Ghost Streets of Los Angeles: evidence of old rights-of-way

[kurumi]

http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/ghost-streets-of-los-angeles.html

Looking from above, sometimes a diagonal line of building walls, parking lots and even swimming pools is evidence of a road or streetcar line that otherwise disappeared decades ago. The article has several example satellite views, a link to a Metafilter thread, and a shoutout to China Miéville. The comments in the article highlights some research showing that most of the "ghost streets" appear to be old rail lines.

[andy3175]

Good stuff Kurumi, thank you for posting this!

[mgk920]

In Chicago, an abandoned section of Ogden Ave:

http://binged.it/1IUQ2nW

That's the Lincoln Park Zoo at the far right.  Panning southwestward, you can see the structure where the CTA's the Red Line elevated crossed it.

Mike

[realjd]

I can't speak specifically to the examples from Los Angeles, but in my experience diagonal cuts like that are almost always the remnants of old railroads, not old streets. Especially in urban areas, there used to be a lot more cargo railroad spur lines than there are currently.

[Quillz]

In the SF Valley, Sherman Way is a wide street from roughly Topanga Canyon Blvd. to just east of the 170 freeway. This is because a trolley line once ran down the center median (which today has trees and other vegetation). I believe Chandler Blvd. east of Van Nuys used to have a trolley line, too.

[Buffaboy]

In Utica, NY, there is a path-like alley that is called "Quinn St" on Google Maps, but is unsigned.



https://www.google.com/maps/@43.097833,-75.229159,3a,75y,199.01h,72.98t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sPJ2Ub4MUewW2VGQboiS47A!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DPJ2Ub4MUewW2VGQboiS47A%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D75.488838%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656

Staying somewhat on-topic, the entire city is bisected by a former rail line.



https://www.google.com/maps/@43.0900539,-75.2301817,2784m/data=!3m1!1e3

But if Los Angeles is a (somewhat) newer city, how does it already have so many ghost streets?

[vdeane]

Probably because LA scrapped what was a world class transit system when they built the freeways.

[andy3175]

Probably because LA scrapped what was a world class transit system when they built the freeways.

That is probably the case, as the old Pacific Electric lines crisscrossed the city of Los Angeles. I suspect that these diagonal routes weren't roads but instead were Pacific Electric. SDMichael, an expert on such things, suspects the same.

[hm insulators]

In the SF Valley, Sherman Way is a wide street from roughly Topanga Canyon Blvd. to just east of the 170 freeway. This is because a trolley line once ran down the center median (which today has trees and other vegetation). I believe Chandler Blvd. east of Van Nuys used to have a trolley line, too.

Sierra Madre Boulevard and Huntington Drive, both in the San Gabriel Valley east of L.A. also have these wide medians that once had Pacific Electric Red Car lines running down them.

[capt.ron]

Somewhat off topic of the Los Angeles ghost streets but in Searcy, Arkansas a defunct railroad once ran through the western part of the city. It was called "Missouri and North Arkansas Railroad". Look closely where there is a line that runs west-northwest from Beebe-Capps. Chapel Lane forms part of that alignment as does one street in Pinewood Estates. The line continues west-northwest and then bears north after crossing Crosby Road. The old railroad alignment can be traced north through there through the Crosby and Mt. Pisgah communites.
google map link: https://www.google.com/maps/@35.2522186,-91.7765361,3382m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Bickendan]

You can still make out part of the scar left behind from the removal of the Central Freeway north of Market in San Francisco.

[TEG24601]

There is a similar scar from Seattle to Everett.  In fact, much of it has been converted to urban trails (Interurban and Burke-Gilman), but some of it is just simply strange lot lines.


Start at the Everett Mall - https://www.google.com/maps/@47.9104752,-122.2133162,721m/data=!3m1!1e3


The roadway known as "Mall Drive" is the former right-of-way of the Interurban rail line, and you can follow it north into Everett, or south to Seattle.  When I moved to the area in '89, much of the tracks were still there, and I would suspect that they still exist in those places that haven't been converted to trails.

[Duke87]

But if Los Angeles is a (somewhat) newer city, how does it already have so many ghost streets?

Besides the already stated point about the streetcar system, there is also the simple matter that these sorts of "scars" can and do "heal" over time, so an older city won't necessarily have more of them remaining visible.

For example, in New York City, there once was an LIRR branch line to Whitestone. It ceased operation in 1932 and today very little trace of its existence remains. Now granted, the neighborhoods it ran through were still half undeveloped at the time the line was abandoned, so lots of buildings sit on top of it that had no reason to conform to it since they were able to freely make regular shapes by combining the ROW with adjacent parcels. But even if this weren't the case, you'd still see a more gradual trend towards this since as old buildings which follow the ROW get knocked down, and new ones which don't take their place.

[abefroman329]

In Chicago, an abandoned section of Ogden Ave:

http://binged.it/1IUQ2nW

That's the Lincoln Park Zoo at the far right.  Panning southwestward, you can see the structure where the CTA's the Red Line elevated crossed it.

Mike

Brown Line.  And if you look closely, you can also see the remnants of an L station where Ogden used to go under the tracks.