The Red Car rail line when it ran along San Pedro’s waterfront from the cruise ship terminal to 22nd Street in 2007. (Daily Breeze Archive)
The Red Car rail line when it ran along San Pedro’s waterfront from the cruise ship terminal to 22nd Street in 2007. (Daily Breeze Archive)
This photo from the Orange County Archives shows a Pacific Electric “Red Car” southbound on San Pedro Street in Los Angeles that would have been headed to Orange County. (Courtesy of the Orange County Archives)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka presents renderings of the proposed Outer Harbor Cruise Terminal during the 11th annual “State of the Port” address at Alta Sea in the Port of Los Angeles on Thursday January 22, 2026. (Photo by Axel Koester, Contributing Photographer)
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The Red Car rail line when it ran along San Pedro’s waterfront from the cruise ship terminal to 22nd Street in 2007. (Daily Breeze Archive)
A proposal to loan and relocate San Pedro’s three vintage Red Cars to local museums received approval from the Los Angeles harbor commission on Thursday, Oct. 8.
The loan would last 20 years.
The rail cars ran along San Pedro’s waterfront from 2003 to 2015 — but have been in storage since then.
Under the now-approved proposal — Commissioner Lee Williams cast the sole no’vote — the original and restored “1058” Red Car will go to the Southern California Railway Museum in Perris, with the two replica cars being loaned, respectively, to the Travel Town Museum in Griffith Park under the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, and to the Lomita Railroad Museum in the city of Lomita.
The vintage cars, reminiscent of a nostalgic era in L.A.’s history, served as a “good attraction for a period of time,” said Mike Galvin, the Port of Los Angeles’ director of waterfront and commercial real estate, but were taken out of use “due to the cost and the need to work other projects, including West Harbor,” into San Pedro’s waterfront.
Now, new trolley-style rubber-tire vehicles carry visitors and residents through the downtown and waterfront areas.
Under the proposal approved Thursday, the cars will be “spread throughout the region so people and the public can see them, which is much better than the present situation,” Galvin said, noting the trollies have languished out of public view for years, having been in storage near the 22nd Street parking lot, which soon will be undergoing expansion work.
Asked about his opposition vote later, Williams said he thinks the Red Cars should remain in San Pedro, where prospects for later use still might be found.
“We have the (Battleship) Iowa, Lane Victory, Ralph J. Scott Fire Boat, and the Red Car is a unique part of our transportation history,” he said in a written statement. “It may never be in service again, but I like the idea of finding a space for it to remain and be accessible here in Pedro.”
But finding new uses for the cars — such as a coffee or restaurant cart — would face some challenges, including the vehicles’ narrow interiors and lack of easy accessibility, as they sit high off the ground, said Augie Bezmalinovich, the port’s San Pedro community affairs advocate.
Earlier suggestions that they be displayed at the West Harbor waterfront development or elsewhere along the port’s Main Channel proved unworkable, Bezmalinovich said previously.
New terminal
In other action approved by the commission on Thursday, the port will enter into exclusive negotiations with Pacific Cruise Terminals, LLC, to negotiate a long-term lease to develop and operate a new Los Angeles cruise terminal at Berths 90-92 and Berth 93 — the existing inner harbor cruise terminal — and a new outer harbor cruise terminal at Berths 45-47 and 49-51.
The negotiations are for a term “not to exceed two years.” The goal, according to the board report, is to provide “world-class infrastructure that promotes growth” and that will improve the port’s financial assets.
Rolled out publicly about a year ago, plans to develop a new 200-acre deep-water terminal to accommodate larger, next-generation ships would be constructed just south of Pier 400, with two new berths and about 3,000 linear feet of available wharf. The location is in the natural deep waters off the southern tip of Terminal Island.
It could take about 10 years to complete once it clears all of the environmental approvals needed.