Route 66's Path Through Long Beach

There is a lot to be discovered along Route 66 as I found out while researching this article. Did you know that at first neither Los Angeles nor Santa Monica were considered part of the official route; that Long Beach was given recognition in 1932 as being a co-terminus of the road, along with Santa Monica? If you think I may have confused things with Route 6 (the Grand Army of the Republic highway), which did end in Long Beach in 1953, rest assured that I haven’t.

Read on to find more.

Automobile travel grew quickly after brothers Charles and Frank Duryea built the first American-built gasoline automobile in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1893. By 1900, six companies produced a total of 4,192 automobiles. But in 1902, the Olds Motor Works alone turned out 2,500 two-cylinder automobiles, capturing 28 percent of the total market for a $650 ($24,400 in 2024) price. In 1908, General Motors was founded and Ford’s Model T appeared − two key factors in pushing production of passenger cars to over 100,000 by 1909. By 1921, almost 10.5 million motor vehicles were registered.

Several “auto trails” were established by private auto trail associations. There was the National Old Trails Road, established in 1912, which ran from Baltimore to St. Louis and Kansas City and then through the Southwest to Los Angeles. The Lincoln Highway was the most traveled summer route. Started in 1913, it was completed in 1926. Its route took it from New York to Pittsburgh, skirting Chicago, taking in Omaha, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City and ending up in San Francisco.

In the know motorists branched off at Ely, Nevada, and took the southwest Midland Trail, established in 1913, to Los Angeles. The two northern cross-continent routes were the National Parks Highway, established in 1916, and the Yellowstone Trail, established in 1912, running from Chicago to Seattle.

With an increase in automobile ownership, it soon became apparent that better roads were needed. Slow-moving and relatively light vehicles in the nineteenth century needed nothing more than macadam, a hard clay pavement held together by a bituminous binder. Better roads were needed for these new motor vehicles, and the government listened.

In 1916, the Federal Aid Road Act was enacted, signed by President Woodrow Wilson on July 11, 1916. It authorized $75 million over five years, matched 50-50 by states, focusing on road connectivity and development. The private auto trail associations were grateful for the Federal aid, which allowed them to improve and extend roads, but it soon became apparent that a numbered highway system was needed.

On Nov. 11, 1926, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with recommendations from the American Association of State Highway Officials and state feedback, approved the U.S. Highway system.

The concept of Route 66 began that year, with 800 miles of paved roads already in place, paid largely through the 1916 act. It was a good idea to use existing “auto trails” but the entire highway which extended 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles wasn’t completely paved until 1938 and declared finished. During that time, cities argued over the route of the highway and the streets used. The choice meant money. Hotels would be built, gas stations and restaurants would open, and businesses would prosper. Everyone wanted a piece of the action.

In 1927, it looked like the road would bypass downtown Los Angeles altogether, ignoring the fact that the National Old Trails Road, established as a private auto trail, ended at 7th and Broadway. The original plan was to skirt Los Angeles going through Pasadena to the San Fernando Valley, by way of the Newhall tunnel, then north, according to the Highland Park News Herald (12/9/1927). However, massive protests from Angelenos altered the original route, ultimately ending at 7th and Broadway, the terminus of the Old Trails Road.

Route 66 was built in segments with cities battling over which boulevards or avenues in their city should be part of the designated route. The choices frequently changed, as money changed hands! I won’t go into all the road alterations, but if you are interested check out Tom Fearer’s post https://www.facebook.com/groups/historicroute66/posts/1836740073195509/

In October 1927, it seemed that Long Beach Boulevard would be the road leading south from Vernon towards the sea, but competition was brewing with Santa Monica who wanted to be the “end of the road.” There were promises (like erecting street lights along Long Beach Boulevard) and there were problems.

Probably the most pressing difficulty was securing rights to land around flood control bridges. Also, it wouldn’t terminate in downtown Long Beach but instead detour along Willow to end in San Pedro.

Though the Long Beach Boulevard Association continued their plans, things changed when, in April 1929, a new organization launched an extensive campaign to have Atlantic Avenue from Montebello to Long Beach declared the ending point of Hwy. 66. They also lured the president of the Long Beach Boulevard plan to their group.

In November 1929, the Santa Monica route was approved as the ending point of this national boulevard and on Nov. 30, 1929, an auto caravan of 50 cars left Los Angeles for Santa Monica.

However, the Atlantic Avenue contingent did not give up. In February 1930, about 100 Atlantic Avenue boosters attended the National Highway Association in New Mexico to get recognition for the boulevard as part of the highway, presenting a petition to include a second terminus at Long Beach. On March 21, 1932, Long Beach was officially designated as the western terminus of Route 66 by the Highway 66 convention held at Kingman, Arizona, and would be shown to be on all official maps. (Press Telegram 3/22/1932).

Despite the stock market crash of 1929, Long Beach continued to grow throughout most of 1930. But by late November 1930 the veneer that everything was OK began to crumble. City churches were asked to open their doors and give homeless men a night’s lodging. Fort MacArthur furnished 100 cots and bedding for the men who had come to prosperous Long Beach looking for a job. Still, the Atlantic Avenue Association continued their quest to have Highway 66 end in Long Beach.

As the Depression worsened, the Atlantic Avenue Association may have reconsidered the Route 66 designation. After all, it would lure more homeless people to their cities. Then there was the 1933 earthquake, which destroyed buildings and damaged roads.

Though a small amount of work continued on the highway during the Depression, with Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” road improvements and maintenance work began once again in earnest. From 1933 to 1938, thousands of unemployed were employed as laborers on road projects. Because of this, the entire highway from Chicago to Los Angeles had pavement by 1938.

Route 66 had many names – the Mother Road, Main Street USA, and the Will Rogers Highway. On Aug. 17, 1937, ten thousand people attended the opening of the last link of the Southern California portion of the highway, along Santa Monica Boulevard between Wilshire and Sepulveda. It commemorated the late humorist and entertainer Will Rogers, who had died in an Alaskan airplane crash two years earlier. The U.S. Highway 66 Association designated the road in his honor.

A question remains. Did Atlantic Avenue ever post markers indicating it was part of Route 66? An Auto Club Map from 1937 only indicates the Santa Monica route. I don’t believe it did once Long Beach was designated as the terminus to Route 6.

On June 21, 1937, as the Depression eased, Route 6 became an official transcontinental highway. It extended 3,652 miles from Provincetown, Massachusetts and would end in Long Beach, California. After paving was completed in 1952, a formal dedication of the Grand Army of the Republic Highway took place on May 3, 1953, in Long Beach. A plaque was placed in front of the Municipal Auditorium, which today can be found at the Terrace Theater.

The next installment in this two-part series will reveal a Long Beach that few remember and uncover what lured cross-country auto travelers to our city.

Claudine Burnett is a retired research librarian who has written more than 10 books on Long Beach history as well as numerous journal articles. For more, visit her website www. claudineburnettbooks.com.