Santa Monica's first electric public transportation was called the Santa Monica Air Line, built in 1875 and intended as a steam railroad from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. The first train of this electric rail line ran in October 1875 and was known as "The Los Angeles & Independent RR." The Ocean Park: Substation No. 40 was built in 1896, had four motor-generator sets of 3250 kw, housed in a brick building. Later a Santa Monica via Sawtelle Line, built in 1896 where you could catch a car and travel from Santa Monica to Ocean Avenue and Trolleyway to Windward Avenue in Venice. (Electric Railway Historical Association of southern California website http://wwwerha.org/index.htm A few electric automobiles were spotted in Santa Monica early on, as depicted in the photograph of an electric car from 1919 parked in the alley behind 435 Georgina Avenue in Santa Monica. Digital photographs courtesy of the Santa Monica Image Archives http://digital.smpl.org/
