The Great Red Car Conspiracy
99% Invisible
00:00
Henry Huntington and the Red Car
The modern city of Los Angeles was created as sort of like a counterweight to San Francisco. Henry Huntington bought the biggest transportation system in the city and incorporated it into a new company called Pacific Electric. He controls more than 900 red cars on more than 1100 miles of track, about 25% more track mileage than New York City has today,. Now historically American cities grow organically in rings out of a downtown; Huntington really forces Los Angeles to expand outward at twice the rate.
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