In 1905 Abbot Kinney founded the resort town of Venice, California. Kinney was born to a well-appointed family, but made millions as part of the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company. After traveling the world, Kinney found himself stuck in California during a snowstorm. He ventured down to a health resort in southern California where he found his asthmatic symptoms alleviated. Kinney purchased 550 acres of land, which he named Kinneloa, and stayed.^1
Kinney sought to create a resort center near Los Angeles. He opened Venice of America on July 4, 1905, which fit Kinney's vision of "an ideal city..partly for study, partly for recreation, and partly for health."^2 The town featured an amusement area and homes along canals (instead of streets, as this was just before automobile ownership took off) as in Venice, Italy.^3
Starting in the 1880s, streetcars became popular forms of mass transportation in the United States. Dating as early as the 1840s, omnibuses pulled by horses or mules had operated in cities such as New York and Boston. Local rail-based transport gradually gained in popularity, and by the late nineteenth century companies in cities across the country were clamoring to build their own systems. The 1890s saw the rise of electric streetcars. However, Abbot Kinney looked to a more unusual form of public transportation for Venice--the miniature railway.
Kinney contacted John J. Coit, who had built a miniature railway in what is now Lincoln Park in Los Angeles. A maintenance facility was constructed on Lake Avenue (today Venice Boulevard at Abbot Kinney Boulevard). The first engine, a Prairie 2-6-2 oil burning engine at a cost of $4510 along with five cars sitting twelve passengers each, began service on July 30, 1905. Cost to ride the railway was five cents, same as for a streetcar line.^4
The #2 engine pictured above was ordered due to the popularity of the line. Coit closed his own line in Los Angeles and brought over the 2-6-0 locomotive, which was slightly smaller than the #1 engine, and ordered five additional passenger cars. The Venice Miniature Railway operated for twenty years. On February 13, 1925, the railway was closed in response to a planned Venice city ordinance to ban the operation of miniature railways in city streets.^5
1--"Abbot Kinney," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbot_Kinney.
2--Tom Moran, "In Kinney's Own Words," Venice Historical Society Journal (March/April 2004), www.veniceofamerica.org/pdf/mar_apr_2004_newsletter.pdf.
3--"Canals Venice," promotional flyer, 1920, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Canal_Historic_District#/media/File:Canals_Venice_of_America_promotional_flyer_circa_1920_side_2.png.
4--Jeffrey Stanton, "Venice Miniature Railroad," April 6, 1998, http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/rail.htm.
5--Stanton.
Kinney sought to create a resort center near Los Angeles. He opened Venice of America on July 4, 1905, which fit Kinney's vision of "an ideal city..partly for study, partly for recreation, and partly for health."^2 The town featured an amusement area and homes along canals (instead of streets, as this was just before automobile ownership took off) as in Venice, Italy.^3
Starting in the 1880s, streetcars became popular forms of mass transportation in the United States. Dating as early as the 1840s, omnibuses pulled by horses or mules had operated in cities such as New York and Boston. Local rail-based transport gradually gained in popularity, and by the late nineteenth century companies in cities across the country were clamoring to build their own systems. The 1890s saw the rise of electric streetcars. However, Abbot Kinney looked to a more unusual form of public transportation for Venice--the miniature railway.
Kinney contacted John J. Coit, who had built a miniature railway in what is now Lincoln Park in Los Angeles. A maintenance facility was constructed on Lake Avenue (today Venice Boulevard at Abbot Kinney Boulevard). The first engine, a Prairie 2-6-2 oil burning engine at a cost of $4510 along with five cars sitting twelve passengers each, began service on July 30, 1905. Cost to ride the railway was five cents, same as for a streetcar line.^4
The #2 engine pictured above was ordered due to the popularity of the line. Coit closed his own line in Los Angeles and brought over the 2-6-0 locomotive, which was slightly smaller than the #1 engine, and ordered five additional passenger cars. The Venice Miniature Railway operated for twenty years. On February 13, 1925, the railway was closed in response to a planned Venice city ordinance to ban the operation of miniature railways in city streets.^5
1--"Abbot Kinney," Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbot_Kinney.
2--Tom Moran, "In Kinney's Own Words," Venice Historical Society Journal (March/April 2004), www.veniceofamerica.org/pdf/mar_apr_2004_newsletter.pdf.
3--"Canals Venice," promotional flyer, 1920, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice_Canal_Historic_District#/media/File:Canals_Venice_of_America_promotional_flyer_circa_1920_side_2.png.
4--Jeffrey Stanton, "Venice Miniature Railroad," April 6, 1998, http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/rail.htm.
5--Stanton.