My friend and co-author Wes received from his Father In Law Don Bilyeu BHS class of 1945, a slide series by Ira Swett in which a photographic trip of the red car from Los Angeles on Broadway to Orange Grove and Glenoaks in Burbank from 1955.
The slides are very clear and give us an idea what it was like to take a trip to and from L.A. back then via electric trolley.
The Red Car stopped service in 1956 but it is an Idea whose time has come around again. On Glenoaks the Green median from Providencia through Glendale is a reminder of this once great transportation system and how it helped shape the cities we have today.
Let’s look at the Burbank slides and how the same places look today.
You may follow the rest of the Journey to Downtown Los Angeles here https://photos.google.com/
Coming in November of 2017….
NOW AVAILABLE!!
Get your Copy of Lost Burbank Now!
Slowly fading with the city’s ever-changing landscape, the places and people of Burbank’s past tell a vibrant story. Before the arrival of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney, First National Pictures built its original studio lot on Olive Ave in 1926. For over sixty years, Lockheed Aircraft Company produced some of the nation’s best airplanes where the massive Empire Shopping Center now stands. Heavyweight champion James Jeffries turned his Burbank ranch home and barn into a beloved landmark and boxing venue. Inventor Joseph Wesley Fawkes’s scheme to build a monorail to Los Angeles became a local laughingstock. Diehard Burbankers Wes Clark and Michael Mc Daniel collect these and many more forgotten local stories where they can finally be found.
