {{stn|Beverly Hills}} | 10.18 | Coldwater Canyon, Hollywood, Venice via Hollywood, Westgate | 1896 | 1954 | Beverly Hills |- | Sawtelle | 13.36 | Venice via Hollywood, Westgate | | |- | West Los Angeles (Purdue Avenue) | 13.45 | Westgate | | | |- | Brentwood Country Club | 15.68 | | | |- | Santa Monica | 17.12 | Venice via Hollywood, Westgate | 1896 | | Santa Monica |- | Ocean Park (Pier Avenue) | 18.49 | Venice via Hollywood, Westgate | 1896 | | |- | Venice (Windward Avenue) | 19.33 | Venice via Hollywood, Venice Short Line, Westgate | 1901 | 1927 | |- | Playa Del Rey | 21.91 | | 1916 | 1916 | |-bgcolor = #{{rcr|Pacific Electric}} |colspan = "6"| |}

==References== {{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. }} {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Attached KML |display=title,inline}}

{{Pacific Electric Railway}}

Category:Pacific Electric routes Category:History of Los Angeles Category:Light rail in California Category:Railway lines opened in 1896 Category:1896 establishments in California Category:Railway lines closed in 1940 Category:1940 disestablishments in California Category:Closed railway lines in the United States