A streetcar passes the Southwest Museum and Mt. Washington in 1920. Click above to visit the Metro Libarary's photostream on Flickr.

Los Angeles Railway "motormanettes" (circa 1942)Did you know that the Metro Transportation Library & Archives Flickr photo site has grown to more than 7,700 digital images?The collection of local area photographs dating back to the 1880s has been online for just over 3 years, and this week it surpassed 1.5 million views.

Did you know that the Metro Transportation Library & Archive’s Flickr photo site has grown to more than 7,700 digital images?

The collection of local area photographs dating back to the 1880s has been online for just over 3 years, and this week it surpassed 1.5 million views. That reinforces what we’ve long known about Los Angeles transit and transportation — people who love Los Angeles also want to see what used to be, what could have been, and what is coming around the corner (or down the tracks) in the near future.

The Laurel Canyon trolley in 1910, a view of 3rd Street just before Angels Flight was built, what Hollywood might have looked like with overhead rail…

The Library’s Primary Resources blog takes a closer look at some of the fascinating but lesser-known images and collections on their Flickr site — one of the best resources around for researching an integral part of the past, present and future of Southern California.