The Railroad and the Old Palms
Depot
by David I. Worsfold
David I. Worsfold, noted Palms historian, booster,
and honorary mayor, wrote this article in about 1946 after returning from Navy
service in World War II.
The first
railroad of the Culver-Palms area was the line now known as the Santa Monica Airline of the Pacific Electric Railway. Originally
a steam railroad, its construction was started over 71 years ago in January,
1875, and the first train operated over the line between
This railroad, the second one in Southern
California, was known as the Los Angeles and Independence R.R. as its owner
intended to extend it from tidewater at Santa Monica to serve mining interests
in Independence (Owens Valley), and ultimately easterly to form a
transcontinental railroad.
John P. Jones, builder of this railroad, was also
founder of the town of
The first “whistle stops” established along the railroad were “Ivy Station” and “Bay View Station.” Ivy
Station was where the railroad crossed
Bay View Station was located on property now
occupied by Palms Lumber Co. Here a raw
shelter building was erected and served for several years. It was
primitive but probably adequate considering that the U.S. Census of 1880 showed
only 417 people of this great valley west of the city limits of
That crude shelter remained until shortly after
the founding of the community of Palms, when “The Palms” Depot was
constructed. The exact time
of erecting of the present building is unknown to the writer and is not in any
published history but is probably buried somewhere in the archives of the
railroad.
When the Southern Pacific entered
The Southern Pacific exploited its monopoly for
many years until 1886 when the
This building still stands as one of the oldest
historic landmarks of Palms, though it is many years since it was used for
railroad purposes, because of curtailment of passenger service on the Santa
Monica Airline by its present operators, the Pacific Electric Railway, and
because the Palms and
The old depot was used as a private residence for
many years by J. W. Smith, retired station agent, who served the community for
a long period. Today the station is used
as the field office of A. Farnell Blair Co., contractors on the big new plant
of the Great Western Biscuit Co., now under construction on part of the former railroad
station lands which were deeded to the Los Angeles and Independence R.R. on May
18, 1887 by Mrs. Rita Botiller de Aguilar, widow of Macedonio Aguilar, who was
the first purchaser of real estate which is now the heart of Palms and Culver
City.
The name Aguilar is prominent in early local
records and even today that fabulously valuable property occupied by Metro,
Goldwyn, Mayer Studios has a legal description “Part of Macedonio Aguilar 819 acre allotment in Rancho La Ballona.” Motion pictures invaded this community
31 years ago, the first studio was that of the Kalem Company, which located in
Palms in February, 1915. Thomas H. Ince bought land in September,
1915 and the New York Motion Picture Corp. built upon that land of plant which
is now Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
On many occasions the “movies”
have used the old Palms depot for exterior shots where they wanted a typical old-time station building to suit
the story. It was a convenient location to the studios and there
were no fast, through trains to interfere with the shooting
schedule. Usually the sign on the depot which read “The
Palms” was covered with one which read “Hilldale” or whenever name the scenario called
for. Joan Crawford and other famous stars have waited for the train
to come in here. The writer recalls one occasion many years ago,
when M.G.M. was using the station and a picture starring Jean
Harlow. Between shots he climbed into the locomotive cab for a visit
with the engineer and fireman. The party was then joined by Miss
Harlow who wanted “to see what a steam engine looks like.” She was thrilled by all the gadgets of
the fiery monster and the train men seemed thrilled by the platinum blonde, at
least they were speechless so the writer undertook to explain to the star how
the engine worked.
Website Editor’s Note: The Pacific
Electric Railway continued to provide passenger service until 1953, and freight
service into the eighties (under parent Southern Pacific's name after
1963). The Palms Depot was declared an historical monument in 1963;
nonetheless, it fell into disrepair and was finally condemned. In
1975, S.O.S. (Save Our Station), a grass roots organization, succeeded in
moving the depot to Heritage Square Museum,
thus saving it from demolition. The exterior and interior have been
restored to their original