US 66 via Foothill Blvd in Azuza/Glendora?

[Exit58]

I've been looking at the maps planning my summer road trip finally completely US 66 through California, but I have come to a problem. Foothill Blvd branches off a couple blocks north of Alosta in Azusa through Glendora. It looks as though this alignment of Foothill dates to at least the 1940's, and I have not been able to get a clear answer as to wether or not this was a section of US 66 or not. State maps are no help from that time - by the time they became useful the highway was already routed along Alosta. Anyone have any ideas before I write it off?

[djsekani]

According to this website, that stretch of Foothill was part of Route 66 back in the '30s. Currently though Alosta is signed as Historic Route 66 through Azusa, and the actual street name is even Route 66 through Glendora.

[Max Rockatansky]

Not only that it becomes Colorado Blvd in Pasadena.  Basically follow the curves in the road on Foothill in San Bernardino directly west until it becomes Colorado Blvd in Pasadena...look for the Colorado Street Bridge.  Originally 66 ran in on Figueroa south from there but you need to jump on the Arroyo Seco Parkway/CA 110 (a later alignment of 66) to connect the segments to Sunset Blvd. 

I wouldn't waste too much time with Foothill until San Bernardino though.  Almost all the old 66 structures are gone between Pasadena and San Bernardino. You should definitely hit all of Santa Monica, Sunset, Figueroa and Colorado through Pasadena before jumping on I-210 to get to San Bernardino.  San Bernardino has a couple US 66 museums in the city that have a decent amount of original signage like the McDonald's Museum...  Mount Vernon Avenue is where 66 cut north in San Bernardino where it would become Cajon Blvd in Cajon Pass. 

[sparker]

A few old 66 artifacts still remain in San Bernardino and vicinity -- AFAIK, the old "wigwam" motel along the north side of Foothill Blvd. in Rialto still stands (at least it did as of late 2012).  And although a later alignment of US 66 in San Bernardino itself shifted to 5th Street west of Mt. Vernon, part of the original pavement still exists a block south along 4th Street, the original alignment, which terminates at the north foot of the old (but still in use) Mt. Vernon bridge over the BNSF tracks, which carried old US 395 and, after 1947, US 91 as well.  IIRC, full all-directional access from Mt. Vernon to 4th was cut off several years ago.  4th Street itself was widened (but the original segmented concrete pavement still served as the center portion) as an access road to the container facility on the north side of the RR yard below the bridge.     

[Exit58]

According to this website, that stretch of Foothill was part of Route 66 back in the '30s. Currently though Alosta is signed as Historic Route 66 through Azusa, and the actual street name is even Route 66 through Glendora.

Yeah that's actually the site I found earlier! I knew about the Monrovia alignment, but I was wondering about the Glendora Foothill alignment.

I wouldn't waste too much time with Foothill until San Bernardino though.  Almost all the old 66 structures are gone between Pasadena and San Bernardino. You should definitely hit all of Santa Monica, Sunset, Figueroa and Colorado through Pasadena before jumping on I-210 to get to San Bernardino.  San Bernardino has a couple US 66 museums in the city that have a decent amount of original signage like the McDonald's Museum...  Mount Vernon Avenue is where 66 cut north in San Bernardino where it would become Cajon Blvd in Cajon Pass.

That's honestly the most nostalgic part for me. My home town has Foothill/US 66 running right through it, between Pasadena and San Berdoo. It'll be a nice throwback.

[sparker]

Heading east from downtown Pasadena, (pre-1964) State Legislative Route 9, signed as US 66, headed east via Colorado Blvd. to Altadena Ave. in the east part of town.  It turned north at Altadena because prior to about 1934 Colorado Blvd. was not finished east of the Pasadena city limits.  The route then turned east on Foothill Blvd., continuing east to that route's end at Mountain Ave. in Monrovia, where it turned south again back to Huntington Drive.  That is the "Monrovia" alignment cited in the earlier post.  About 1934 Colorado Blvd. was extended east along the (then) Santa Fe RR tracks into western Arcadia alongside the Santa Anita race track.  Originally it continued east onto Arcadia's Colorado Street; but about 1935-36 an extension SE along the racetrack property line, dubbed Colorado Place, was constructed as a shortcut to Huntington Drive, then as now the main E-W street in Arcadia & Monrovia.  The Division of Highways designated the Colorado Blvd./Colorado Place/Huntington Drive thoroughfare as an eastern section of Legislative Route 161 (mostly signed as CA 134 west of Pasadena) and promptly rerouted US 66 over the shorter new alignment.  The Foothill Blvd. section of SLR 9 remained in the highway system and, for a short time after WW II, was actually signed as a western section of CA 30.  Of course, all these were relinquished to local agencies when I-210 was constructed in the late '60's -- except for the entire length of Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena and the former SLR 161 section east to the I-210/Huntington Drive interchange in Arcadia; that was retained as unsigned CA 248 in order to maintain a state-maintained E-W route through the area (it also included some sporadic "straggler" US 66 signs) until I-210 was finally completed through Pasadena in 1976.  Eventually CA 248 was decommissioned by the late '80's or early '90's. 

[TheStranger]

  The Foothill Blvd. section of SLR 9 remained in the highway system and, for a short time after WW II, was actually signed as a western section of CA 30. 

Interesting!  Do you have any maps showing this?  (Photos would be even more amazing but that would be pretty incredible if those exisetd)

As far as I had known, Route 30's original western terminus was the 66/30 junction east of San Dimas, with 30 being extended west to the Glendora Curve (today's 210/57 interchange) after US 66 was decommissioned.

[sparker]

As a kid growing up in nearby Glendale in the '50's, I do remember seeing CA 30 signs (of the old "bear" variety) at the corner of Altadena Ave. and Foothill Blvd. until about 1958, when they seemed to have been taken down (the family's favorite Italian restaurant, Dino's, was only a couple of blocks away, so we were in the area often).  However, Gousha street maps of the area clearly showed this section as Highway 30 until about 1961 (about the time that company altered its street map appearance).  If you can locate a Gousha Central L.A. street map from about 1957 or so (IIRC, its mapping extended east to about the Pasadena/Arcadia line), it should indicate such status (unfortunately, all my original copies, likely snatched from the Shell station on my way home from school, got lost in the shuffle, most likely during a residential move).   

[Exit58]

As a kid growing up in nearby Glendale in the '50's, I do remember seeing CA 30 signs (of the old "bear" variety) at the corner of Altadena Ave. and Foothill Blvd. until about 1958, when they seemed to have been taken down (the family's favorite Italian restaurant, Dino's, was only a couple of blocks away, so we were in the area often).  However, Gousha street maps of the area clearly showed this section as Highway 30 until about 1961 (about the time that company altered its street map appearance).  If you can locate a Gousha Central L.A. street map from about 1957 or so (IIRC, its mapping extended east to about the Pasadena/Arcadia line), it should indicate such status (unfortunately, all my original copies, likely snatched from the Shell station on my way home from school, got lost in the shuffle, most likely during a residential move).

Sure enough. From 1956.



Very neat! Hwy 30 is the other route I have been hunting around, and I always thought it furthest west it went was 57/210 as well. With this in mind, I wonder what the original route number was planned to be for the Foothill Fwy from Pasadena to San Dimas. 66, 30, 118, or something else? I know the portion from San Dimas to San Berdoo was originally supposed to be SR 30 until all of 30 was transferred to 210. IIRC the earliest segments of this route were signed SR 30, but legislatively 210 no?

[Max Rockatansky]

As a kid growing up in nearby Glendale in the '50's, I do remember seeing CA 30 signs (of the old "bear" variety) at the corner of Altadena Ave. and Foothill Blvd. until about 1958, when they seemed to have been taken down (the family's favorite Italian restaurant, Dino's, was only a couple of blocks away, so we were in the area often).  However, Gousha street maps of the area clearly showed this section as Highway 30 until about 1961 (about the time that company altered its street map appearance).  If you can locate a Gousha Central L.A. street map from about 1957 or so (IIRC, its mapping extended east to about the Pasadena/Arcadia line), it should indicate such status (unfortunately, all my original copies, likely snatched from the Shell station on my way home from school, got lost in the shuffle, most likely during a residential move).

Sure enough. From 1956.



Very neat! Hwy 30 is the other route I have been hunting around, and I always thought it furthest west it went was 57/210 as well. With this in mind, I wonder what the original route number was planned to be for the Foothill Fwy from Pasadena to San Dimas. 66, 30, 118, or something else? I know the portion from San Dimas to San Berdoo was originally supposed to be SR 30 until all of 30 was transferred to 210. IIRC the earliest segments of this route were signed SR 30, but legislatively 210 no?

Interesting to see the US 66A running on the original Figuroa alignment and US 101A running on what is CA 1.  You'd never see a dual termination point like US 60/70 today with something like US 99 continuing straight through northbound. 

[sparker]

Thanks, guys!  Been 50+ years since I've seen a Gousha LA map from that era -- certainly brings back memories (a mixed bag, to be sure!).  FYI, up until about 2002, when 210 was completed from 57 to 15, there were still white paddles along both Base Line in north Pomona and along 19th street in Upland that marked the streets as CA 30.  Didn't see a lot of Caltrans milepost paddles on suburban streets (usually limited to more open areas), but there were certainly plenty in Upland.  If memory serves me, some remained post-2007 (when 210 was built out to 215), well after the old CA 30 had been relinquished. 

[Exit58]

Thanks, guys!  Been 50+ years since I've seen a Gousha LA map from that era -- certainly brings back memories (a mixed bag, to be sure!).  FYI, up until about 2002, when 210 was completed from 57 to 15, there were still white paddles along both Base Line in north Pomona and along 19th street in Upland that marked the streets as CA 30.  Didn't see a lot of Caltrans milepost paddles on suburban streets (usually limited to more open areas), but there were certainly plenty in Upland.  If memory serves me, some remained post-2007 (when 210 was built out to 215), well after the old CA 30 had been relinquished.

Yeah I traversed that area recently and put the photos up on my website if you wanna check them out. Mile markers are still posted along the route in Upland and Rancho Cucamonga. I recently drove the old 30 Fwy in Redlands/San Berdoo and even it still had 30 mile markers. All 30 shield are gone though. Surprisingly, Caltrans just put up a 30 shield at the corner of Base Line and Foothill in San Dimas/La Verne.

[Exit58]

Interesting to see the US 66A running on the original Figuroa alignment and US 101A running on what is CA 1.  You'd never see a dual termination point like US 60/70 today with something like US 99 continuing straight through northbound.

Was modern SR 1 ever signed as US 101? I have never seen a map with just 101, only 101A.

[Max Rockatansky]

Interesting to see the US 66A running on the original Figuroa alignment and US 101A running on what is CA 1.  You'd never see a dual termination point like US 60/70 today with something like US 99 continuing straight through northbound.

Was modern SR 1 ever signed as US 101? I have never seen a map with just 101, only 101A.

Nope, the mainline US 101 always went to downtown L.A.  Back then it would have used what is the I-5 corridor to San Diego:

http://www.usends.com/mapguy/MapPgs/mapz101.htm

[sparker]

Originally, the PCH from Capistrano to Oxnard was Legislative Route 60; the original 1924 intent was to sign it as Sign Route 3.  Haven't ever seen pix of signage as such; the Alternate 101 designation was effective about 1937 and lasted until the 1964 renumbering (the cover of the Jan/Feb issue of California Highways & Public Works showed a green CA 1 sign being erected somewhere around Point Dume).  That section was never part of mainline US 101, always bannered Alternate 101. 

[Exit58]

Nope, the mainline US 101 always went to downtown L.A.  Back then it would have used what is the I-5 corridor to San Diego:

http://www.usends.com/mapguy/MapPgs/mapz101.htm

Right. I know in it's later life it was routed along the Santa Ana in its entirety. I always found it strange a two lane road that constantly had (and still has) washouts could be considered an alternative for a major road like the 101.

[Max Rockatansky]

Nope, the mainline US 101 always went to downtown L.A.  Back then it would have used what is the I-5 corridor to San Diego:

http://www.usends.com/mapguy/MapPgs/mapz101.htm

Right. I know in it's later life it was routed along the Santa Ana in its entirety. I always found it strange a two lane road that constantly had (and still has) washouts could be considered an alternative for a major road like the 101.

Much different ball game with highways back in those days.  Hell in the 1930s it would have been acceptable for a US Highway to run on a dirt or gravel road.  A washout prone area probably didn't really mean all that much by the standards of the day.

[sparker]

Remember that back in 1937 when Alternate 101 was designated, the country was still in the Depression; since the coasts of L.A. and environs were envisioned as a tourist destination, it likely was deemed appropriate to provide a US-shielded route as a known-quantity access facility to the coastal areas.  Besides, it provided a convenient edge-of-the-continent-or-close-to-it point at which to terminate US 66, 6, and 91. 

[mrsman]

In my view, it's not so unusual that the original 66 corridor meandered around a little bit.  Take a look at CA-58 west of Bakersfield.  It follows Rosedale Hwy and then at CA-43 it stops cold.  You have to turn north for 1/2 mile and then continue west on CA-58.  This area is all flat terrain, there is no reason why the roadway couldn't just continue straight west, except when you consider that the roads probably were designed to stay along property lines, as much as possible to minimize the amount of eminent domain needed.

So 66 also meandered along the same way for a while.  But now, with regard to teh Glendora section, you see that Foothill stops at Citrus and then you go north a bit and then continue along Foothill.  At some point, Foothill got built up and the new corridor through Glendora became Alosta Ave.  Originally, you would take Foothill through to Citrus make a right on Citrus and then a left on Alosta.  But after a while, the city bought enough property to eliminate this crooked corridor and created the Alosta curve to make the transition from Foothill to Alosta more smooth.

[NE2]

Doesn't show sign route numbers, but still relevant: http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~247299~5515360:Los-Angeles-County-

More maps here: http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/view/search?q=pub_title=%22California%20Highway%20Transportation%20Survey%2C%201934.%22

[Mapmikey]

A few old 66 artifacts still remain in San Bernardino and vicinity -- AFAIK, the old "wigwam" motel along the north side of Foothill Blvd. in Rialto still stands (at least it did as of late 2012).  And although a later alignment of US 66 in San Bernardino itself shifted to 5th Street west of Mt. Vernon, part of the original pavement still exists a block south along 4th Street, the original alignment, which terminates at the north foot of the old (but still in use) Mt. Vernon bridge over the BNSF tracks, which carried old US 395 and, after 1947, US 91 as well.  IIRC, full all-directional access from Mt. Vernon to 4th was cut off several years ago.  4th Street itself was widened (but the original segmented concrete pavement still served as the center portion) as an access road to the container facility on the north side of the RR yard below the bridge.     

Here is a picture of Foothill EB at 4th/5th.  The US 66 shield is a little small but I think it is directing traffic to use 4th here.

http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA054655.html

GMSV shows the center concrete segment still present on 4th but only east of Gateway Park.

Here is pic of US 66 ALT - http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA077100.html

The 66postards.com site is a good resource for pictures for cities along US 66's path nationwide.  It includes pics that prove US 460 was signed in St Louis itself among other things...also good is that they arrange everything in geographic order...

Before the Figueroa Tunnel was complete - http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA087200.html

[Max Rockatansky]

A few old 66 artifacts still remain in San Bernardino and vicinity -- AFAIK, the old "wigwam" motel along the north side of Foothill Blvd. in Rialto still stands (at least it did as of late 2012).  And although a later alignment of US 66 in San Bernardino itself shifted to 5th Street west of Mt. Vernon, part of the original pavement still exists a block south along 4th Street, the original alignment, which terminates at the north foot of the old (but still in use) Mt. Vernon bridge over the BNSF tracks, which carried old US 395 and, after 1947, US 91 as well.  IIRC, full all-directional access from Mt. Vernon to 4th was cut off several years ago.  4th Street itself was widened (but the original segmented concrete pavement still served as the center portion) as an access road to the container facility on the north side of the RR yard below the bridge.     

Here is a picture of Foothill EB at 4th/5th.  The US 66 shield is a little small but I think it is directing traffic to use 4th here.

http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA054655.html

GMSV shows the center concrete segment still present on 4th but only east of Gateway Park.

Here is pic of US 66 ALT - http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA077100.html

The 66postards.com site is a good resource for pictures for cities along US 66's path nationwide.  It includes pics that prove US 460 was signed in St Louis itself among other things...also good is that they arrange everything in geographic order...

Before the Figueroa Tunnel was complete - http://www.66postcards.com/postcards/ca/CA087200.html

I love these old photos of when that stretch between Pasadena and San Bernardino was largely just a citrus patch.  Shame about the urban sprawl...took most of those buildings along with it..

[cahwyguy]

Someone pointed out to me the claim that Route 30 (SSR 30, prior to 1964) went as far as Pasadena. I disagree, at least based on my research. Sign Route 30 corresponded to LRN 190, which started at LRN 9 (US 66) near San Dimas. There could have been a signage error or map error, but at least as far back as '53, it was starting in San Dimas (plus, there would have been no reason for the DoH to cosign US 66 and CA 30).

[hm insulators]

  The Foothill Blvd. section of SLR 9 remained in the highway system and, for a short time after WW II, was actually signed as a western section of CA 30. 

Interesting!  Do you have any maps showing this?  (Photos would be even more amazing but that would be pretty incredible if those exisetd)

As far as I had known, Route 30's original western terminus was the 66/30 junction east of San Dimas, with 30 being extended west to the Glendora Curve (today's 210/57 interchange) after US 66 was decommissioned.

I never knew that about Foothill through Monrovia being a western extension of California 30. I was born in Glendora and when we went to Pasadena, we would use Gladstone Street to Irwindale Road, north on Irwindale to its terminus at Foothill Blvd. (east to Azusa)/Huntington Drive (west through Duarte and Monrovia). We would use Huntington to Mountain Avenue, where we would go north until Foothill Blvd. picked up again, then go west into Pasadena. (A common destination for us was the big Sears store in Hastings Ranch Shopping Center at the corner of Foothill and Michillinda.) When we moved to La Canada in 1966, we would go through Pasadena by going north on Michillinda, then west on Sierra Madre Blvd. Sometimes we would use Washington Blvd. through Pasadena, then turn north on Lincoln Avenue which was then part of California 118, and follow 118 to La Canada. Other times we would use New York Avenue and Woodbury Road through Altadena, picking up the little stretch of the old Foothill Freeway (now an extension of Woodbury Road) at Arroyo Blvd. This of course was long before the 210 was built.

[sparker]

Apparently the western section of sign route 30 was considered to be a discontinuous section of the highway that commenced eastward from San Dimas.  I don't recall that any multiplexing of 30 on US 66 took place.  My guess as to why the signage was placed on the western section circa 1949 and removed by 1957 was to provide a signed alternate route to the US 66 segment along Huntington Drive in Arcadia and Monrovia, which then, as well as today, traverses a densely developed business area.  Routing a major highway through a downtown area had always been a mixed blessing -- while higher volumes of traffic held the potential of greater aggregate business, they also often resulted in both localized congestion along the facility as well as posing a safety issue (largely related to through truck traffic) for local customers of the businesses along the route.  Often the solution was to relocate the state-maintained highway a moderate distance from downtown (as was done with the US 101 routing through Whittier and Montebello when it was moved from Beverly Blvd. to Whittier Blvd. circa 1929), relieving the downtown core.  Here along US 66, the original routing was along the western CA 30; the downtown routing came a few years later with the eastern extension of Colorado Blvd.  IIRC, the CA 30 routing (from east to west:  north onMountain Ave., west on Foothill Blvd., and Altadena Ave. in Pasadena as the connection back to US 66) was also signed as a truck route; the idea, of course, was to divert as much through traffic as possible away from the downtown Monrovia and Arcadia areas. 

I'm also surmising that the demise of the signage a few years later attested to the success of the CA 30 alternate.  Between Pasadena and Arcadia, Foothill Blvd. passes through Sierra Madre -- functionally, the Beverly Hills of the east Foothill area.  I can't imagine the local residents taking too kindly to scores of trucks roaring through their pricey neighborhood -- and they certainly had the resources to make their objections loudly heard.  It's not hard to imagine the Division of Highways keeping the CA 30 signage intact until traffic patterns were consistent, then removing the route signage to show the locals that they were doing something about the problem -- particularly since right around that time ('57) the Foothill Freeway/I-210 routing was formally adopted  -- and it was only a matter of time (actually 12 years) until that permanent solution would be in place.