Before the 134 was built through Eagle Rock, this is where the freeway ended and traffic was funneled onto Colorado Boulevard. The Freeway Association argued routes that did not incorporate it into the freeway would make it obsolete. This freeway stub would be converted into an on- and off-ramp. (Image credit: Google Maps)
The bridge paralleling the Arroyo Seco Bridge was completed in 1955 and was widened as part of the Eagle Rock connection. (ERVHS)
The first component of the new freeway across the Arroyo Seco is shown under construction. This gives a feeling for the scale of the roadway. (Photo by Herald Ohannesian-ERVHS Ohannesian Family Collection)
Looking west on Las Flores Drive from Ellenwood Drive. Imagine the footprint of the freeway imposed upon this, one of our smallest streets. (Photo by Severin Martinez)
This map of the possible freeway routings proposed in 1950 by Caltrans offered Eagle Rock three options, all of which would have obliterated Eagle Rock as we know it. Route 1 went partially through the hills but then descended to Hill Drive at the bend and proceeded, cutting off the Lemon Grove area and Eagle Rock Park. Route 2 followed Las Flores Drive. Route 3 followed Chickasaw Avenue. (Published in the Eagle Rock Sentinel)
This ad ran in the Eagle Rock Sentinel Twentieth Anniversary edition in March of 1930. Its text read in part “All through the years in fair weather and foul, the little car has operated, interchanging passengers between the two communities, counting up some 70,000 miles of operation annually.”
Ironically, in August of that year the line petitioned successfully to abandon all of its lines. (Eagle Rock Sentinel)
“TROLLEY BARN IN MONTROSE- Yes, indeed! The streetcar barn shown in this historic picture is still located in Montrose, even though the famed red cars and tracks of the Los Angeles trolley system are long gone. The barn is on the property of the Anawalt Lumber and Materials Company and is now inside a larger structure constructed by Anawalt” This is the only remaining physical remnant of the Glendale and Montrose line. (Foothill Ledger)
The caption reads “DING DONG-DINKEY – That was the name coined by foothills residents for the tiny trolleys that provided transit in La Crescenta as well as inter valley service to Glendale Montrose and Los Angeles (Eagle Rock ed.). Car No. 3 was one of four single specimens built in 1919 by the American Car Co. and is shown ready to bob along the center of Montrose Avenue at he Corner of Honolulu. The short line faded into history with the last runs on Dec. 30, 1930.” (Foothill Ledger)
In 1913 a longer extension of the line was constructed to connect Glendale to the burgeoning community of Montrose to the north. This shifted the focus of the railway to the longer branch. This map of the whole Glendale and Montrose Railway system shows the relative scale of the two branches and the route up the Verdugo canyon to Montrose. (Southern California railway museum / Ray Younghans Collection)
The streetcar heads west just past Ellenwood Drive. The sign advertises commercial lots on Colorado to be sold by Edwards and Winters. In later years, boys delighted in greasing the tracks, causing the car to slide backwards down the steep hill. (ERVHS)