Taxi Cabs in L.A. during WW2?

[AmateisGal]

I'm hitting a slight roadblock in my research on this subject and thought I'd ask the smartest people on the planet my question.

During World War II in Los Angeles, were there taxi cabs running at all hours? Or was there a specific cut-off time when they would be off-duty? Did public transportation as a whole stop at a certain time or did it run all night?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, all.

 

[ShoreRoadLady]

I'd recommend looking at the Los Angeles Times' archive, which you can search online. They do charge a fee for each article, though. Or you could try to find an old bus schedule from that period? (Here's where I show my ignorance - how *did* they do bus schedules at that time?)

Google "World War II los angeles public transportation (or transit)" for some links, if you haven't already. I saw some that could have a lead.

This could be the most helpful: the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's historical resources online:

http://www.metro.net/about_us/library/metro_archives.htm

 

[David Conwill]

Drat, I was hoping you were asking what types of cars were used as taxis during the war. I have no idea about the scheduling. Being on the West Coast, however, I'll bet that if they did run it was very slowly with blacked-out headlights.

-Dave

 

[AmateisGal]

I'd recommend looking at the Los Angeles Times' archive, which you can search online. They do charge a fee for each article, though. Or you could try to find an old bus schedule from that period? (Here's where I show my ignorance - how *did* they do bus schedules at that time?)

Google "World War II los angeles public transportation (or transit)" for some links, if you haven't already. I saw some that could have a lead.

This could be the most helpful: the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's historical resources online:

http://www.metro.net/about_us/library/metro_archives.htm

I did a few google searches and found a few interesting links, but nothing concrete. There is a library in L.A. that has a lot of resources on public transportation, so I may end up contacting them.

Thanks for the link about the Metro. Will go and check that out...

 

[AmateisGal]

Drat, I was hoping you were asking what types of cars were used as taxis during the war. I have no idea about the scheduling. Being on the West Coast, however, I'll bet that if they did run it was very slowly with blacked-out headlights.

-Dave

That's what I'm thinking, too - that the headlights would be blacked-out. But I wonder if gas rationing bit into their scheduling at all?

 

[Story]

Contact these guys, there's got to be at least one history nut working for the first and civilian-car nut for the second.
http://www.taxicabsla.org/
http://www.militarymuseum.org/LAWWII.html

For flavor, see also
http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p116y1977-78.pdf
and
www.lacity.org/LADOT/TopicsAndTales/RailTransit5.pdf

 

[AmateisGal]

Contact these guys, there's got to be at least one history nut working for the first and civilian-car nut for the second.
http://www.taxicabsla.org/
http://www.militarymuseum.org/LAWWII.html

For flavor, see also
http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v3p116y1977-78.pdf
and
www.lacity.org/LADOT/TopicsAndTales/RailTransit5.pdf

Great links, Story - thanks so much!

 

[Dagwood]

In a 1948 legal case called "Kircher v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. Co.", the Court notes: "On the day prior to the accident [November 1943] plaintiff, a young aviation cadet, stationed at an air base near Santa Ana, went to Los Angeles with his fellow-cadet, Harper. While there they encountered another cadet from the same air base, and the three young men shopped about the city and dined together that night. They separated about 9:00 o'clock, and plaintiff returned to Santa Ana on the Pacific Electric Railway, arriving there about 12:15 a. m., on November 14th. He went to the defendant's depot a few blocks away to await the return of the other two cadets, whom he believed might return that night on defendant's train No. 70, which was due to arrive about 2:00 a. m. It was plaintiff's intention to share a taxi-cab with these friends in returning to the air base a few miles away."

Santa Ana is about 45 minutes from Los Angeles. A little outside the scope of your question, but I hope it helps you.

 

[John in Covina]

One thing is a Taxi Cab was probably available from Taxi Stands at the airport, train stations and various public hubs like large hotels and such. Metro areas often had specific "all night" taxi stands.

 

[AmateisGal]

In a 1948 legal case called "Kircher v. Atchison, T. & S.F. Ry. Co.", the Court notes: "On the day prior to the accident [November 1943] plaintiff, a young aviation cadet, stationed at an air base near Santa Ana, went to Los Angeles with his fellow-cadet, Harper. While there they encountered another cadet from the same air base, and the three young men shopped about the city and dined together that night. They separated about 9:00 o'clock, and plaintiff returned to Santa Ana on the Pacific Electric Railway, arriving there about 12:15 a. m., on November 14th. He went to the defendant's depot a few blocks away to await the return of the other two cadets, whom he believed might return that night on defendant's train No. 70, which was due to arrive about 2:00 a. m. It was plaintiff's intention to share a taxi-cab with these friends in returning to the air base a few miles away."

Santa Ana is about 45 minutes from Los Angeles. A little outside the scope of your question, but I hope it helps you.

Dagwood - this is just fascinating! And yes, it does indeed help me. Thanks so much.

 

[AmateisGal]

One thing is a Taxi Cab was probably available from Taxi Stands at the airport, train stations and various public hubs like large hotels and such. Metro areas often had specific "all night" taxi stands.

Since my character is staying at a large, well-known hotel in downtown L.A., this works perfect. Thanks!

 

[JimInSoCalif]

I have lived in So Calif all my life except for three years that I spent in the Army. I don't know the answer to your question as during the War I lived in the desert, but Los Angeles has never been much of a town for Taxis like most other big cities. During the 30's, 40's and up until the early 50's most people without automobiles took the trolley cars (we called them The Big Red Cars) which covered a lot of teritory.

The were done away with in the early 50's and I have heard both the auto manufacturers and the gasoline companies blamed for that. I don't know which, if either, is correct.

I doubt that there was much civilian air transportation during the War, but the Union Train Station was a very busy place and I expect that John is correct that if there were any cabs at stands that the train station and one or more of the few downtown hotels would be where they were located.

As an aside, I remember my first flight in 1954 from the old airport in L.A. (It would probably fit within the parking area of the current LAX). We took off at midnight to go to NY and had a engine fail over Arizona, returned to LA, moved all the passengers and lugage onto another aircraft, taxied to the end of the run way, the pilot ran up the engines and had too much mag drop on one engine - that means the ignition system was not functioning properly, returned to terminal, got off the plane and waited until 5 or 6 am when they got the thing fixed and finally took off - had to stop to refuel in Chicago - finally got to NY - whew.

I guess that is a long and boring way to say that if we had high speed trains in this country, I think it would be a much more civilized way to travel.

As I was not living in the L.A. area during the war (we moved away after the great air raid of 1942 which I slept through) I don't know what the lighting restrictions were on private vehicles, but I do recall that the cars used near the coast had small accessory lights - about 3 inches in diameter - which where covered over except for a small V shape for the light to shine through.

Back to Taxis - we of course have a lot more now then we had 65 years ago, but we still don't have a lot for a large city.

Cheers, Jim.