The Street Seen: Soldiers Home Railroad
Ocean Park
Santa Monica’s first rail transit operation opens in 1891, with W.D. Vawter’s Santa Monica & Soldiers Home Railroad Co. bringing veterans (customers) to Santa Monica. The Vawters have a grocery store on 3rd St in downtown Santa Monica and have extensive real estate interests in Ocean Park near Hill & Main.
The single track, narrow gauge, horse car1 Santa Monica & Soldiers Home Railroad line runs from the Sawtelle Soldiers Home (established in 1887) down Wilshire to 3rd St; then south through the business district on 3rd to Broadway; then west to Ocean Ave; over the bridge
then up Pico to Main Street; then south down Main to Hill (and the Ostrich Farm). Three round trips (taking about 40 minutes each way) are made daily.
The Vawters sell the line in 1895 to Sherman & Clark’s Los Angeles Pacific Railway Co (LAP).2 The Santa Monica & Soldiers Home Railroad equipment sold consists of four cars, sixteen horses, two bridges, various buildings and about six miles of track – plus the franchise rights.
The LAP continues to operate the northern part of the horse car Santa Monica & Soldiers Home Railroad for more 3 years, then abandons it for an electric line along San Vicente Blvd.
Actually the sale was to Pasadena & Pacific Railway Co (P&P) - a predecessor to the Los Angeles Pacific Railway. Los Angeles railroad history is very complex (and important in its development) with extensive mergers. We have chosen simplicity over strict accuracy. And, as always, we are using current street names.