Not a neighborhood route, but in late 1950's, my H.S. friend had news racks in SW Los Angeles (Redondo Beach & Torrance) from 5-7 AM. Paper was the Long Beach Independent. Coin boxes meant no collection deadbeats. Racks were chained to telephone poles, light poles, bus benches or other paper's racks in front of stores. I did the route while he was on vacation. Only excitement was at a rack in front of a Liquor store one morning. The alarm was going off, store glass was broken out. Sped to a nearby cop hangout, reported burglary & finished route. Guess who became suspects? Don