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ChineseCrown Coach lives on — in redevelopment
[tags]los angeles, downtown los angeles, crown coach, school bus[/tags]
Crown Coach was a Los Angeles builder of school buses, fire trucks and other large vehicles. Its former Washington Boulevard factory in downtown L.A. might see redevelopment once the site is cleaned.
Credit: Wikipedia
Crown Coach has a storied place in Los Angeles history. It was a company that went out of business because it did its job too well. It was America’s premier school bus builder, and the buses are beloved by fleet managers, mechanics and bus drivers to this day. The solid, reliable buses still dominate school fleets in California, with many buses now transporting their third generation of students. The buses were so reliable that Crown did not have too many repeat customers, and ceased operations last decade.
The L.A. Downtown News reports the Washington Boulevard site of the former bus factory has been purchased by the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles. The site is presently owned by the state of California.
Crown itself was a fixture in Los Angeles until 1984, when it moved its factory operations to Chino. Crown itself went defunct in 1991, but the name was briefly revived by another bus manufacturer. Besides school buses, Crown also built a prolific fleet of fire engines. It originally started business as a carriage maker.
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The best schoolbus ever (except for the toxic diesel fumes…). Best seat was the center of the rear bench, better than Disneyland’s Alice in Wonderland ride. At some point in grade school, 6th or 7th grade, we were trained in emergency stops on this bus. We each had to take turns pulling an adult sized/weighted dummy from the driver’s seat, get in the seat, hold the steering wheel straight and pull the emergency stop. Incredible fun for 12 and 13 year olds. What ever development takes this factory’s place ought to at least have a commemorative historical marker. Crown buses rocked.