In 1875, the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad connected the City of Los Angeles with the Santa Monica Bay. Electrified and rebranded the “Santa Monica Airline” by 1911, it continued carrying passengers and freight.
When developers advertised their 1923 Country Club Highlands housing tract (it was later considered part of the Cheviot Hills neighborhood), they touted the adjacent “airline to the beaches.” The Cheviot Hills neighborhood successfully fought to keep passenger service in the 1930s, but Southern Pacific Railway discontinued service in 1953. Diesel freight trains ran until the late-1980s.
In 1990, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, a predecessor to the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), bought the railroad right of way. In 2016 – after a 63-year hiatus – Metro restored Cheviot Hills’ train connection by completing the Expo Line (later “E Line”) and opening a station nearby.
Westbound on the Santa Monica Air Line below Northvale Road (formerly Exposition Blvd.) at Clarkson Road (1953). (Photograph by Alan Weeks.)Westbound on the Santa Monica Air Line west of the Palms Depot (1953). (Photograph by Alan Weeks.)Westbound on the Santa Monica Air Line crossing over Motor Avenue (1953). This Alan Weeks photograph shows Pacific Electric car 1299 on a chartered club trip. In 2008, Alan wrote: “This line was de-electrified one month later. A private car belonged to the officials of the P.E.R.Y. It had leather chairs, a kitchen, bathroom and carpets.”Air Line crossing over Motor Avenue bridge. During much of the 20th century, the Exposition Right of Way carried “Red Cars.” This electrified rail line was called the Santa Monica Air Line, signifying the most direct line between central Los Angeles and Santa Monica.Red Car #5125 crossing over Motor Avenue on September 26, 1953. (Photo by Ira Swett.) At right, a sign between the train and the group of boys says “Winship” – a name attached to the piece of land on the other side of Motor and north of the tracks which was once called Winship’s Vista Del Mar for Charles Winship’s 1898 subdivision of The Palms. This early Edison film shows a steam engine passing through a Los Angeles & Independence Railway tunnel in the area that is now the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica. The Los Angeles & Independence Railway ran on right of way that later carried the Santa Monica Air Line then the “E” Line light rail line.
