7 was a line operated by the Los Angeles Railway from 1932 to 1955. It ran from Spring and 2nd Streets to Athens and 116th Street, by way of Spring Street, Main Street, Broadway Place, Broadway, and Athens Way. During its Los Angeles Transit Lines days, around 1950–55, Line 7 was rerouted off S. Broadway to Central Ave., at least as far north as 7th St. across Olympic Bl. to possibly Vernon Avenue, covering trackage that was abandoned rail by line U, when that line was converted to trolleybus August 3, 1947.
7 was formed from the South Broadway branch of the M-Grand and Moneta Avenue Line, and the Santa Fe Depot branch of the N-West 9th Street and Santa Fe Depot Line. Service began on June 12, 1932. The route that the line went from was W. 116th Street and Athens Avenue, north on Athens, South Broadway, S. Broadway Place, Main and Spring Street to W. 2nd Street, southeast on 2nd to Traction Avenue to E. 3rd Street, east on 3rd to Santa Fe Avenue, and north on Santa Fe to Depot at E. 2nd Street. On November 11, 1934, the line rerouted and renamed the 7-South Broadway and Civic Center Line.
South Broadway & Civic Center Line (1934-1955)
In 1934, the South Broadway & Civic Center Line service began on November 11. This line had multiple stops on 116th Street and Athens Avenue, north on Athens, South Broadway, South Broadway Place, Main and Spring Streets to Sunset Boulevard Line to the Santa Fe Depot transferred to the 9-line. On September 12, 1948 terminus cut back to Temple and Spring Streets due to the building of the Hollywood Freeway. On May 5, 1955, the rail service was abandoned primarily because of the boom of the California Highway system and the lack of popularity of rail cars.
Final Operations
The public saw the automobile and the newly expanding freeway system in Southern California as the preferred and more convenient method of travel. In 1958, LATL was sold to the young Los Angeles MTA, which instituted a program of implementing buses instead of rail cars. The remaining five streetcar routes were converted to buses in 1963, ending an era of more than 65 years of electric railway transportation within the city.
