Title: Hidden history of transportation in Los Angeles /
Authors: Hobbs, Charles P.
Publisher: History Press,
Year: 2014
Subjects: Transportation California Los Angeles History.; Local transit California Los Angeles History.; Urban transportation policy California Los Angeles History.; Transportation and state California Los Angeles History.
Abstract: "Los Angeles transportation's epic scale--its iconic freeways, Union Station, Los Angeles International Airport and the giant ports of its shores--has obscured many offbeat transit stories of moxie and eccentricity. Triumphs such as the Vincent Thomas Bridge and Mac Barnes's Ground Link buspool have existed alongside such flops as the Santa Monica Freeway Diamond Lane and the Oxnard-Los Angeles CalTrain commuter rail. The City of Angels lacks a propeller-driven monorail and a freeway in the paved bed of the Los Angeles River, but not for a lack of public promoters. Horace Dobbins built the elevated California Cycleway in Pasadena, and Mike Kadletz deployed the Pink Buses for Orange County kids hitchhiking to the beach. Join Charles P. Hobbs as he recalls these and other lost episodes of LA-area transportation lore."--Back cover.
Contents: 1. The foot that moves the pedal : Horace M. Dobbin's California Cycleway -- 2. "It'll put the Pacific Electric Railroad in a museum!" -- 3. From nickel-seekers to smart shuttles : the jitney in Southern California -- 4. "A millionaire twice" : O.R. Fuller's motor transit -- 5. The way to Terminal Island : the San Pedro Harbor Ferry and the Vincent Thomas Bridge -- 6. Brunner, Rindge, Hoyme and Hendler : transportation pioneers of the Malibu -- 7. Buses run in this family : the Carsons -- 8. The school bus scandal : the Landiers -- 9. Helicopters over traffic : Clarence Belinn's Los Angeles airways -- 10. "Watts will have its bus party!" : Dr. Thomas W. Matthew's Blue and White Bus -- 11. Groovy buses to the beach : the Kadletz Brothers and the Pink Bus Line -- 12. Diamonds are forever : Adriana Gianturco and the Diamond Lane -- 13. The future is an abandoned tunnel : the Los Angeles Downtown People Mover -- 14. Moving toward Metrolink : the Oxnard-Los Angeles CalTrain -- 15. Jump in the buspool : Mac Barne's Ground Link -- 16. A freeway runs through it : driving on the Los Angeles River.