These two open-sided cars represent the earliest of trolley-car designs, not much different
than the horse- or mule-drawn cars which were their predecessors. Bodies were built by local
shops, probably the Los Angeles Railway, and placed on wheel assemblies (called trucks) forged
by car building companies in the East, these small cars were quickly replaced by closed trolley
bodies and by a unique design called the California-type. "California cars" have an enclosed center section with benches, while on each end the benches are out in the open air. Only in fair-weather California would the unusual design be very practical, thus the application of the regional
classification to its name.
  
    The classic look of the San Francisco cable car is a California-type design. Most of the trolley
cars that survived in-service into the 20th century were built on a pair of 4-wheeled trucks, rather
than on only one; the former could carry more passengers with greater stability. Most trolleys in Los Angeles were equipped with traction motors under the body which, powered by overhead electric
lines, transmitted locomotion to the wheels. Hopping on and off small, open, moving cars like these
as they rattled down the street was a popular male habit during its day. When these cars, outfitted
with small automobile-type motors, ran at Travel Town, safety considerations forbade riders from recreating that custom.