Category Archives: US 101

Historic US 101 in Agoura Hills, CA

Looking east along Vendell Road in 2013.

US 101 has seen many changes over the years in the Los Angeles area. Most of the route is heavily urbanized with housing tracts and businesses lining the roadway. Parts of the original roadway have also been incorporated into the modern freeway. All this leaves little chance for any original paving to remain intact.

There is one exception in the Agoura Hills area west of Los Angeles. A short section of 1930 concrete remains, though its days are limited. Known as Vendell Road, it branches off of Agoura Road just west of Liberty Canyon Road (Exit 34 on US 101). In a different twist, modern Agoura Road follows the original 1913 alignment. This roadway was bypassed in 1949 when this portion of US 101 was upgraded to an expressway and realigned. Later improvements to freeway still ignored this section and left it intact.

1944 aerial view of the area. Liberty Canyon Road is at center. Courtesy – UCSB
1952 aerial view of the area now showing expressway construction. The modern freeway follows the expressway alignment. Liberty Canyon is at center. Courtesy – UCSB
Looking west toward Agoura Road in 2013.
Date stamp on Vendell Road from July 28, 1930. This one of a few remaining on the roadway.
Toward the east end of the roadway in 2013

Today, construction is underway on a wildlife crossing that will obliterate the old paving and dramatically change this section of highway. The new bridge will be of great benefit to local and regional wildlife, allowing a safe crossing of a major transportation corridor. Despite the loss of the old road, I do look forward to seeing how it all looks in the end. The construction is just yet another lesson in making sure to take photos of things when you can while you can. You never know if it will be there when you return.

For more information about the project:

Featured Image – 12/4/2021

From the Archives – 1959

Looking southerly at US 101 (Now I-5) at Avery Parkway in 1959. Courtesy – Caltrans.

A lot has changed in southern Orange County since 1959. Gone are most of the orange groves and wide-open spaces. Today, this view is very different but a surprising amount of what is seen does remain. This photo, taken in 1959, shows the US 101 freeway and the original alignment to the right, known as Camino Capistrano. In the intervening years, the roadway has been widened at least four times. Instead of a four-lane freeway, it is now eight lanes plus two HOV lanes. Even today, the roadway is being widened yet again, this time to add an additional HOV lane in each direction. The State 73 freeway interchange is also missing from this view. It would be added in 1996.

Some of the concrete visible in this photo on both the freeway and old alignment still remain to this day. It is truly amazing to see what things looked like before they became one giant suburban mess.

Old US 101 in San Diego

A reader, Mike Evans, recently contacted me regarding curb stamps along old US 101 near Middletown in San Diego. He found something which, to be honest, is most surprising. The City of San Diego had the practice of stamping the street name on the curb near intersections. As these intersections get upgraded with ADA compliant ramps, some of these stamps get lost. This one, however, was still there by virtue of a quirk of fate. Along Pacific Highway, between Palm St and Sassafras St, there is a stamp for “Atlantic St”. This stamp is mid-block, which seems odd at first as this isn’t where they are normally stamped. In this case, the stamp was retained but the intersection wasn’t. At some point, a short section of Quince St intersected Pacific Highway. As this only ran a short distance and was cut off by the railroad tracks, it was fairly easy to abandon and vacate. So, after the city did that, the intersection was erased, but the curb with the name remained.

I was surprised the stamp even existed, as I was under the impression that it would have been obliterated when Pacific Highway was widened in the 1940’s. I do wish to thank Mike Evans for finding this as it is a unique part of San Diego history that wasn’t easy to find. All photos are courtesy of Mike Evans. Additional photos show US 101 between Downtown and just north of Old Town.

East Los Angeles Interchange Signage

In 1958, when the East Los Angeles Interchange started to be built, the routes that were planned to go through it were a little different that what is there today. I-10 was originally to be State 26 and I-5 was a part of US 99. US 101 remained the same. State 60 was to be State 26. The routing of the interstates through cities wasn’t quite settled yet and many of the roads were planned to be State or US routes.

After the signs were installed, some of them were temporarily overlaid until the Pomona Freeway connections were completed. A portion of the original route planned for that freeway, State 26, was visible. While some have speculated it was actually US 60 underneath there, reverting to State 60 after the 1964 route renumbering, these plans show otherwise. How far east the State Route 26 signage would have gone does remain unknown. It is likely it would have gone at least as far as the 57, if not all the way to the 71, as US 60 was effectively terminated at the present junction of I-10 and State 71 about 1960.

1958 plans for signage at the I-5/I-10/US 101/SR-60 Interchange (58-7vc41)
1958 plans for signage at the I-5/I-10/US 101/SR-60 Interchange (58-7vc41)
Plans in 1960 reflecting the shift to more Interstates routes (60-7vc5)
Plans in 1960 reflecting the shift to more Interstates routes (60-7vc5

For additional photos and information about the interchange, head on over to the East Los Angeles Interchange page.

From the Archives – 1956

Looking south toward Mission Bay. Courtesy – Caltrans

The first section of the San Diego Freeway in San Diego (US 101 at the time) to be constructed was the Mission Bay Bypass in 1954. Elements of this construction can still be seen today, such as some older curbing at the intersection of Damon Ave and Santa Fe St. North and south of this small section of freeway, it was still a narrower four-lane roadway with some expressway sections. Between 1966 (north) and 1969 (south), the adjacent sections were constructed, completing I-5 in the City of San Diego.