> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Tripping through history
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/tripping-through-history/
- Published: 2007-02-03T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T23:59:48.000Z
- Author: Melody Hanatani
- Tags: local, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*FROM TRANSPORTATION PAGE 3 O’Connor wins MTA seat*

MAIN LIBRARY — Though it may be hard to imagine now, with the city’s streets lined by cars and Big Blue Buses, Santa Monica was once a hub for railroad transportation.

In a room filled with transportation enthusiasts and civil engineers, Joseph Schwieterman, a professor of public service management at De Paul University and a well-known transportation expert, spoke here on Friday about all things planes, trains and automobiles in Santa Monica.

The history starts with Collis P. Huntington, a railroad tycoon, and his attempts with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company to designate Santa Monica as the Port of Los Angeles by building a long wharf in the late 1800s. However, the dream never materialized.

Schwieterman showed a picture of the long wharf — located about four miles north of the Santa Monica Canyon — that was abandoned by 1910.

“You look at the photograph and think ‘what the heck were they thinking back then,’” Schwieterman said.

During its early years, Santa Monica was seen as a nice affluent vacation destination for the residents of Los Angeles to travel to during the weekends and summers.

“It became a great getaway for Los Angeles,” Schwieterman said.

At one point, Santa Monica became a great hub for transportation and one of the leaders in the field. Around the early 1900s, the city was home to several different railroad lines, including the Hollywood line, which from Sawtelle and Santa Monica boulevards to Ocean Avenue, and the Air-Line, which had stops at Bergamot Station and in Ocean Park.

“From Downtown Santa Monica, you could go to Central Los Angeles on four different routes,” Schwieterman said. “Every few minutes, a train would leave.”

TRAIN OF THOUGHT About 30 people took in Schwieterman’s talk about the transportation history in Santa Monica, covered in his new book “When the Railroad Leaves Town.”

The book talks about the circumstances concerning the rise and fall of railroads in 58 communities in the western United States. Four of the communities featured CITY HALL Reelected to the City Council in November, Councilwoman Pam O’Connor now has something else to smile about.

On Thursday, the three-time Santa Monica mayor was reelected to the MTA Board of Directors.

A councilwoman since 1994, O’Connor has served on the MTA Board of Directors since June of 2001, assuming the role from a councilman who had 18 months remaining on his term. She was elected to her first four-year term in January 2003.

O’Connor will become the board’s chair in July for one year.

One of her goals is to push forward with a LEED certification for the MTA. The LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a rating system used by the U.S. Green Building Council to officially recognize entities that engage in environmentally friendly practices.

“We have clean fuel buses, but there are more things we can do to push that forward,” O’Connor said.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 3, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020307.pdf?ref=smdp.com)