Old Red-Car Station to Be Restored

Jim Gulbranson remembers the clicketyclack of the old Red Cars operated by the Pacific Electric Railway.

The trusty trolleys crisscrossed the Southland, and Gulbranson fondly recalls riding them to get to school, the cars swaying slightly on the tracks.

Now he and other preservationists are thrilled that, as a testament to that long-gone transit system, the last remaining streetcar depot, which sits on a dusty North Hollywood lot across from the other red cars--those of the new Metro Rail Red Line subway--is finally on its way to preservation.

Community Redevelopment Agency officials said Friday that a historic-architecture firm has been hired and that more than $1 million in local and federal funding has been secured for the restoration.

The firm, M2A of Hollywood, will develop rehabilitation plans for the boarded-up wooden structure, which was built in 1896 as a Southern Pacific train depot.

A Dec. 13 community meeting at 6 p.m. at El Portal Theatre will help determine the use of the renovated station. Some residents want to see a museum, others envision it as headquarters for the Chamber of Commerce and a few have suggested that a restaurant be included.

“This is the last of the Mohicans,” said Guy Weddington McCreary, a local historian. “Most of them have burned down. This is the last great station.”

The Red Cars died in the Valley in 1952, and the depot was leased in 1959 to Hendricks Builders Supply. In 1991, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bought the property from Southern Pacific, though the agency continued to lease the old redwood building to Hendricks until 1993.