Category Archives: Transportation

July 30: 1907: Runaway Horse Races Down Broadway, Plows Into Hotel Lobby

Posted on July 30, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 30, 1907: A furniture van hits a buggy hitched at Jevne’s grocery, frightening the horse, which runs down Broadway, swerves onto the sidewalk and plunges through a plate glass window of the Hotel Lankershim. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Animals, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged 1907, Animals, horses, Hotel Lankershim | Leave a comment

July 29, 1945: 13 Die When B-25 Hits Empire State Building

Posted on July 29, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 29, 1945: Newspaper coverage of a B-25 bomber hitting the Empire State Building. Continue reading →

Posted in Transportation | 2 Comments

July 28, 1907: L.A. Seeks to Clear Books of Old Laws on Bear Baiting, Quail Hunting by Streetcar Conductors

Posted on July 28, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 28, 1907: Los Angeles seeks to rid itself of outdated laws like hunting rabbits on Spring Street or conductors abandoning their streetcars to go quail hunting at the end of the line. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Animals, City Hall, Crime and Courts, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged 1907, City Hall, crime and courts, hunting, lapd | 1 Comment

July 23, 1907: A Belated Tribute to Heroic Officer

Posted on July 23, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 23, 1907: Police capture a burglar who entered a jewelry store through a skylight. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Books and Authors, LAPD, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged 1907, Broadway, crime and courts, lapd | Leave a comment

July 22, 1947: TV, Jet Engine, Tucker Car on Display at World Inventors Expo

Posted on July 22, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 22, 1947: The Tucker is on display at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium as part of an inventors’ exposition. Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Architecture, Transportation | Tagged 1947, Pan-Pacific Auditorium, Tucker | Leave a comment

July 19, 1907: Covina Celebrates Launch of Streetcar Service

Posted on July 19, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 19, 1907: Covina celebrates the opening of a Pacific Electric streetcar line to Los Angeles with a free community picnic, including a gigantic coffeepot and a 300-gallon bean pot. Militant Angeleno would have been there! Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, 1947, Black Dahlia, Streetcars, Transportation | Leave a comment

July 8, 1908: Woman’s Body Rescued From USC Dissection Lab

Posted on July 8, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 8, 1908: Marion Jones died owing $29.45 in doctor bills (more than $1,000 in 2026 dollars), so her body was sent to the USC dissection lab. Continue reading →

Posted in 1908, Front Pages, health, Science, Transportation | Tagged #USC, 1908, education, healthcare, hospital costs, hospitals, medical school | Comments Off

July 7, 1947: 4,000 Bikers in ‘Gypsy Tour’ Wreak Havoc in Hollister

Posted on July 7, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 7, 1947: Hollister, California, cleans up after the Highway Patrol chases thousands of motorcyclists out of town. The occasion was a “gypsy tour” of the American Motorcycle Association. The incident inspired the Marlon Brando movie “The Wild One.” Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Crime and Courts, Transportation | Tagged 'The Wild One', 1947, crime and courts, transportation | Comments Off

July 2, 1908: Life ‘A Living Hell,’ Wife Flees Husband

Posted on July 2, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 2, 1908: Walter F.W. Stock says his wife, Fannie, was lured away from home during a motoring trip with “a prepossessing young Mexican in his employ. The next day, however, Fannie says her life is a living hell: Married at 16, giving birth to seven children in seven years. Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, 1908, Front Pages, Transportation | Tagged 1908, divorce, families, Marriage, women's studies | Comments Off

July 1, 1907: What Was the Gas Mileage of the Horseless Carriage?

Posted on July 1, 2026 by lmharnisch

July 1, 1907: Ever wonder what the gas mileage was for a horseless carriage? One of the best was a Pope-Hartford that got 21.76 mpg. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Streetcars, Transportation | Tagged #cars, 1907, automobiles, transportation | Comments Off

June 26, 1947: Helicopter Hovers Over Clipper Ship

Posted on June 26, 2026 by lmharnisch

June 26, 1947: A new helicopter, nicknamed “the flying eggbeater” or “the whirlybird,” carrying passengers around Long Beach Harbor, overs over the Pacific Queen, built in 1886, Continue reading →

Posted in 1947, Aviation, Transportation | Tagged 1947, Aviation, helicopters, Pacific Queen, transportation | Comments Off

June 17, 1908: Los Angeles’ First Taxi

Posted on June 17, 2026 by lmharnisch

June 17, 1908: The first taxicab arrives in Los Angeles. The fare from a hotel to a theater is 30 cents. From Third and Spring to the railroad stations is 50 cents. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, Downtown, Front Pages, Transportation | Tagged #Mass transit, 1908, 1909, Streetcars, taxicabs, taxis | Comments Off

May 29, 1908: Concert Pianist Put on Chain Gang in Crackdown on Gays

Posted on May 29, 2026 by lmharnisch

May 28, 1908: Concert pianist Peje Storck is put on chain gang after being arrested in a room full of men, pleading guilty to a reduced charge of “vagrancy.” Continue reading →

Posted in #courts, #gays and lesbians, 1908, classical music, LAPD, Transportation | Tagged #courts, 1908, classical music, gays, transportation, vice | Comments Off

May 14, 1909: Man Swallows Carbolic Acid on Streetcar, Battles Conductor Before Dying

Posted on May 14, 2026 by lmharnisch

May 14, 1909: A man swallows carbolic acid on a streetcar, smashes windows and battles the conductor and motorman before dying. Continue reading →

Posted in 1909, Front Pages, LAPD, Suicide, Transportation | Tagged 1909, rape, Streetcars, Suicide | Comments Off

May 13, 1908: Work to Begin on Streetcar Tunnel to Ease Traffic

Posted on May 13, 2026 by lmharnisch

May 13, 1908: Work will begin on a Hill Street tunnel for streetcars in an attempt to ease traffic congestion, showing that traffic problems in Los Angeles are more than a century old. Continue reading →

Posted in 1908, Streetcars, Transportation, Uncategorized | Tagged 1908, downtown, Streetcars, transportation | Comments Off

May 12, 1907: History Deals a Deadly Hand

Posted on May 12, 2026 by lmharnisch

May 12, 1907: A train wreck north of Point Conception kills more than 30 people heading home from the Shriners convention in Los Angeles. Continue reading →

Posted in 1907, African Americans, Transportation | Tagged #trains, 1907, Shriners, train wrecks, transportation | Comments Off

Union Station Opens in Los Angeles, May 1939

Posted on May 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

May 1939: Los Angeles didn’t get a Union Station without a fight. First proposed in 1907, a unified depot was bitterly opposed by the railroads for decades. Continue reading →

Posted in 1939, Downtown, Nuestro Pueblo, Transportation | Tagged #Chinatown, #Union Station, 1939, downtown, railroads, transportation | Comments Off

May 5, 1939: Union Station Opens

Posted on May 5, 2026 by lmharnisch

A look back at the history of Union Station, including the railroads’ opposition to sharing a depot. Continue reading →

Posted in 1939, Architecture, Transportation | Comments Off

April 30, 1939: Los Angeles Prepares for Opening of Union Station

Posted on April 30, 2026 by lmharnisch

April 30, 1939: Los Angeles prepares for the opening of Union Station. Continue reading →

Posted in 1939, Comics, Countdown to Watts, Downtown, Music, Transportation | Comments Off

April 20, 1959: It’s a Woman’s World — Auto Mechanic

Posted on April 20, 2026 by lmharnisch

April 20, 1959: Meet Mrs. Roy Harper, a trained auto mechanic who helps run her husband’s auto garage, where she is apparently a service writer and specializes in carburetors. But the Los Angeles Times assures readers that she’s still ladylike and prefers “high heels and chic clothes” to dirty coveralls and tools in the hip pockets. Continue reading →

Posted in 1959, Freeways, Transportation | Comments Off