"When the Pacific Electric Co. bought the railroad and electrified it, making the journey to downtown by Red Car more convenient and affordable, the little town began to grow. Businesses popped up from one end of 4th Street (now Motor Avenue) to the other."
"Real estate developers successfully marketed the town - now part of the city of L.A. - as a suburb, with the memorable come-on of 'No Cold Winters. No Hot Summers. No Saloons at the Palms.'"
"In the late 1930s, the previously untouched northwest corner of Palms was developed as an FHA-financed housing tract called Westside Village, where homes were designed with affordability in mind and mass-produced to keep costs down. Ironically, those homes are now some of the most expensive in Palms and the most endangered, with many being bought to be torn down to make way for bigger 'architectural' homes."
Palms originated as a small Victorian settlement midway between Bunker Hill and Santa Monica on the Los Angeles and Independence Railroad in the late 1800s. The town featured basic amenities including a post office, hotel, and general store serving farmers and travelers. When the Pacific Electric Company electrified the rail line with Red Cars, accessibility improved and the community grew substantially. Developers marketed Palms as an attractive suburb with temperate weather and family-friendly values. Craftsman bungalows became the dominant residential architecture through the early 20th century. In the late 1930s, FHA-financed Westside Village introduced mass-produced affordable homes. Today, these historic properties face demolition pressure as developers replace them with larger contemporary structures.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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