Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) the elevated railway, usu. that of New York (opened in 1879), but also in other cities, e.g. Chicago, where such transport systems existed.

1879		Nat. Republican (Wash., DC) 3 Apr. 4/4: A man was running [...] in a great hurry to catch the Metropolitan ‘L’ road.
1889		Eve. World (NY) 29 July 1/4: Metropolitan ‘L’ Road Suits [...] offers made by the Metropolitan Elevated Railroad.
1897		Daily Tel. 18 Feb. in Ware (1909) 164/2: We have in New York a rich man who is almost the counterpart of Hetty Green. I refer to Mr Russell Sage. He was once associated with Jay Gould, and between them they engineered the ‘L,’ or Elevated Railroad of New York, much to their advantage, as most people imagine.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 389: I went uptown in the ‘L’ right away.
1908		N.Y. Herald 10 June in Fleming Unforgettable Season (1981) 91: A goodly crowd [...] made the pilgrimage to the ball lot at the end of the ‘L’.
1914		H. Kemp ‘Away from Town’ in Cry of Youth 78: I’d put up in the Bowery for nights in a ten-cent bed / Where the dinky ‘L’ trains thunder and rattle overhead.
1919		C. Sandburg letter 31 May in Mitgang (1968) 164: All who ride surface and ‘L’ cars.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 76: And this here’s the L station, South Ferry.
1929		Frankie ‘Half-Pint’ Jaxon [song title] Get the ‘L’ on Down the Road.
1929		New Yorker 17 Aug. 21/2: People said ‘the El’ [...] the brevity and humor of the name being another evidence of the metropolitan spirit [DA].
1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 117: She found herself comparing one type of man with another, on the street, in the bus, on the L, in the subway.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 214: They walked down to the El. station and bought a paper.
1938		J. Weidman I Can Get It For You Wholesale 37: I could see the ‘L’ pillars on Sixth Avenue and hear a train going by above me.
1939		P. Di Donato Christ in Concrete 276: The El trains machined by.
1940		E. O’Neill Iceman Cometh Act I: Jees, dey’d tink dey’d gone deef if dey didn’t hear de El rattle.
1946		Chicago Daily News 24 May 1/2: The ‘L’ jam was further complicated as riders found earlier tickets voided by the increase in fares [DA].
1946		J. Evans Halo in Blood (1988) 64: I rolled out onto Wabash, dodged the el pillars south to Jackson.
1946		Time 23 Dec. 20/2: Third Avenue, blacked out and shaken by the thundering El.
1947		F. Brown Fabulous Clipjoint (1949) 30: There’s been plenty of hold-ups there under the el on Franklin.
1951		N. Algren Chicago: City On the Make 71: Under the torn and sagging ties of the long-blasted El.
1960		I. Freeman Out of the Burning (1961) 18: The front room [...] looked out under the El structure.
1965		(con. 1930s) R. Wright Lawd Today 105: They hurried in the direction of the ‘L’ station.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 35: I heard cars honking and the Third Avenue el roaring above us.
1972		(con. 1960s) R. Price ‘Big Playground’ in Antaeus Aut. 35: What if Antone, tonight, while they were waiting for the train, pushed Johnson on the el tracks?
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 2: What if Antone, tonight, while they were waiting for the train, pushed Richie on the el tracks?
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 50: You could hear the wind whistling up Wenchester Avenue under the El.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 99: After getting cleaned and dressed, I’d eat and take the El to Cicero, where an early morning train might be leaving for the south.
1993		A. Rodriguez Spidertown (1994) 47: Speeding down the el, posts flying by with sonic whooshes.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 221: A train was passing on the el running along Jamaica Avenue.

2. see L n. (3b)