Ridge Route: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Ridge-route-orange.jpg|framed|Vintage postcard of the Ridge Route]] |
[[Image:Ridge-route-orange.jpg|framed|Vintage postcard of the Ridge Route]] |
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The '''Ridge Route''' was California's first highway linking the [[Los Angeles Basin]] with the [[San Joaquin Valley]]. |
The '''Ridge Route''' was California's first highway linking the [[Los Angeles Basin]] with the [[San Joaquin Valley]], and was particularly used to travel from the city of [[Los Angeles]] and environs to [[Bakersfield]]. |
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Surveying began in 1912 on what was one of the largest and most daunting feats of road engineering ever attempted; so daunting a task, in fact, that there was serious discussion about splitting the state in two. The [[Automobile Club of Southern California]] as well as political interests led the charge to build the highway and preserve the state. |
Surveying began in 1912 on what was one of the largest and most daunting feats of road engineering ever attempted; so daunting a task, in fact, that there was serious discussion about splitting the state in two. The [[Automobile Club of Southern California]] as well as political interests led the charge to build the highway and preserve the state. |
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Revision as of 17:55, 12 July 2004
The Ridge Route was California's first highway linking the Los Angeles Basin with the San Joaquin Valley, and was particularly used to travel from the city of Los Angeles and environs to Bakersfield.
Surveying began in 1912 on what was one of the largest and most daunting feats of road engineering ever attempted; so daunting a task, in fact, that there was serious discussion about splitting the state in two. The Automobile Club of Southern California as well as political interests led the charge to build the highway and preserve the state.
Completed in 1915, the highway got its name because it followed the ridge line of the San Gabriel and Tehachapi Mountains. Mostly bypassed by 1938 with the coming of U.S. Highway 99, a 30-mile long, 20-foot-wide stretch of the original Ridge Route between Castaic just off Interstate 5 and Highway 138 in Gorman is paved in concrete and is still passable.
None of the businesses that once dotted the route remain, but travelers can catch a glimpse of the occasional wall or foundation of a long-lost building. Many of those same buildings were intentionally destroyed by the U.S. Forest Service in the 1960s because they were used as flophouses by hippies, resulting in unsanitary conditions and fire danger. Remains of the buildings can be glimpsed in the canyons. One foundation, that of the Tumble Inn at about the halfway point of the trip, is a stone structure that still bears the words "TUMBLE INN" carved in one of its steps. A 1928 motor tour book described the Tumble Inn thus: Rooms, dbl. $2, meals, gas, free camp space, water and rest rooms. A small resort of far-reaching vista. Almost nothing remains of Sandberg's Summit Hotel, which burned down in 1961. It was advertised as having both running water and indoor plumbing and was the stop of choice for the well-heeled traveller. Unsubstantiated rumors of illegal gambling and even prostitution abounded.
The complete road from Castaic to Gorman had more than 600 curves and 110 full circles with few guard rails or turnouts. One section had so many switchbacks it was referred to as the Grapevine. Other named features included Swede's Cut, the Newhall Tunnel and Horseshoe Bend overlooking Liebre Gulch.
What is today a fairly brief drive of less than 30 minutes on Interstate 5 took on the old route three hours with sightseeing stops on the old route. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
The route's present end at Highway 138 was the site of the Butterfield Stage stop between Los Angeles and Bakersfield. The remainder of the Ridge Route was covered up by US 99/Interstate 5 with a few fragments of broken pavement visible from the new highway.