Flickr/Metro LIbrary and Archive The Blue Line opening on July 14, 1990.
Urban folklore in Southern California claims it was the car companies that engineered the destruction of the Los Angeles streetcar system.
Unfettered by a lack of rail, and filled to the brim with Angeleno enthusiasm, Los Angeles' highway network grew and grew and grew - to the point that the city is now synonymous with freeways and traffic.
But the City of Angels also boasts the most trafficked light-rail system in the United States, which opened to passengers on July 14, 1990 - 27 years after the closure of the last streetcar.
Business Insider is taking a look back at the first two and a half decades of Metro, which now serves 350,000 riders every weekday, via its 80 stations throughout LA County.