Red Cars

In your editorial “A Baby Rail Network for L.A.” (April 5) you state that “Only a few of us remember how easy it was to hop a streetcar in the San Fernando Valley and get to Long Beach in less than an hour, passing downtown Los Angeles on the way.” I would be surprised if even a few of us remember it, because it couldn’t be done.

A timetable from 1952, the last year that the San Fernando Valley Red Car line ran, shows that a weekday, midday trip from Van Nuys to the Subway Terminal in downtown Los Angeles took about 83 minutes. Add some time to get from the Subway Terminal near 5th and Hill streets to the 6th and Main Station where you caught the Long Beach cars, plus some time to buy a ticket and to wait for the next train. Now add about an hour travel time from Los Angeles to Long Beach.

If you made good connections and walked fast between the downtown terminals you might have gotten from Van Nuys to Long Beach in less than three hours--definitely not in less than an hour! The Red Cars were good (as were the Yellow Cars), but not that good.

LARRY TREIMAN

Los Angeles