Retired Metro worker and rail enthusiast Alan Weeks waited more than 60 years to ride the train to Santa Monica again. In 1953, he was one of just a few passengers who rode the last Pacific Electric Railway car – also known as the Santa Monica Air Line – to Santa Monica from downtown Los Angeles before it was demolished. Before World War II, Los Angeles had an extensive rail line, but as cars and buses took over, those lines were abandoned.
Weeks took thousands of photographs of LA’s streetcars in the 1940s, ’50s, and early ’60s before they were all deserted. And last Friday, the 84-year-old, was one of hundreds of excited Angelenos who rode the Expo Line out to the beach on opening day.