The Pacific Electric streetcar service to Owensmouth (present day Canoga Park) was part of an extraordinary real estate development in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. Nearly the entire southern San Fernando Valley

San Fernando Valley

The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

 was bought in l9l0 by the Los Angeles Suburban Homes Co., owned by a syndicate of rich Los Angeles investors, developers, and speculators: including Harrison Gray Otis

Harrison Gray Otis

Harrison Gray Otis was the president and general manager of the Times-Mirror Company, publisher of the Los Angeles Times.-Early life:...

, Harry Chandler

Harry Chandler

Harry Chandler was an American newspaper publisher and investor who became owner of the largest real estate empire in the U.S.-Biography:...

, Moses Sherman

Moses Sherman

Moses Hazeltine Sherman was a land developer who built the Phoenix Street Railway in Phoenix, Arizona, and later built other lines and owned property in the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood, California. He also served on the Los Angeles Water Board.At the junction of his streetcar lines west of...

, Hobart Johnstone Whitley

Hobart Johnstone Whitley

Hobart Johnstone Whitley , also known as H.J. Whitley is the "Father of Hollywood", was a real estate developer who helped create the Hollywood subdivision in Los Angeles, Southern California. He and his wife, Margaret Virginia Whitley named the town while on their honeymoon in 1886...

, and others. It anticipated possible connections to but was planned independent of the soon to be completed (1913) Los Angeles Aqueduct

Los Angeles Aqueduct

The Los Angeles Aqueduct system comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power...

 from the Owens River

Owens River

The Owens River is a river in southeastern California in the United States, approximately long. It drains into and through the Owens Valley, an arid basin between the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada and the western faces of the Inyo and White Mountains. The river terminates at Owens Lake, but...

 watershed to the City of Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County.

To help promote sales of the land, General Moses Sherman set off to build a streetcar line across the San Fernando Valley, to serve the three plotted new towns: Van Nuys (l9ll); Marion (now Reseda); and Owensmouth (now Canoga Park) (l9l2). At the time, it could have seemed like a streetcar to open agricultural fields at the end of the line — but was a necessity to promote development. Alongside it across the Valley westward from Van Nuys was Sherman Way, the "$500,000 paved boulevard" with lush landscaping and no speed limit where one might get up to 35 mph, a separate dirt road for farm wagons/equipment, and telegraph lines.

Owensmouth was named in classic real estate "boosterism", as 'nearest' the outlet-'mouth' of the Owens River Aqueduct and echoing English and New England town names such as Falmouth, Yarmouth, and Plymouth. It was actually 20 miles away when founded in 1912 and used well water instead until being annexed to L.A. city in 1917. The controversy of Valley land speculation and the aqueduct brought the community to change its name from Owensmouth to Canoga Park in 1931, after the Southern Pacific "Canoga" station there. The name of the Pacific Electric line was unchanged as Owensmouth until its demise in December 1941. Though the line had far higher annual ridership than any rapid transit line in the region today, most of that was within urban Los Angeles, and the community of Owensmouth-Canoga Park was relatively undeveloped until the line's later years.

The line through the Valley came over Cahuenga Pass

Cahuenga Pass

The Cahuenga Pass is a mountain pass through the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains in the Hollywood district of the City of Los Angeles, California....

, up Vineland Avenue through North Hollywood, turning onto Chandler Boulevard, proceeding west to the curve onto Van Nuys Boulevard

Van Nuys Boulevard

Van Nuys Boulevard is a major north-south arterial road that runs through the central San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles County, California. The boulevard was notable for its cruising lifestyle that was prevalent in the 1960s and '70s, which was depicted in the 1979 film Van Nuys Blvd..-The...

, through Van Nuys to a curve (Sherman Circle) off of Van Nuys Blvd. turning west onto Sherman Way to Owensmouth. On Shoup Avenue, named after Pacific Electric president Paul Shoup , the center was used as its end of the line sidings.

Orange Line
In the l990's a new cross-Valley rapid transit line was built, the Metro Orange Line, a dedicated bus transit-way which uses part of the old Pacific Electric right-of-way (Chandler Blvd. east of Ethel Ave.) and the former Southern Pacific south and west Valley route (from White Oak Avenue to the Chatsworth station).

List of Major Stations

Station	Major Connections	Date Opened	Date Closed	City
Owensmouth
Van Nuys	San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs....	1912	1952	Van Nuys Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California Van Nuys is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.-History:Look at the two photos of Van Nuys' first year—and then listen to what the Los Angeles Times wrote on February 23, 1911, the day after the Van Nuys town lot auction--"Between dawn and dusk, in the...
Lankershim	San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs....	1902	1952	North Hollywood
Highland Avenue	San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs.... , Sherman Sherman (Pacific Electric) Sherman was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway, originally built in 1896 as part of the Pasadena and Pacific, until it was discontinued in 1953; and ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the suburb of Sherman West Hollywood.... , Venice via Hollywood (Pacific Electric line)	1902	1955	Los Angeles
Colegrove	San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs.... , Sherman Sherman (Pacific Electric) Sherman was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway, originally built in 1896 as part of the Pasadena and Pacific, until it was discontinued in 1953; and ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the suburb of Sherman West Hollywood.... , Venice via Hollywood	1902	1955
Virgil Avenue	San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs.... , Sherman Sherman (Pacific Electric) Sherman was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway, originally built in 1896 as part of the Pasadena and Pacific, until it was discontinued in 1953; and ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the suburb of Sherman West Hollywood.... , Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue	1902	1955
Sanborn Junction	Beverly Hills Beverly Hills (Pacific Electric) Beverly Hills was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway. It was opened in 1909 by the Pasadena and Pacific Railroad and taken over by the Pacific Electric in 1911. The route terminus switched over to the Subway Terminal Building in 1926.... , San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs.... , Sherman Sherman (Pacific Electric) Sherman was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway, originally built in 1896 as part of the Pasadena and Pacific, until it was discontinued in 1953; and ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the suburb of Sherman West Hollywood.... , Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue	1902	1955
Subway Terminal Building Subway Terminal Building The Subway Terminal Building, now known as Metro 417, is an Italian Renaissance Revival building in Downtown Los Angeles located at 417 South Hill Street. It was designed by architects Schultze and Weaver and was built in 1925. It served as the downtown terminus for the "Hollywood Subway" branch...	Beverly Hills Beverly Hills (Pacific Electric) Beverly Hills was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway. It was opened in 1909 by the Pasadena and Pacific Railroad and taken over by the Pacific Electric in 1911. The route terminus switched over to the Subway Terminal Building in 1926.... , Echo Park Avenue, Glendale-Burbank Glendale-Burbank (Pacific Electric) Glendale-Burbank is a defunct Pacific Electric rapid transit line that was operational from 1902 to 1955 in Southern California, running from Downtown Los Angeles to Burbank, with short lines terminating in Downtown and North Glendale.... , Redondo Beach via Playa del Rey, San Fernando San Fernando (Pacific Electric) Another part of a remarkable Pacific Electric Railway system, designed to maximize downtown Los Angeles circulation, and actually to develop the extended Los Angeles suburbs.... , Sawtelle Sawtelle (Pacific Electric) Sawtelle was a suburban line operated by the Pacific Electric Railway from 1911 to 1940. This line was one of four lines connecting Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica that did not run through Hollywood. This was the shortest route to Santa Monica, and as such had the highest ridership of any... , Sherman Sherman (Pacific Electric) Sherman was a suburban line of the Pacific Electric Railway, originally built in 1896 as part of the Pasadena and Pacific, until it was discontinued in 1953; and ran between Downtown Los Angeles and the suburb of Sherman West Hollywood.... , Venice Short Line, Venice via Hollywood, Western and Franklin Avenue, Westgate Westgate (Pacific Electric) Westgate was a suburban line operated by the Pacific Electric Railway from 1911 to 1940. This line was one of four lines connecting Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica that did not run through Hollywood...	1905	1961