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A Snowy Egret inspects the ancient trolley trestle remains. Photo (c) 2010 Richard Beban
D. J. “Duke” Dukesherer is a local writer and official historian of the Ballona Blog. He is the author of Beach of the King, The Early History of Playa Del Rey, Westchester, Playa Vista, CA, and ‘Round the Clump of Willows.
One of the signature landmarks of the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve saltwater marsh is the viewing platform created by an Eagle Scout as his community service project in the mid-1990s. The viewing platform affords not just a view of the birds and wildlife in the marsh, but it sits on an old trolley car berm, and the old, deteriorating trolley trestle pilings are always a source of visitors’ questions about Ballona’s history.
People are often surprised to find out how urbanized this now-open space has been over the years, and to realize that the eventual restoration of the wetlands will mean even more machinery (even bulldozers temporarily) to bring it back to health. And will the old berms play any part in the restored marsh?
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Friends Board Member Mike Swimmer paddles past a decaying trestle during a Friends clean-up day. Photo (c) 2008 Lisa Fimiani
Who can say? We do know that electric trolleys first traveled in Los Angeles in 1887.
The Pasadena and Pacific Railway was an 1895 merger between the Pasadena and Los Angeles Railway and the Los Angeles Pacific Railway (to Santa Monica). The Pasadena and Pacific boosted Southern California tourism by living up to its motto “from the mountains to the sea.”
And the “sea” in those days spelled Playa del Rey.
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1908 Postcard of PdR Pier Trolley Station. Photo courtesy Duke's collection
After many mergers, the area would be serviced by the famous Pacific Electric “Red Cars.”
At what is now the intersection of Vista Del Mar, Culver Boulevard and South Vista Del Mar Lane, sits one of the most historic buildings in the area; the former headquarters of Fritz Burns at Dickinson and Gillespie Real Estate. Recently, this building, 200 Culver, achieved historic landmark status.
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Red Car Station, circa 1920's. Photo courtesy Duke.
Directly across Culver Boulevard from #200 (the site of Tanner’s) is the Matilla Center’s parking lot, which was the location of the Los Angeles Pacific Electric Playa Del Rey Station.
Today, Culver Boulevard, not-so-affectionately known by many residents as The Manhattan Beach Freeway, is inundated daily by thousands of commuters who use the route through the town, despite the fact that Imperial, the 105 Freeway, and Westchester Parkway were designed specifically for this use.
Who knows, maybe someday, in a “Back to the Future” move, we’ll see trolley cars return to Culver Boulevard as a solution to Playa del Rey’s morning and evening traffic problems. Then again, if we brought back trolleys, where would we put the wetlands?
