accident – Here in Van Nuys

Sept.20,1951: Car Collides with Pacific Electric Streetcar in Van Nuys.

September 14, 2024Posted in Van Nuys and the ValleyTagged 1951, accident, Ann Quigley, E.T. Ophus, Glickman, Injury, Jimmy Quigley, Pacific Electric, Pacific Electric Motorman, photographer, Van Nuys and the ValleyLeave a comment

From the time it was established in 1911, Van Nuys was connected to the rest of greater Los Angeles by the Pacific Electric Streetcars that ran up and down Van Nuys Boulevard and traversed Chandler Blvd. to connect to North Hollywood.

The entire apparatus of light rail cars was dismantled by the late 1950s, and Van Nuys was wiped clean of these in 1956. Before the streetcars were taken out, Van Nuys had a thriving business district with diagonal parking, many vibrant stores, clean streets and a congenial sense of optimism and orderliness.

On September 20, 1951, five years before their demise, an unlucky mother and son were involved in a collision with their car and one of the streetcars. It seems both mother and son survived.

Photos are from the USC Archives. Here is their original text:

“Pacific Electric versus auto (Van Nuys Boulevard and Hatteras Street, Van Nuys), 20 September 1951. Jimmy Quigley; Ann Quigley (mother); E.T. Ophus (motorman).; Caption slip reads: “Photographer: Glickman. Date: 1951-09-20. Reporter: Glickman. Assignment: Pacific Electric versus auto. Van Nuys Boulevard and Hatteras Street, Van Nuys. Passersby comfort Jimmy Quigley as his mother, Ann stands along side of him (in torn skirt). Motorman in picture is E.T. Ophus, who piloted Pacific Electric that hit Quigley’s car”.”

Man in Truck Killed By Train: 1957

December 21, 2014December 21, 2014Posted in HistoryTagged "Louis Bell", "USC Digital Archives", 1957, accident, Auto, San Fernando Valley, Vanowen, Vineland3 Comments

In the 1950s, movies were censored.

Violence was off-screen.

Death, dismemberment, bloody accidents, injuries: all of it was hidden.

But real life photographers back then rushed to the scene and photographed the daily gore that makes the daily news.

One such example is this photo from May 5, 1957, near Vineland and Vanowen, where the lifeless body of Louis Bell, killed by a train in his truck, is lifted onto a stretcher.

Today we watch computer generated “entertainment” scenes of virtual gore that
would have made 1950s audiences vomit.

But who shoots real news photos today?

1 image.Train vs. auto accident at Vineland Avenue and Vanowen Street, 14 May 1957. Louis Bell (dead).; 
Caption slipreads: "Photographer: Glickman. Date: 1957-05-14. Assignment: Train vs. Truck 1 killed, 
Vineland Ave. and Vanowen, No. Hollywood. G300/301/214/215: 
Ambulance attendants lift body of Louis Bell onto stretcher; in background is his demolished truck".

Car Accident: Kester at Gilmore

October 3, 2012October 3, 2012Posted in Van Nuys and the ValleyTagged accident, gilmore, Kester, LAFD, LAPD, Mina Rezkalla, Raymon Khoury, traffic, Van Nuys and the Valley2 Comments

Today, around Noon, a car stopped suddenly when a jaywalker darted across Kester near Gilmore. The driver who stopped was slammed from behind by a woman with young children in her car. LAFD and LAPD responded quickly.

This same intersection was the site, last week, of an fatal accident between a 19-year-old on a motorcyclist and a speeding car.

Fast drivers, distracted drivers, tailgating drivers, aggressive drivers, all these types are packed together, on the road, making our commutes ever more dangerous despite the increasing technical safety of modern cars.

1951: Victory and Balboa Blvd. Train Hits Truck.

September 17, 2012September 17, 2012Posted in HistoryTagged "October 17, 1951", accident, Balboa, train, Truck, Van Nuys and the Valley, victoryLeave a comment

These images are borrowed from the pages of the USC Digital Archives.

The Southern Pacific railroad ran parallel to Victory Blvd, along the same route travelled by today’s Metro Orange Line.

“Train versus auto at Victory Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard, 17 October 1951. Bernard Warren (victim). (Sleeve reads: A-9348).
Caption slip reads: “Photographer: Glickman. Date: 1951-10-17. Reporter: Fisk.
Assignment: Train vs. auto — Victory & Balboa. 2 shots wrecked truck. 4 shots of Bernard Warren, victim at scene”.

Ben Avenue

August 27, 2012August 27, 2012Posted in CrimeTagged accident, Ben Avenue, Electrocution, fire hydrant, Irma Zamora, north hollywood, Stacey Lee Schreiber, Water2 Comments

Last Wednesday evening, August 22nd, a speeding teen from Glendale jumped the curb at Magnolia and Ben and decapitated a fire hydrant and concrete light pole. 4,800 volts of lethally electrified water gushed out. Two women, Stacey Lee Schreiber, 39, and Irma Zamora, 40, raced to help and were killed when they stepped into the high voltage water. The teen driver survived.

Curiosity and morbidity drove me over to Ben Avenue in North Hollywood yesterday. I parked near the accident corner. A woman placed flowers at a temporary shrine where many candles and hand-written notes expressed grievance and condolence.

Ben Avenue needs no more pain.

Broken sidewalks and brown lawns, dog shit and peeling paint, rattan blinds pulled down outside windows, the 5200 block of Ben Avenue is a hanging-on kind of place oddly jumbled and cheaply built, where 1940s houses sit next to 1960s apartments and nothing seems permanent but the certainty of sadness, decline and loss.

And something tragic and preventable blew in here last week, and murdered without reason, two innocent women who knew nothing but empathy for their executioner.