Arthur Winston: 70 Years In L.A.'s Transit Agencies

Arthur Winston has worked for Los Angeles' transit agencies for 70 years, and has missed only 1 day of work -- the day his wife died.

1 minute read

February 13, 2004, 1:00 PM PST

By Chris Steins @planetizen

"In 1924, at age 17, Mr. Winston started cleaning trolley cars for the Los Angeles Railway Co., which morphed and merged nearly half a dozen times and is now the Metropolitan Transportation Authority... In 70 years, according to the MTA, Mr. Winston has missed just a single day of work -- the day his wife died in 1988. The records show that he has never been late, never left early... The closest to him in seniority at the MTA has 25 fewer years on the job, and weeks of absences. A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Labor says he's never heard of anyone like Mr. Winston. The American Public Transportation Assn. searched and could not find anybody like him in the transit industry... The way Mr. Winston sees it, the trolleys stopped running at just the wrong moment. Just when the civil rights movement was blossoming, with a new openness afoot, Los Angeles lost its trains and became a city of distant, disconnected neighborhoods."

Thanks to Chris Steins

FULL STORY: A Working Knowledge of Life

Friday, February 13, 2004 in The Los Angeles Times

Transportation California

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.