M refers to several
streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
routes in
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. The lines were operated by the
Los Angeles Railway
The Los Angeles Railway (also known as Yellow Cars, LARy and later Los Angeles Transit Lines) was a system of streetcars that operated in Central Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods between 1895 and 1963. The system provided frequent loc ...
from 1917 to 1941.
History
The Homeward Avenue Line ran on Moneta Avenue and Athens Way. It began as a new routing of two former services in 1917. With the 1920 restructuring of routes, the line became a leg of the Grand & Moneta line. The new service ran from Crenshaw Avenue and West 54th Street via a circuitous route through
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...
to Moneta Avenue and West 54th Street where the lines split to two branches. One went west to 2nd Avenue, creating a
loop route
In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the In ...
, and another continuing further south on Moneta via the Homewood Avenue branch's former terminal at Manchester. The line was given the letter designation M in 1921. M service absorbed the South Broadway Shuttle in 1924 and was extended south to Athens and 116th. Two new branches were similarly created from remnants of older routes a few months later: one in the west to Vernon and Arlington and an extension on Santa Barbara Avenue. In May 1931, tracks on 48th Street were extended to Crenshaw Avenue. The route was split into multiple segments the following year, with portions becoming new routings of the
7,
8,
9, and
10.
Rolling Stock
Starting in November 1921, Type H cars served the line. Initially developed for the
E Line, these were the first all-steel cars built for the company.
Mateo Street Shuttle
The 36 was a segment of the La Salle Street and Mateo Street Line until 1920 when major rerouting took place. Shuttle service operated on Mateo Avenue and Santa Fe Street between 1st and 7th, running past the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway station. The line was numbered 11 by 1932.
[ ] The route number was changed to the letter M on May 19, 1939. Streetcar service ended on October 4, 1941.
Sources
External links
M Line Archives— Pacific Electric Railway Historical Society
*
Los Angeles Railway routes
Railway services introduced in 1920
1920 establishments in California
Railway services discontinued in 1932
1932 disestablishments in California
Railway services discontinued in 1941
1941 disestablishments in California
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