CA 27

[Max Rockatansky]

Recently I drove CA 27 south from US 101 through Topanga Canyon to CA 1 near Malibu.  Probably the most interesting aspect to CA 27 (aside from Topanga Canyon) is the almost total lack of variance in the alignment that was first signed in 1934.  I did some looking into Old Topanga Canyon Road and it definitely wasn't part of the highway according to 1935 Division of Highways maps:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/06/california-state-route-27.html

[sparker]

Recently I drove CA 27 south from US 101 through Topanga Canyon to CA 1 near Malibu.  Probably the most interesting aspect to CA 27 (aside from Topanga Canyon) is the almost total lack of variance in the alignment that was first signed in 1934.  I did some looking into Old Topanga Canyon Road and it definitely wasn't part of the highway according to 1935 Division of Highways maps:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2019/06/california-state-route-27.html

Oddly enough, Gousha S.F. Valley street maps in the '50's and '60's indicated a couple of oddities out in the Valley "flatlands":  where CA 27/Topanga Canyon curves around a small hill just north of the US 101 interchange, the maps showed the state alignment (shown as a wide red line) plowing straight through the hill, while the curving alignment east of the hill was shown as a local street (thin blue/black line).  For a while, the curvature a couple of miles north, between Canoga Park and Chatsworth, was shown much the same way, with the state route "straightlined" and the curvature (which had always been the alignment on the ground) as a local street.  Eventually Gousha got the northern curvature right and showed it as the state-maintained facility, but it wasn't until they started indicating divided streets with dual lines with color (yellow or brown, depending on which oil company was supplied the maps) in the center that the Woodland Hills curvature was indicated as the primary alignment and the "straightlining" deleted.  Even as a kid, I found the mapping odd; with relatives living in Canoga Park, we were out there on Topanga Canyon at least twice per week after the Ventura/101 freeway was completed in early '60 -- and there was never any indication that there was to be any other alignment than the historic "around the hill" arcs, both south and north versions.