It's true: 8,400 people a day are expected to make use of the Downtown Streetcar. Also true: We used an older map of a proposed route in our story. Zoinks! Recently a new set of proposed routes--seven, to be precise--were published by Metro. And here are those maps. more ›

It's a good question, considering the proposed Los Angeles Downtown Streetcar is (slowly) on its way to becoming a reality. A recent study has determined that opening month ridership for the public transit project will be between 6,610 and 8,390 riders daily, and those numbers have local leaders supporting the streetcar very encouraged. more ›

The City of Los Angeles hopes to return streetcar service to downtown L.A via the Restoration of Historic Streetcar Service project. A 1906 map portraying the L.A. rail transit system map was recently released, showcasing how Angelenos once traversed the sprawl. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is hosting a meeting on Tuesday, August 2, to discuss the project's study process. more ›

The long-awaited Downtown Streetcar project is one step closer to reality thanks to Friday's City Council vote to approve funding for the transit endeavor, according to ABC7. Backed by AEG, who have their finger implanted mightily in the pie that is urban Los Angeles, the system would "serve a four-mile area including Bunker Hill, the Music Center, historic Broadway, L.A. Live and the L.A. Convention Center." more ›

A fundraising event held at L.A. Live brought in $200,000 for the non-profit group who is working to get a streetcar system implemented in Downtown, reports the Downtown News. The money will be used to help fund administrative costs for the group. more ›

53 transit projects around the country have been selected to receive federal money, the Federal Transit Administration announced today. Four projects in California, including one in Orange County, were chosen, but the one within Los Angeles was not. more ›

This morning about 100 volunteers and city workers are taking part in a 4-hour community clean-up on Broadway between 2nd Street and Olympic Blvd. The effort is backed by Councilman Jose Huizar as part of his Bringing Back Broadway initiative, which focuses on revitalizing Downtown's Historic Broadway Core. more ›

Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc., the non-profit charged with bringing revitalized downtown a streetcar by 2014, has taken ad space to bring attention to the project. Ads went up this week, finds Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. "See what happens when Downtown connects," the theme states, suggesting local uses like dinner at L.A. Live followed by a show at Walt Disney Concert Hall. "The success of the Downtown Los Angeles Streetcar project depends on widespread support from community stakeholders, business leaders, property owners, and the public at large," noted a report last month. No official route has been chosen for the project yet, but possible routes do connect Bunker Hill with L.A. Live mainly via Broadway. more ›

It's been a topic for some time now. The Warner Center in the West Valley is one place that could use a local circulator, perhaps a "people mover," some believe. Three years ago, 300 residents came out to work towards an integrated transportation network for the Woodland Hills neighborhood and now, with state money available via grants, Los Angeles wants in. more ›

The non-profit charged with bringing Los Angeles' revitalized downtown its first streetcar by 2014 released a short and simple one-year progress report today. more ›

Today the Eastsider L.A. takes us back on the tracks of local history and shares a bit of the story behind The Descanso, "a 101-year-old Los Angeles street car built to transport mourners as well as the deceased to burial services." Now residing at the Orange Empire Railway Museum, "it is the only remaining funeral streetcar still on its own trucks known to exist in the U.S." notes the Pacific Railroad Society. From 1909 to 1940 the streetcar could be chartered; "Los Angeles Railway provided this service to Inglewood Park, Rosedale, and Evergreen Cemeteries and to those on Whittier Blvd. in East Los Angeles." The Eastsider L.A. has a photo of the Descanso as it looks today--check it out. more ›

Plans for a streetcar in downtown Los Angeles are moving along. The nonprofit charged with the project earlier this month applied for $25 million from a federal "urban circulator" grant. That course of action prompted the Metro board yesterday to take charge and become the lead agency for the environmental review, a document needed in order to proceed with the project. more ›

The good news is that the city and non profit charged with bringing downtown a street car scored $250,000 in federal money, reports blogdowntown. That's a... step, but they need up to $100 million to make the line a reality. Next up is possibly applying for $25 million in a $280 million grant fund for "urban circulator" projects. more ›

This week, the Metro Transportation Library debuted an impressive set of historical maps depicting transit lines and proposals for routes and systems. Among the multiple versions of our current subway system and systems long come and gone is a proposed monorail from 1960, the transit vision for LA in 1974, the map produced based on the Kelker-Deleuw study of 1925 (when the city's first subway was built), and a map from the time when the Red Line was called the Orange Line. more ›

Plans for a streetcar in downtown moved ahead today when conceptual routes were released by Los Angeles Streetcar, Inc. (LASI), the nonprofit charged with giving Los Angeles a streetcar by 2014. The routes all serve three distinct areas. more ›

With $5 million already committed by the city, Councilman and streetcar proponent Jose Huizar has found another $1 million to help lay the foundation for a downtown streetcar operating a 3.4 mile route in what he hopes is by 2014. After finding out that the Upper 2nd Street project was completed $1 million under budget, reports Eric Richardson of blogdownown, Huizar wants to slide that money over to the streetcar, which is estimated to cost $90 million in total with up to 50% of the project's funds coming from the private sector. It's a small step, but every dollars counts on this one. more ›

As expected, the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles voted to give $5 million towards a 3.4 mile downtown streetcar route. But there is still a long way to go as the project is expected to cost $90 million with up to half of the funding possibly coming from the private sector. Earlier this week, LA City Councilman Jose Huizar said that he intends on riding the streetcar in 2014. more ›

Funding for the proposed 3.4-mile downtown streetcar could get a step up on Thursday when the Community Redevelopment Agency is scheduled to vote on giving the project $5 million. The whole project is estimated to cost $90 million with "30% - 50% of that total.. expected to come from the private sector via an assessment on surrounding property owners," reports Eric Richardson at blogdowntown. Other funding could come from Metro and the federal government. more ›

Skipping the bureaucracies of Metro and the city's own Department of Transportation, a coalition of downtown stakeholders, including government officials, voted last week to create a nonprofit to build a 3-mile streetcar line that would travel mostly along Broadway from LA Live to the some-day Grand Avenue Project. more ›

It's 11:45 a.m. and City Council is in session getting ready to vote on an item supporting Metro's proposed half-cent sales tax for transportation projects. Their vote would also tell Metro which projects are priorities for the city, including the possibility of a downtown streetcar and getting the Green Line to actually hit LAX. more ›

Think LA's relationship with underground rail transit began with the first tunnels blasted out to make way for the Red Line? Think again! LA's first subterranean transit system was a short stretch of tunneling dubbed the "Hollywood Subway," which moved its first passengers under the city in 1925 via electric interurban rail cars. more ›

As mentioned yesterday, Eric Richardson of blogdowntown is visiting Portland on a delegation to study the city's public transit, namely the streetcar system. One of the biggest concerns is construction -- the time it takes and how it affects traffic, both auto and pedestrian. One of the biggest opponents was Mike Powell, of Powell's Books fame. But after the construction came and went, he became a fan. more ›

more ›

View Larger Map Ventura Blvd. is well served by three bus lines, the 750, 150 and 240. During the day on a weekday, you can pretty much walk to a stop and find a bus coming. To the north of the Valley's famous boulevard is the Orange Line, which during the same times of day seems to run every few seconds (it's only at 12 a.m. am I waiting longer than 10 minutes). Sandwiched between... more ›

Now that the NoHo Arts District is up and coming, packed with 20 or so live theatres, new condos, new apartments, a new grocery store, a soon-to-be movie theatre and more, all running up, down and around Lankershim Blvd., is it time to talk about the NoHo Streetcar? One that would run from the junction of the Orange and Red Lines. One that would run down to Lankershim, maybe passed the intersection of hell, aka... more ›

I don't care if the Golden Gate Bridge gets all of the attention. It's actually an orange vermillion anyways, as folk-rocker David Dondero reminds us. I have much love for the Oakland Bay Bridge, with its geometric patterns, sweeping lines and panoramic view of the city. By the way, they will be closing the bridge down for the long weekend, so beware. Cyberspace has given me the virtual ability to drag the entire world down... more ›

- You don't have to be in snow to say "mush." Try urban mushing in Costa Mesa. - "Cardinal Roger M. Mahony today apologized to victims of sexual abuse by priests in the Los Angeles Archdiocese." - Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa skips his monthly appearance on KABC-TV's Eyewitness Newsmakers because of personal questions. - By the 1930s, the Los Angeles streetcar system had nearly 600 miles of track and used more than 1,200 cars. Downtown... more ›