Before L.A. Became a Car Town, Commuters Actually Rode Mass Transit

There once existed a day when Angelenos didn't drive to get across town. It's true: This old video of Southern California's "Red Car" system shows actual L.A. residents getting on and off mass transit, and not just because a pothole wrecked their Ford Falcon.

"Red Car" was a network of light-rail trains, electric street cars and buses that connected L.A. with cities in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. During its heyday in the 1920s, the system was the largest electric-powered intercity railway in the world; its owner, Southern Pacific, juggled more than a thousand trains on a thousand miles of track every day. (Check out the system map.) Among its many fun historical side notes, comedian Harold Lloyd stole a Red Car and took it for a joy ride in 1924's Girl Shy, and its operators relied on automated grade crossings called "wig-wags."