The Watts Line was a local line of the

Pacific Electric Railway The Pacific Electric Railway Company, nicknamed the Red Cars, was a privately owned mass transit system in Southern California consisting of electrically powered streetcars, interurban cars, and buses and was the largest electric railway system ...

that operated between the Pacific Electric Building in Downtown Los Angeles and the Watts Station at 103rd Street in Watts. It was the primary local service for the Southern District, which also included the

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporated ...

, San Pedro, Santa Ana and Whittier

interurban The Interurban (or radial railway in Europe and Canada) is a type of electric railway, with streetcar-like electric self-propelled rail cars which run within and between cities or towns. They were very prevalent in North America between 1900 ...

lines. The route operated along the Southern Division's Four Tracks route, with the Watts Line using the outer tracks and the Long Beach line and other limited stop lines using the inner tracks.

History

The local service operated between 1904 and November 2, 1959. The line was quadruple-tracked in 1907. During the 1910s, its service was combined with the South Pasadena Line of the Northern District. From 1938 to 1950, the line was combined with the

Sierra Vista Line The Sierra Vista Line was a streetcar route mostly operated by the Pacific Electric Railway. It ran from 1895 to 1951 as the short turn making local stops along the Pasadena Short Line on the outside tracks of the Northern Division quadrupl ...

, which was the main local line in the Northern District. Streetcars were removed and replaced with a parallel bus service on November 2, 1959. Tracks north of Washington Boulevard were removed or paved over (except a short

spur track A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

) after PE service ended. In the late 1980s, the right of way was rehabilitated with one or two tracks used for freight rail (with

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histo ...

removed) and two tracks rebuilt to modern light rail specifications. Service along the line between Washington Boulevard and 103rd Street recommenced in 1990 as the Los Angeles Metro Blue Line (renamed the A Line in 2019), with stations at Washington Boulevard,

Vernon Avenue Vernon may refer to: Places Australia *Vernon County, New South Wales Canada *Vernon, British Columbia, a city * Vernon, Ontario France * Vernon, Ardèche * Vernon, Eure United States * Vernon, Alabama * Vernon, Arizona * Vernon, California ...

Slauson Avenue Slauson Avenue is a major east–west thoroughfare traversing the central part of Los Angeles County, California. It was named for the land developer and Los Angeles Board of Education member J. S. Slauson. It passes through Culver City, L ...

, Florence Avenue,

Firestone Boulevard Firestone may refer to: *Flint or firestone *Firestone (surname) Places *Firestone District, Margibi County, Liberia *Firestone (Phoenix, Arizona), a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in Phoenix, Arizona, US *Firestone, Colorado ...

, and 103rd Street.

Stops and stations

The following were stops and stations along the Watts line: * Pacific Electric Building (6th & Main) * 7th & Main * 8th & Main * 9th & Main * 9th & Los Angeles * 9th & Maple * STOP (9th between Wall & San Julian Street) * 9th & San Pedro Street * STOP (9th between Crocker & Towne) * 9th & Stanford * 9th & Kohler * 9th & Central Avenue * 9th & Birch * 9th & Hooper (begin Four Tracks) * 14th Street * 16th Street *

Washington Blvd Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centere ...

* 20th Street * 22nd Street * Amoco Junction – interchange with Air Line * Adams Boulevard * 32nd Street * Jefferson Boulevard (now @ MLK Jr. Blvd) * 38th Street * 40th Street *

* 47th Street * 48th Place * 50th Place * 52nd Street * 55th Street *

Slauson Junction Slauson station is an elevated light rail station on the A Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. The station is located within the historic right-of-way of the Pacific Electric Railway and elevated over the intersection of Slauson Avenue ...

– interchange with Whittier * Fleming (62nd Street) * Spaulding (Gage Avenue) * Merrill Avenue (66th Street) * 68th Street * Florencita Park (70th Street) * Florence Avenue * Ionia (76th Street) * Nadeau * Woodside (81st) * Edgewood Park (83rd Street) * Graham * Kent (88th) * Latin (92nd) * Elcoat (97th) * Watts (103rd)

References

External links

Pacific Electric routes 1904 establishments in California Railway services introduced in 1904 Railway services discontinued in 1958 1958 disestablishments in California Closed railway lines in the United States {{California-transport-stub