Map From the Past: Culver Junction
As it was in 1947-51
In the days of the Pacific Electric Red Cars, there were three passenger depots in Palms.
- This one, Culver Junction, was the place where the Culver Blvd. line branched off toward Playa Del Rey (toward the bottom left corner). The Venice line went straight ahead (to the left, above), toward Venice Beach and Santa Monica.
- An earlier stop, the Culver City station, was just a few blocks to the west (click here for details). According to a WPA map project, that station was abandoned before 1933-39.
- The Palms station served a line heading to Santa Monica, between Featherstone Road (present-day Exposition Boulevard and Winship Avenue (wiped out by the I-10). This station was originally north of National Blvd. at Vinton Ave. By 1933-39, though, it had apparently been moved to Featherstone at Durango (there is some confusion about this). It was later trucked to Heritage Square.
Go here for a 1907 map of electric lines in Los Angeles that will make sense of all this.
At the top of the map you see the area where the Venice Crossroads Mall has been constructed. Below it, a two-lane Venice Blvd. Then, the Pacific Electric right of way. and next to it the "Passenger Depot." The dotted lines indicate a platform which was only three feet wide. At the left is the "Pacific Electric [electrical] Station," now called the Ivy Substation and used as a theater.
The "Venice Blvd." stub below the substation was never finished and was later abandoned. According to the map, it ended at Media Park.
THIS REMARKABLE PHOTO . . . 
. . . taken just after World War II, in the twilight of the Red Car era, shows the Culver Blvd. tracks veering toward the left. The Ivy Substation is at left rear, behind some parked boxcars, and the Culver Junction station can be seen plainly as a Los Angeles-bound Red Car pulls away from it toward the photographer, who is standing near where the X is in the map above. Venice Blvd. is at right,, and the white building is just about where Starbucks — or maybe Hollywood Video — is now. It may be the machine shop shown on this 1929 map. Durango Ave. (Blockbuster Video) comes into Venice Blvd. a few dozen feet beyond the white automobile.
Go here for links to other Stubchaer photos and information about the Red Cars.
HERE'S WHAT CULVER JUNCTION LOOKS LIKE TODAY
Culver Junction was situated where the curb lane is today on the other side of the Culver Blvd. intersection (the gray SUV preparing to turn). You can see the Ivy Substation behind the palm trees.
The Pacific Electric right of way is now the eastbound lanes of Venice (coming toward us).
Durango Ave. enters westbound Venice Blvd. from the north just past the school bus.
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MAPS FROM THE PAST
A Look Back at the Development of the Palms area
Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps have told for decades the story of U.S. cities as reflected in their changing land use.
Sanborn maps of 1919, 1924, 1929 and 1951 help us understand:
Sanborn Maps are via the Los Angeles Public Library.
Here are some other interesting maps:
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