Report and Recommendations on a Comprehensive Rapid Transit Plan for the City and County of Los Angeles

Book Description

Kelker, De Leuw & Co., Chicago, 1925. Very good: paper separation along front hinge. 11 x 8 1/2 inches, [xvi], 202 pages, gold-stamped green cloth, The first "Grand Design" for Los Angeles public transportation. The report recommends an extensive, costly ($320 million) series of improvements and new construction that could ultimately accomodate the transit needs of a population of 3,000,000 residents. Kelker, De Leuw & Co. propose a core of rapid transit lines consisting in part of upgraded existent red car lines, augmented by feeder lines operating on aboveground track. The idea of elevated tracks in Los Angeles was not a popular one, and the Times editorialized against the prospect of noisy, ugly "El's" rumbling above the streets of downtown. Amidst political wrangling over the site of the union passenger terminal an advisory referendum was put out, and the result, rejecting a proposed site that involved a system of elevated trackage, effectively eliminated the possibility of elevated rail in Los Angeles. The city council refused to accept the Comprehensive Plan and the proposal never reached the voters. The Report is profusely illustrated with graphs, charts and photographs and includes 24 folding maps and charts, following the text.

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