Pico Street Electric Railway (1887–90)

The first streetcar line on Pico Boulevard was short lived, running from an orange grove at Lorde Street (present-day Harvard Boulevard) to the Plaza de Los Angeles by way of Pico, Maple Avenue, 7th Street, San Julian Street, 3rd Street, and Los Angeles Street. The company began running cars in January 1887 as the first electrified streetcar in the western United States.^[1][2] but went under within a few years.^[3]

The modern route

The Pico and First Street Line was one of the first routes built by the new Los Angeles Railway in 1895. Its route lay between Pico and Van Ness Avenue on the west and Brooklyn and Rowan avenues on the east, via Pico Boulevard, Main Street, Broadway, 1st Street, and Rowan Avenue. In 1919, Broadway was extended south from 11th and Main to Pico Boulevard, removing the line from Main Street entirely.

In the 1920 service rerouting, the western end of the West Pico and Santa Fe Station Line was combined with the eastern portion of the Boyle Heights and West 7th Street Line to form the West Pico & East First Street Line.^[4] The new line ran from Brooklyn and Rowan via Rowan, First, Broadway, and Pico to Delaware.^[5] It was assigned the letter designation P in 1921.^[6][7] While the route was unchanged for the rest of its existence, the Rimpau Loop and Dozier loop were added in 1935 and 1936, respectively.^[4]

The line was commuted to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority in 1958. Service was converted to motor coach operation on March 31, 1963.^[8]