Quote:
Originally Posted by Those Who Squirm
I'm almost certain there was never any kind of public transit through the canyon. I see what looks like a spur on a 1912 PE system map, but from remembering that the main line of tracks through the area ran along Santa Monica Boulevard, this spur must have run up only to about where Sunset and Beverly Drive meet today. There wouldn't have been enough people living in Coldwater or the Valley to justify a rail line when PE was still building them.
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I can't offer much personal knowledge about the contours or what may have run where. I agree that the need for public or mass transit probably never existed in the Hills of Beverly. Ridership was probably the single most important concern; however, maintaining easements and rites-of-way can have their own rewards. Looking at the same map, there probably were plenty of seats available on trips toward Sylmar until WW2. As far as unsupported rumors though, I have heard a few concerning scaled down personal railroads in the area, similar to those popularized by Walt Disney and Travel Town.
Actress-singer Ginny Simms might have had a good feel for the older shots of Coldwater. Ginny apparently had a local TV show on Channel 11, but it was well before my time. This is her in her Coldwater Canyon residence in '41.
http://catalog.library.ca.gov/exlibr...4P8DJTKQJ8.jpg
1938 - Coldwater Panorama
For those with difficulty viewing:
http://hdl.huntington.org/cdm/single.../id/4371/rec/1
1952 - Coldwater Canyon. An unsuccessful attempt to prove Einstein's theory of relativity or the first claim of "unintended-acceleration"? Or maybe the driver was inattentive while trying to tune in to a Billy Sunday sermon? Whatever the cause
this looks bad.
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...id/42230/rec/9
Maybe someone can work some magic with this copy of a 1927 LA Suburbia map>
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/co...d/70239/rec/34
