Stopped at the light at Riverside and Vineland, I have often wondered at the peculiar Howard Colonial Building. What could the story of this building have been? Something seemed compelling and bizarre, though it housed nothing more interesting than a chiropractor and dental offices. (It still does; the waiting room, although not original and obviously renovated repeatedly, retains a nostalgic, noir-ish Valley mystique.)

It turns out this is one of the oldest and most important buildings in the San Fernando Valley. It was built by the Pacific Electric Railway in 1911 as the North Hollywood electrical substation, Substation #30. 

No. 30′s single 600 kw generator powered the Red Cars coming from Hollywood over the Cahuenga Pass, up Vineland to NoHo, then through what is now Valley Village, and as far as Van Nuys. There the current from the Van Nuys substation (#31) would take over and power the trains continuing into the West Valley. By repute, Valley travel on the PE could often be underpowered and therefore sluggish; they probably needed another generator on the route but pinch-penny thinking kept it from being built.