Street Cars & Buses: Detailed Map of L.A.'s 1928 Transit System

Screengrab of 1928 Los Angeles transit map

Historical transportation maps of Los Angeles are always intriguing to study, even if they cause eyes to cross and vision to blur. A high resolution scan from the David Rumsey Map Collection reveals intricate details of L.A.'s 1928 transit system pre-freeways.

As The Source points out, the maps most interesting feature is the bus lines, marked with green dots, "that have served many of the same corridors for nearly a hundred years."

For instance, check out the Pacific Electric “P.E. Bus” that ran down Pico Boulevard from the Santa Monica beach to Rimpau Terminal. To this day, Big Blue Bus serves nearly the exact same route with its Route 7 bus. Or check out the “Beverly Bus” which followed largely the same path as the Metro 2 bus [PDF] today.

While transit lines with rails are usually considered "permanent," this map shows that perhaps L.A.'s bus lines are continual, too.

In fact, while the trolly from downtown to Rimpau Terminal is long gone, the bus from Rimpau to the beach still cruises along down Pico — just as it did when Herbert Hoover was president.

The article also cleverly notes that the "most important permanent feature" was not the rails in the ground but the market for travel along those bustling routes. "After all, some of the most iconic buses in the region are often referred to colloquially by the route they travel rather than their designated number, i.e. the “Wilshire Rapid” versus the 720 or the “Venice Rapid” instead of the 733."

Check out the map here. Anything catch your eyes?