SEAL BEACH : Red Car Museum Links City to Past

An old Pacific Electric Red Car sits on two of Seal Beach’s busiest streets, an anachronism among the cars that whiz past.

The refurbished Red Car, which houses a museum detailing Seal Beach’s past, rests on a greenbelt where Electric Avenue and Main Street meet. Its location is no accident, because on that spot the Pacific Electric established the “right of way” for the Red Cars that would provide the crucial link between Seal Beach and the rest of Southern California.

In the early 1900s, Henry E. Huntington began operating the Red Cars, which he claimed were the transportation of the future because they ran on “clean, quiet” electricity.

Huntington envisioned a commuter line that would run throughout California, and began with tracks linking Los Angeles to coastal Orange County.

The Red Cars arrived in Seal Beach--then Bay City--in 1904. They ferried tourists from inland areas to the “Coney Island of the West,” and to an amusement center with a carnival atmosphere and Ferris wheel.

The Red Car line to Seal Beach ran until about 1950, when the automobile finally forced it out of business, according to Barbara Rountree, president of the Seal Beach Historical Society.

The historical society bought car No. 1734 in 1976 and began the work of restoring it, with the help of local volunteers.

“It was a tower car, one which repaired the electric lines that were the power source for the railway system,” Rountree said.

The museum opened in 1981, and now houses photographs, period clothing, shells, newspaper clippings and artifacts. Members of the historical society are also working their way through 30 boxes of notes and papers to compile an oral history of the city.

The collection also includes an extensive and rare collection of photos and legal papers from and about the old Pacific Electric Railway Co.

“We have a lot of tourists coming down to the pier area, but they pull over to take a look when they see the Red Car,” Rountree said.

The Red Car Museum is open from 1:30 to 5 p.m. the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.