Rich, I think the " wire hangers " you were seeing were for flower baskets and / or flag poles. ( Or perhaps electric trolley buses in later years.) I just leafed through my PE and LAUPT books, and neither show any electric trolley wires over Alameda Ave. PE accessed their freight terminal on the South side of LAUPT from Aliso St., while LARy accessed their drop - off loop from Macy St. on the North side of LAUPT. The PE link was severed in 1952 when the now Hollywood Fwy. was built on the former location of Aliso St. This was also when Phillipe's original building was demolished and they moved to their current location at North Alameda and Vignes St. The LARy loop was later used by RTD buses.
Although the opening of LAUPT removed Espee passenger trains from the street running on Alameda Ave., it was the construction of the connecter from the 1st crossing of the Los Angeles River just South of Dayton Ave Tower, to the U.P.'s Glendale / Pasadena branch tracks along the East Bank of the river, that removed most of the through freights from Alameda Ave. This connection and the U.P. trackage rights allowed Espee freights to stay on the East Bank line from Dayton Ave. Tower, down to East Bank Jct. for Sunset Route freights, and South to Redondo Tower for L.A. Harbor line freights.