Why it's there: Pacific Electric

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Thursday, August 9, 2007
Matt Hochberg

You may have noticed as you walk down Sunset Boulevard to Hollwood Boulevard a sign on top of the building that references a Pacific Electric company.

Pacific Electric was the name of the Pacific Electric Railway which was a mass transit system in the greater Los Angeles area using streetcars, light rail and buses. At its greatest extent, around 1925, the system connected cities in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and to Riverside County and San Bernardino County in the Inland Empire.

So why is it there? Well, Walt Disney loved trains and this logo on the building above the L.A. Prop Cinema Storage store is a reference to Walt's love and fascination with trains. Additionally, Imagineers drew upon the architecture of the Pacific Electric stations to come up with the building for the Prop Cinema Storage store.

It's very possible that the reason Pacific Electric was selected may have been the company's tag line of "World's Wonderland lines" which fits in well with the entire Walt Disney World theme of fantasy and magic. The building marking of 1928 has a double reference, first to the landmark Pacific Electric garage being built as well as marking the birth of Mickey Mouse in 1928.