Owensmouth Line
The Owensmouth Line was a Pacific Electric interurban service that connected the San Fernando Valley to Downtown Los Angeles. The route was largely developed as the result of real estate speculation along with the San Fernando Line which continued further north. Cars ran from Los Angeles and Hollywood through the Cahuenga Pass to the Valley in a private reservation, even after the Hollywood Freeway was built through the area. The line also utilized a portion of the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch. Service was truncated to Sherman Way in 1938, and cars were then referred to as the Van Nuys Line. All rail service ended December 29, 1952.
History
The Ocean View Tract Company laid out Highland Avenue with a central reservation for future trolley use. Residents along the street had wanted improvements made to the road, but this strip had been an impediment on their plans. On November 21, 1906, the Los Angeles-Pacific Railway sent out a construction to build north of Prospect in the trolley reservation. About two blocks had been plowed up when Hollywood's Street Superintendent, acting under instructions from the City Attorney, arrived with a police officer and ordered the work stopped. The foreman ordered his men to go ahead and the entire outfit was placed under arrest, and later released in bonds of $100 each. The land in the center of Highland had never been deeded to the city, and the route had been used as a normal thoroughfare since being platted which, as the city claimed, precluded the railway from having title to build a line. Residents appealed to the city to offer a franchise on the road for a street railway, and LA-P purchased the rights the following September for $1000, a surprising sum. Regular car service began on January 20, 1908 between Santa Monica Boulevard and the city limits. The company quickly filed deeds to extend the line over the pass further north.The Pacific Electric streetcar service to Owensmouth was part of a real-estate development in Southern California. Nearly the entire southern San Fernando Valley was bought in 1910 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Company, owned by a syndicate of wealthy Los Angeles investors, developers, and speculators: including Harrison Gray Otis, Harry Chandler, Moses Sherman, Hobart Johnstone Whitley, and others. It anticipated possible connections to, but was planned independent of, the soon to be completed Los Angeles Aqueduct from the Owens River watershed to the City of Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County. To help promote sales of the land, General Moses Sherman's Los Angeles Pacific Railroad set off to build a streetcar line across the San Fernando Valley, to serve the three plotted new towns: Van Nuys ; Marion ; and Owensmouth . At the time, streetcar lines were seen as a necessity to promote development. Alongside it across the Valley westward from Van Nuys was Sherman Way: the "$500,000 paved boulevard" with lush landscaping and no speed limit where one might get up to, a separate dirt road for farm wagons/equipment, and telegraph lines. The route originally navigated the Cahuenga Pass in its own right-of-way on the west side of the state highway. Los Angeles Pacific Railroad later sold the line to the Pacific Electric. The line opened to Van Nuys on December 16, 1911, extending to Owensmouth on December 7 the following year.
Nearly all trips were routed into the new Hollywood Subway in 1926. When the Hollywood Freeway was built in the 1930s, the line was relocated to the freeway's median strip.
File:Cahuenga Pass, Hollywood, Calif.jpg|thumb|Postcard depicting the private right of way in the Hollywood Freeway median strip,
Even as the terminal community changed its name from Owensmouth to Canoga Park in 1931, after the Southern Pacific "Canoga" station there, the name of the Pacific Electric line was unchanged as Owensmouth until the demise of through service. Cars were truncated to North Sherman Way on June 1, 1938, and service was then generally referred to as the Van Nuys Line. The dedicated local cars along Highland Avenue were discontinued and service was then provided by the interurban runs. Unlike other PE lines which saw a decrease in service after World War II, ridership greatly increased in the service's final years. and one-man operation was implemented in 1950. Services were finally replaced by buses on December 28, 1952. An excursion trip ran the following day before the power was shut off.
Most tracks were promptly removed except a few segments used for freight movements. The Hollywood Freeway expanded into the former rail reservation in 1957 which added a lane in each direction. A survey conducted by Caltrans in 1981 reported that almost all of the line had either been removed or paved over for street use.
Modern light rail
In the 2000s a new cross-Valley rapid transit line was built: the Metro Orange Line, a dedicated bus transit-way which uses part of the old Pacific Electric right-of-way and the former Southern Pacific south and west Valley route. Service commenced in 2005; it was renamed to the G Line in 2020.Van Nuys Boulevard is planned to be rebuilt for light rail service in 2031 under the East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project.
Route
Leaving Downtown on the same tracks as the Hollywood Line, the line continued along the Sherman Line at Sunset Junction before turning north at Highland Avenue. The line continued on its own private right of way though the Cahuenga Pass, turning up Vineland Avenue through North Hollywood, and onto Chandler Boulevard. Proceeding west along the Southern Pacific Burbank Branch to the curve onto Van Nuys Boulevard, it ran through Van Nuys to a curve off of Van Nuys Boulevard turning west onto Sherman Way to Owensmouth. On Shoup Avenue, named after Pacific Electric president Paul Shoup, the center was used as its end of the line sidings.List of major stations
| Station | Mile | Major connections | Service began | Service ended | City/neighborhood |
| Canoga Park | 29.10 | December 7, 1912 | June 1, 1938 | Owensmouth / Canoga Park | |
| Reseda | 24.91 | December 7, 1912 | June 1, 1938 | ||
| North Sherman Way | 19.89 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | Van Nuys |
| Van Nuys | 19.11 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | Van Nuys |
| Circle Drive | 17.72 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Kester | 16.17 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Lankershim | 14.17 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | North Hollywood |
| Rio Vista | 11.59 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Universal City | 11.10 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Barnham Boulevard | 9.99 | San Fernando | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Cahuenga Pass | 8.65 | San Fernando | January 20, 1908 | December 29, 1952 | |
| Highland & Hollywood | 7.84 | Hollywood, San Fernando, Venice via Hollywood | January 20, 1908 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles |
| Highland & Santa Monica | 7.09 | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman | January 20, 1908 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles |
| Colegrove | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles | |
| Virgil Avenue | San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Western and Franklin Avenue | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles | |
| Sunset Junction | Hollywood, San Fernando, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue | December 16, 1911 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles | |
| Subway Terminal | 0 | Echo Park Avenue, Glendale–Burbank, Hollywood, San Fernando, Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, Sawtelle, South Hollywood–Sherman, Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate | February 7, 1926 | December 29, 1952 | Los Angeles |
| Hill Street Station | December 16, 1911 | February 6, 1926 | Los Angeles | ||