I was watching “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” recently and was always impressed on how the film makers were able to capture a fairly authentic 1940’s Los Angeles feel. Older sections of Los Angeles proper still retain its original early 1900’s character, yet as time marches on they are slowly disappearing.
L.A.’s history of ever-changing landscapes is also a permeating theme in this movie, as an integral part of the Roger Rabbit plot revolved around the villain Judge Doom orchestrating the complete dismantling of the trolley lines through a buyout by a freeway construction company. Toontown would have been the next community to bulldoze through in the wake of the incoming freeway network looming on Los Angeles’ horizon.
The “GM Conspiracy”, as it is popularly known, involves General Motors, Firestone and several other automobile related companies conspiring to supply buses to public transit systems while at the same time buying out their lines under another company (also controlled by GM).
Sounds familiar, right?
Well, what really happened isn’t as exciting as pop culture makes it out to be. While trolley and train transit had persisted well into the 1950’s, transit companies like Pacific Electric were operating at losses annually since their inception in the late 1890’s. By the 1940’s, the increase in automobile traffic which the trolley shared on surface streets caused rail service to slow down to a crawl, and eventually made the average rider turn towards the automobile as the preferred form of transit. The last passenger line from Los Angeles to Long Beach ceased operations on April 9th, 1961.
Having lived in both Los Angeles and Orange counties for a number of years, I’ve been able to witness the ever-evolving urban landscape slowly erase sections little pieces of history. However, if you look closely enough, you can still find an imprint here and there. Remnants of the once extensive network still remain, whether through roads using the former right-of-way, stations and buildings fenced away to be reclaimed by nature, or resurrected by being re-commissioned as a new modern line.
Here are a few interesting points on the Pacific Electric map featured in the film, with Streetview links!
This is very cool. I would never have guessed this movie was rooted so much in place!