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ON SUNSET
HIGHWAYS
"SEE AMERICA FIRST" SERIES
Each in one volume, decorative cover, profusely illustrated
CALIFORNIA, ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL
BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES $6.00
NEW MEXICO: The Land of the Delight Makers
BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES $6.00
SEVEN WONDERLANDS OF THE AMERICAN WEST
BY THOMAS D. MURPHY $6.00
A WONDERLAND OF THE EAST: The Mountain and Lake Region of
New England and Eastern New York
BY WILLIAM COPEMAN KITCHIN, PH.D. $6.00
ON SUNSET HIGHWAYS (California)
BY THOMAS D. MURPHY $6.00
TEXAS, THE MARVELLOUS
BY NEVIN O. WINTER $6.00
ARIZONA, THE WONDERLAND
BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES $6.00
COLORADO: THE QUEEN JEWEL OF THE ROCKIES
BY MAE LACY BAGGS $6.00
OREGON, THE PICTURESQUE
BY THOMAS D. MURPHY $6.00
FLORIDA, THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT
BY NEVIN O. WINTER $6.00
SUNSET CANADA (British Columbia and Beyond)
BY ARCHIE BELL $6.00
ALASKA, OUR BEAUTIFUL NORTHLAND OF OPPORTUNITY
BY AGNES RUSH BURR $6.00
UTAH: THE LAND OF BLOSSOMING VALLEYS
BY GEORGE WHARTON JAMES $6.00
NEW ENGLAND HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR CAR
BY THOMAS D. MURPHY $6.00
VIRGINIA: THE OLD DOMINION. As seen from its Colonial
waterway, the Historic River James
BY FRANK AND CORTELLE HUTCHINS $5.00
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
53 Beacon Street
Boston, Mass.
[Illustration: THE GATE OF VAL PAISO CANYON, MONTEREY
From Original Painting by M. De Neale Morgan]
On Sunset
Highways
A Book of Motor Rambles
in California
New and Revised Edition
BY THOS. D. MURPHY
AUTHOR OF
"IN UNFAMILIAR ENGLAND WITH A MOTOR CAR,"
"SEVEN WONDERLANDS OF THE AMERICAN WEST,"
"NEW ENGLAND HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS," ETC.
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR FROM ORIGINAL PAINTINGS,
MAINLY BY CALIFORNIA ARTISTS, AND THIRTY-TWO
DUOGRAVURES FROM PHOTOGRAPHS.
ALSO ROAD MAP COVERING ENTIRE STATE.
BOSTON
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
Copyright, 1915, by
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
Copyright, 1921, by
L. C. PAGE & COMPANY
All Rights Reserved
Made in U. S. A.
Preface
The publishers tell me that the first large edition of "On Sunset
Highways" has been exhausted and that the steady demand for the book
warrants a reprint. I have, therefore, improved the occasion to revise
the text in many places and to add descriptive sketches of several
worth-while tours we subsequently made. As it stands now I think the
book covers most of the ground of especial interest to the average
motorist in California.
One can not get the best idea of this wonderful country from the railway
train or even from the splendid electric system that covers most of the
country surrounding Los Angeles. The motor that takes one into the deep
recesses of hill and valley to infrequented nooks along the seashore
and, above all, to the slopes and summits of the mountains, is surely
the nearest approach to the ideal.
The California of to-day is even more of a motor paradise than when we
made our first ventures on her highroads. There has been a substantial
increase in her improved highways and every subsequent year will no
doubt see still further extensions. The beauty and variety of her
scenery will always remain and good roads will give easy access to many
hereto almost inaccessible sections. And the charm of her romantic
history will not decrease as the years go by. There is a growing
interest in the still existing relics of the mission days and the
Spanish occupation which we may hope will lead to their restoration
and preservation. All of which will make motoring in California more
delightful than ever.
I do not pretend in this modest volume to have covered everything
worth while in this vast state; neither have I chosen routes so
difficult as to be inaccessible to the ordinary motor tourist. I have
not attempted a guide-book in the usual sense; my first aim has been
to reflect by description and picture something of the charm of this
favored country; but I hope that the book may not be unacceptable as a
traveling companion to the motor tourist who follows us. Conditions of
roads and towns change so rapidly in California that due allowance must
be made by anyone who uses the book in this capacity. Up-to-the-minute
information as to road conditions and touring conveniences may be had
at the Automobile Club in Los Angeles or at any of its dozen branches
in other towns in Southern California.
In choosing the paintings to be reproduced as color illustrations, I was
impressed with the wealth of material I discovered; in fact, California
artists have developed a distinctive school of American landscape art.
With the wealth and variety of subject matter at the command of these
enthusiastic western painters, it is safe to predict that their work is
destined to rank with the best produced in America—and I believe that
the examples which I show will amply warrant this prediction.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS
I A MOTOR PARADISE 1
II ROUND ABOUT LOS ANGELES 19
III ROUND ABOUT LOS ANGELES 43
IV ROUND ABOUT LOS ANGELES 62
V THE INLAND ROUTE TO SAN DIEGO 82
VI ROUND ABOUT SAN DIEGO 110
VII THE IMPERIAL VALLEY AND THE SAN DIEGO
BACK COUNTRY 126
VIII THE SAN DIEGO COAST ROUTE 150
IX SANTA BARBARA 178
X SANTA BARBARA TO MONTEREY 198
XI THE CHARM OF OLD MONTEREY 225
XII MEANDERINGS FROM MONTEREY
TO SAN FRANCISCO 252
XIII TO BEAUTIFUL CLEAR LAKE VALLEY 277
XIV THE NETHERLANDS OF CALIFORNIA 296
XV A CHAPTER OF ODDS AND ENDS 311
XVI OUR RUN TO YOSEMITE 343
XVII LAKE TAHOE 358
In making acknowledgment to the photographers through whose courtesy
I am able to present the beautiful monotones of California's scenery
and historic missions, I can only say that I think that the artistic
beauty and sentiment evinced in every one of these pictures entitles its
author to be styled artist as well as photographer. These enthusiastic
Californians—Dassonville, Pillsbury, Putnam, and Taylor—are thoroughly
in love with their work and every photograph they take has the merits
of an original composition. I had the privilege of selecting, from
many thousands, the examples shown in this book and while I doubt if
thirty-two pictures of higher average could be found, it must not be
forgotten that these artists have hundreds of other delightful views
that would grace any collection. I heartily recommend any reader of
the book to visit these studios if he desires appropriate and enduring
mementos of California's scenic beauty.
Detailed maps covering any proposed tour can be had by application to
the Automobile Club of Southern California.
THE AUTHOR.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLOR PLATES
PAGE
THE GATE OF VAL PAISO CANYON, MONTEREY Frontispiece
HILLSIDE NEAR MONTEREY 1
CLOISTERS, SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO 72
PALM CANYON 132
WILD MUSTARD, MIRAMAR 194
POPPIES AND LUPINES 198
OAKS NEAR PASO ROBLES 214
CYPRESS POINT, MONTEREY 225
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON HOUSE 234
EVENING NEAR MONTEREY 242
A FOREST GLADE 246
THE PACIFIC NEAR GOLDEN GATE 277
A DISTANT VIEW OF MT. TAMALPAIS 311
VERNAL FALLS, YOSEMITE 350
NEVADA FALL, YOSEMITE 352
ON THE SHORE OF LAKE TAHOE 372
DUOGRAVURES
SAN GABRIEL MISSION 64
CORRIDOR, SAN FERNANDO MISSION 74
CAMPANILE, PALA MISSION 106
SAN DIEGO MISSION 110
A BACK COUNTRY OAK 134
ROAD TO WARNER'S HOT SPRINGS 146
A BACK COUNTRY VALLEY 148
TORREY PINES, NEAR LA JOLLA 158
RUINS OF CHAPEL, SAN LUIS REY 164
ENTRANCE TO SAN LUIS REY CEMETERY 166
FATHER O'KEEFE AT SAN LUIS REY 168
A CORNER OF CAPISTRANO 170
ARCHES, CAPISTRANO 172
RUINED CLOISTERS, CAPISTRANO 174
RUINS OF CAPISTRANO CHURCH BY MOONLIGHT 176
GIANT GRAPEVINE NEAR CARPINTERIA 184
ARCADE, SANTA BARBARA 186
THE OLD CEMETERY, SANTA BARBARA 188
THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN, SANTA BARBARA 190
BELL TOWER, SANTA YNEZ 204
INTERIOR CHURCH, SAN MIGUEL 216
ARCADE, SAN MIGUEL 218
DRIVE THROUGH GROUNDS, DEL MONTE HOTEL 228
CARMEL MISSION 236
CYPRESSES, POINT LOBOS 240
OLD CYPRESSES ON THE SEVENTEEN-MILE DRIVE,
MONTEREY 244
CHURCH AND CEMETERY, SAN JUAN BAUTISTA 252
A LAKE COUNTY BYWAY 284
ON THE SLOPES OF MT. ST. HELENA 290
SAN ANTONIO DE PADUA 328
RUINS OF LA PURISIMA 332
A ROAD THROUGH THE REDWOODS 338
MAPS
ROAD MAP OF CALIFORNIA 374
[Illustration: HILLSIDE NEAR MONTEREY
From Original Painting by Helen Balfour]
On Sunset Highways
I
A MOTOR PARADISE
California! The very name had a strange fascination for me ere I set
foot on the soil of the Golden State. Its romantic story and the
enthusiasm of those who had made the (to me) wonderful journey to
the favored country by the great ocean of the West had interested
and delighted me as a child, though I thought of it then as some dim,
far-away El Dorado that lay on the borders of fairyland. My first visit
was not under circumstances tending to dissolve the spell, for it was
on my wedding trip that I first saw the land of palms and flowers,
orange groves, snowy mountains, sunny beaches, and blue seas, and I
found little to dispel the rosy dreams I had preconceived. This was
long enough ago to bring a great proportion of the growth and progress
of the state within the scope of my own experience. We saw Los Angeles,
then an aspiring town of forty thousand, giving promise of the truly
metropolitan city it has since become; Pasadena was a straggling
village; and around the two towns were wide areas of open country now
teeming with ambitious suburbs. We visited never-to-be-forgotten Del
Monte and saw the old San Francisco ere fire and quake had swept away
its most distinctive and romantic features—the Nob Hill palaces and
old-time Chinatown.
Some years intervened between this and our second visit, when we found
the City of the Angels a thriving metropolis with hundreds of palatial
structures and the most perfect system of interurban transportation to
be found anywhere, while its northern rival had risen from debris and
ashes in serried ranks of concrete and steel. A tour of the Yosemite
gave us new ideas of California's scenic grandeur; there began to
dawn on us vistas of the endless possibilities that the Golden State
offers to the tourist and we resolved on a longer sojourn at the first
favorable opportunity.
A week's stay in Los Angeles and a free use of the Pacific Electric
gave us a fair idea of the city and its lesser neighbors, but we found
ourselves longing for the country roads and retired nooks of mountain
and beach inaccessible by railway train and tram car. We felt we should
never be satisfied until we had explored this wonderland by motor—which
the experience of three long tours in Europe had proved to us the only
way to really see much of a country in the limits of a summer vacation.
And so it chanced that a year or two later we found ourselves on the
streets of Los Angeles with our trusty friend of the winged wheels,
intent on exploring the nooks and corners of Sunset Land. We wondered
why we had been so long in coming—why we had taken our car three times
to Europe before we brought it to California; and the marvel grew on us
as we passed out of the streets of the city on to the perfect boulevard
that led through green fields to the western Venice by the sea. It is
of the experience of the several succeeding weeks and of a like tour
during the two following years that this unpretentious chronicle has to
deal. And my excuse for inditing it must be that it is first of all a
chronicle of a motor car; for while books galore have been written on
California by railroad and horseback travelers as well as by those who
pursued the leisurely and good old method of the Franciscan fathers,
no one, so far as I know, has written of an extended experience at the
steering wheel of our modern annihilator of distance.
It seems a little strange, too, for Southern California is easily
the motorist's paradise over all other places on this mundane sphere.
It has more cars to the population—twice over—and they are in use a
greater portion of the year than in any other section of similar size
in the world and probably more outside cars are to be seen on its
streets and highways than in any other locality in the United States.
The matchless climate and the ever-increasing mileage of fine roads,
with the endless array of places worth visiting, insure the maximum
of service and pleasure to the fortunate owner of a car, regardless of
its name-plate or pedigree. The climate needs no encomiums from me, for
is it not heralded and descanted upon by all true Californians and by
every wayfarer, be his sojourn ever so brief?—but a few words on the
wonders already achieved in road-building and the vast plans for the
immediate future will surely be of interest. I am conscious that any
data concerning the progress of California are liable to become obsolete
overnight, as it were, but if I were to confine myself to the unchanging
in this vast commonwealth, there would be little but the sea and the
mountains to write about.
Los Angeles County was the leader in good roads construction and at
the time of which I write had completed about three hundred and fifty
miles of modern highway at a cost of nearly five million dollars. I know
of nothing in Europe superior—and very little equal—to the splendid
system of macadam boulevards that radiate from the Queen City of the
Southwest. The asphalted surface is smooth and dustless and the skill
of the engineer is everywhere evident. There are no heavy grades;
straight lines or long sweeping curves prevail throughout. Added to
this is a considerable mileage of privately constructed road built by
land improvement companies to promote various tracts about the city,
one concern alone having spent more than half a million dollars in this
work. Further additions are projected by the county and an excellent
maintenance plan has been devised, for the authorities have wisely
recognized that the upkeep of these splendid roads is a problem equal
in importance with building them. This, however, is not so serious a
matter as in the East, owing to the absence of frost, the great enemy
of roads of this type.
Since the foregoing paragraph was first published (1915) the good work
has gone steadily on and despite the sharp check that the World War
administered to public enterprises, Los Angeles County has materially
added to and improved her already extensive mileage of modern roads.
A new boulevard connects the beach towns between Redondo and Venice; a
marvelous scenic road replaces the old-time trail in Topango Canyon and
the new Hollywood Mountain Road is one of the most notable achievements
of highway engineering in all California. Many new laterals have been
completed in the level section about Downey and Artesia and numerous
boulevards opened in the foothill region. Besides all this the
main highways have been improved and in some cases—as of Long Beach
Boulevard—entirely rebuilt. In the city itself there has been vast
improvement and extension of the streets and boulevards so that more
than ever this favored section deserves to be termed the paradise of
the motorist.
San Diego County has set a like example in this good work, having
expended a million and a half on her highways and authorized a bond
issue of two and one-half millions more, none of which has been as
yet expended. While the highways of this county do not equal the model
excellence of those of Los Angeles County, the foundation of a splendid
system has been laid. Here the engineering problem was a more serious
one, for there is little but rugged hills within the boundaries of
the county. Other counties are in various stages of highway building;
still others have bond issues under consideration—and it is safe to say
that when this book comes from the press there will not be a county in
Southern California that has not begun permanent road improvement on
its own account.
I say "on its own account" because whatever it may do of its own motion,
nearly every county in the state is assured of considerable mileage
of the new state highway system, now partially completed, while the
remainder is under construction or located and surveyed. The first bond
issue of eighteen million dollars was authorized by the state several
years ago, a second issue of fifteen millions was voted in 1916, and
another of forty millions a year later, making in all seventy-three
millions, of which, at this writing, thirty-nine millions is unexpended.
Counties have issued about forty-two millions more. It is estimated that
to complete the full highway program the state must raise one hundred
millions additional by bond issues.
The completed system contemplates two great trunk lines from San Diego
to the Oregon border, one route roughly following the coast and the
other well inland, while lateral branches are to connect all county
seats not directly reached. Branches will also extend to the Imperial
Valley and along the Eastern Sierras as far as Independence and in
time across the Cajon Pass through the Mohave Desert to Needles on
the Colorado River. California's wealth of materials (granite, sand,
limestone, and asphaltum) and their accessibility should give the
maximum mileage for money expended. This was estimated by a veteran
Pittsburgh highway contractor whom I chanced to meet in the Yosemite,
at fully twice as great as could be built in his locality for the same
expenditure.
California was a pioneer in improved roads and it is not strange
that mistakes were made in some of the earlier work, chiefly in
building roadways too narrow and too light to stand the constantly
increasing heavy traffic. The Automobile Club of Southern California,
in conjunction with the State Automobile Association, recently made
an exhaustive investigation and report of existing highway conditions
which should do much to prevent repetition of mistakes in roads still
to be built. The State Highway Commission, while admitting that some
of the earlier highways might better have been built heavier and wider,
points out that this would have cut the mileage at least half; and also
that at the time these roads were contracted for, the extent that heavy
trucking would assume was not fully realized. Work on new roads was
generally suspended during the war and is still delayed by high costs
and the difficulty of selling bonds.
At this writing (1921) the two trunk lines from San Diego to San
Francisco are practically completed and the motorist between these
points, whether on coast or inland route, may pursue the even tenor of
his way over the smooth, dustless, asphalted surface at whatever speed
he may consider prudent, though the limit of thirty-five miles now
allowed in the open country under certain restrictions leaves little
excuse for excessive speeding. It is not uncommon to make the trip over
the inland route, about six hundred and fifty miles, in three days,
while a day longer should be allowed for the coast run.
In parts where the following narrative covers our tours made before much
of the new road was finished, I shall not alter my descriptions and they
will afford the reader an opportunity of comparing the present improved
highways with conditions that existed only yesterday, as it were.
Road improvement has been active in the northern counties for several
years, especially around San Francisco. I have gone into the details
concerning this section in my book on Oregon and Northern California,
and will not repeat the matter here, since the scope of this work must
be largely confined to the south. It is no exaggeration, however, to say
that to-day California is unsurpassed by any other state in mileage and
excellence of improved roads and when the projects under way are carried
out she will easily take first rank in these important particulars
unless more competition develops than is now apparent. Thus she supplies
the first requisite for the motor enthusiast, though some may declare
her matchless climate of equal advantage to the tourist.
If the motor enthusiast of the Golden State can take no credit to
himself for the climate, he is surely entitled to no end of credit
for the advanced state of affairs in public highway improvement. In
proportion to the population he is more numerous in Southern California
than anywhere else in the world, and we might therefore expect to
find a strong and effective organization of motorists in Los Angeles.
In this we are not disappointed, for the Automobile Club of Southern
California has a membership of more than fifty thousand; it was but
seven thousand when the first edition of this book was printed in 1915—a
growth which speaks volumes for its strides in public appreciation.
Its territory comprises only half a single state, yet its membership
surpasses that of its nearest rival by more than two to one. It makes
no pretense at being a "social" club, all its energies being devoted
to promoting the welfare and interests of the motorist in its field of
action, and so important and far-reaching are its activities that the
benefits it confers on the car owners of Southern California are by no
means limited to the membership. Practically every owner and driver of
a car is indebted to the club in more ways than I can enumerate and as
this fact has gained recognition the membership has increased by leaps
and bounds. I remember when the sense of obligation to become a member
was forced upon me by the road signs which served me almost hourly when
touring and this is perhaps the feature of the club's work which first
impresses the newcomer. Everywhere in the southern half of California
and even on a transcontinental highway the familiar white diamond-shaped
signboard greets one's sight—often a friend in need, saving time and
annoyance. The maps prepared and supplied by the club were even a
greater necessity and this service has been amplified and extended
until it not only covers every detail of the highways and byways of
California, but also includes the main roads of adjacent states and one
transcontinental route as well. These maps are frequently revised and
up-to-the-minute road information may always be had by application to
the Touring Department of the club.
When we planned our first tour, at a time when road conditions were
vastly different from what they are now, our first move was to seek
the assistance of this club, which was readily given as a courtesy to
a visiting motorist. The desired information was freely and cheerfully
supplied, but I could not help feeling, after experiencing so many
benefits from the work of the club, that I was under obligations to
become a member. And I am sure that even the transient motorist, though
he plans a tour of but a few weeks, will be well repaid—and have a
clearer conscience—should his first move be to take membership in this
live organization.
We found the club an unerring source of information as to the most
practicable route to take on a proposed tour, the best way out of the
city, and the general condition of the roads to be covered. The club
is also an authority on hotels, garages and "objects of interest"
generally in the territory covered by its activities. Besides the main
organization, which occupies its own building at Adams and Figueroa
Streets, Los Angeles, there are numerous branch offices in the principal
towns of the counties of Southern California, which in their localities
can fulfill most of the functions of the club.
The club maintains a department of free legal advice and its membership
card is generally sufficient bail for members charged with violating the
speed or traffic regulations. It is always willing to back its members
to the limit when the presumption of being right is in their favor,
but it has no sympathy with the reckless joy rider and lawbreaker and
does all it can to discourage such practices. It has been a powerful
influence in obtaining sane and practical motor car legislation, such
as raising the speed limit in the open country to thirty-five miles
per hour, and providing severer penalties against theft of motor cars.
One of the most valuable services of the club has been its relentless
pursuit and prosecution of motor car thieves and the recovery of a large
percentage of stolen cars. In fact, Los Angeles stands at the head of
the large cities of the country in a minimum of net losses of cars by
theft and the club can justly claim credit for this. The club has also
done much to abate the former scandalous practices of many towns in
fixing a very low speed limit with a view of helping out local finances
by collecting heavy fines. This is now regulated by state laws and the
motorist who is willing to play fair with the public will not suffer
much annoyance. The efforts of the club to eliminate what it considers
double taxation of its members who must pay both a horse power fee and
a heavy property tax were not successful, but the California motorist
has the consolation of knowing that all taxes, fines and fees affecting
the motor car go to the good cause of road maintenance.
Another important service rendered by the club is the insurance of
its members against all the hazards connected with operation of an
automobile. Fire, theft, liability, collision, etc., are written
practically at cost. The club also maintains patrol and trouble cars
which respond free of cost to members in difficulty.
Besides all this, the club deserves much credit for the advanced
position of California in highway improvement. It has done much to
create the public sentiment which made the bond issues possible and
it has rendered valuable assistance in surveying and building the new
roads. It has kept in constant touch with the State Highway Commission
and its superior knowledge of the best and shortest routes has been of
great service in locating the new state roads.
My story is to deal with several sojourns in the Sunset State during
the months of April and May of consecutive years. We shipped our car by
rail in care of a Los Angeles garage and so many follow this practice
that the local agents are prepared to receive and properly care for the
particular machines which they represent and several freight-forwarding
companies also make a specialty of this service. On our arrival our car
was ready for the road and it proved extremely serviceable in getting
us located. Los Angeles is the logical center from which to explore the
southern half of the state and we were fortunate in securing a furnished
house in a good part of the city without much delay. We found a fair
percentage of the Los Angeles population ready to move out on short
notice and to turn over to us their homes and everything in them—for a
consideration, of course.
On our second sojourn in the city we varied things by renting furnished
apartments, of which there are an endless number and variety to
choose from, and if this plan did not prove quite so satisfactory and
comfortable as the house, it was less expensive. We also had experience
on several later occasions with numerous hotels—Los Angeles, as might
be expected, is well supplied with hotels of all degrees of merit—but
our experience in pre-war days would hardly be representative of the
present time, especially when rates are considered. The Alexandria and
Angelus were—and doubtless are—up to the usual metropolitan standards
of service and comfort, with charges to correspond. The Gates, where
we stopped much longer, was a cleanly and comfortable hotel with lower
rates and represents a large class of similar establishments such
as the Clark, the Stillwell, the Trinity, the Hayward, the Roslyn,
the Savoy, and many others. One year we tried the Leighton, which is
beautifully located on Westlake Park and typical of several outlying
hotels that afford more quiet and greater convenience for parking and
handling one's car than can be found in the business district. Others
in this class are the Darby, the Hershey Arms, the Hollywood, and the
Alvarado. Los Angeles, for all its preeminence as a tourist city, was
long without a resort hotel of the first magnitude, leaving the famous
Pasadena hostelries such as the Green, Raymond, Maryland and Huntington,
to cater to the class of patrons who do not figure costs in their quest
for the luxurious in hotel service. This shortage was supplied in 1920
by the erection of the Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard—one of
the largest resort hotels in the world. The building is surrounded by
spacious grounds and the property is said to represent an investment of
$5,000,000. It is one of the "objects of interest" in Los Angeles and
will be visited by many tourists who may not care to pay the price to
become regular guests. After our experience with hotels, apartments and
rented houses, we finally acquired a home of our own in the "Queen City
of the Southwest," which, of course, is the most satisfactory plan of
all, though not necessarily the cheapest.
Prior to the Great War Los Angeles had the reputation of being a
place where one could live well at very moderate cost and hotels and
restaurants gave the very best for little money. This was all sadly
changed in the wave of profiteering during and following the war. The
city acquired a rather unenviable reputation for charging the tourist
all the traffic would bear—and sometimes a little more—until finally
Government statistics ranked Los Angeles number one in the cost of
living among cities of its class. The city council undertook to combat
the tendency to "grab" by passing an ordinance limiting the percentage
of rental an owner might charge on his property—a move naturally
contested in the courts. At this writing, however, (1921), the tendency
of prices is distinctly downward and this may reasonably be expected
to continue until a fair basis is reached. It is not likely, however,
that pre-war prices will ever return on many items, but it is certain
that Los Angeles will again take rank as a city where one may live
permanently or for a time at comparatively moderate cost.
Public utilities of the city never advanced their prices to compare with
private interests. You can still ride miles on a street car for a nickel
and telephone, gas and electric concerns get only slightly higher rates
than before the war. Taxes have advanced by leaps and bounds, but are
frequently excused by pointing out that nowhere do you get so much for
your tax money as in California.
Naturally, the automobile and allied industries loom large in Los
Angeles. Garages from the most palatial and perfectly equipped to the
veriest hole-in-the-wall abound in all parts of the town. Prices for
service and repairs vary greatly but the level is high—probably one
hundred per cent above pre-war figures. Competition, however, is strong
and the tendency is downward; but only a general wage lowering can
bring back the old-time prices. Gasoline is generally cheaper than in
the East, while other supplies cost about the same. The second-hand
car business has reached vast proportions, many dealers occupying
vacant lots where old cars of all models and degrees brave the sun—and
sometimes the rain—while waiting for a purchaser. Cars are sold with
agreement to buy back at the end of a tour and are rented without driver
to responsible parties. You do not have to bring your own car to enjoy
a motor tour in California; in fact this practice is not so common as
it used to be except in case of the highest-grade cars.
Another plan is to drive your own car from your Eastern home to
California and sell it when ready to go back. This was done very
satisfactorily during the period of the car shortage and high prices for
used cars following the war, but under normal conditions would likely
involve considerable sacrifice. The ideal method for the motorist who
has the time and patience is to make the round trip to California in
his own car, coming, say, over the Lincoln Highway and returning over
the Santa Fe Trail or vice versa, according to the time of the year.
The latter averages by far the best of the transcontinental roads and
is passable for a greater period of the year than any other. In fact, it
is an all-year-round route except for the Raton Pass in New Mexico, and
this may be avoided by a detour into Texas. This route has been surveyed
and signed by the Automobile Club of Southern California and is being
steadily improved, especially in the Western states.
Although California has perhaps the best all-the-year-round climate
for motoring, it was our impression that the months of April and
May are the most delightful for extensive touring. The winter rains
will have ceased—though we found our first April and a recent May
notable exceptions—and there is more freedom from the dust that
becomes troublesome in some localities later in the summer. The
country will be at its best—snow-caps will still linger on the higher
mountains; the foothills will be green and often varied with great
dashes of color—white, pale yellow, blue, or golden yellow, as some
particular wild flower gains the mastery. The orange groves will be
laden with golden globes and sweet with blossoms, and the roses and
other cultivated flowers will still be in their prime. The air will be
balmy and pleasant during the day, with a sharp drop towards evening
that makes it advisable to keep a good supply of wraps in the car. An
occasional shower will hardly interfere with one's going, even on the
unimproved country road.
For there is still unimproved country road, despite all I have said
in praise of the new highways. A great deal of our touring was over
roads seldom good at their best and often quite impassable during the
heavy winter rains. There were stretches of "adobe" to remind us of
"gumbo" at home; there were miles of heavy sand and there were rough,
stone-strewn trails hardly deserving to be called roads at all! These
defects are being mended with almost magical rapidity, but California
is a vast state and with all her progress it will be years before all
her counties attain the Los Angeles standard. We found many primitive
bridges and oftener no bridges at all, since in the dry season there is
no difficulty in fording the hard-bottom streams, and not infrequently
the streams themselves had vanished. But in winter these same streams
are often raging torrents that defy crossing for days at a time. During
the summer and early autumn months the dust will be deep on unimproved
roads and some of the mountain passes will be difficult on this account.
So it is easy to see that even California climate does not afford ideal
touring conditions the year round. Altogether, the months of April,
May, and June afford the best average of roads and weather, despite
the occasional showers that one may expect during the earlier part of
this period. It is true that during these months a few of the mountain
roads will be closed by snow, but one can not have everything his own
way, and I believe the beauty of the country and climate at this time
will more than offset any enforced omissions. The trip to Yosemite is
not practical during this period over existing routes, though it is to
be hoped the proposed all-the-year road will be a reality before long.
The Lake Tahoe road is seldom open before the middle of June, and this
delightful trip can not be taken during the early spring unless the
tourist is content with the railway trains.
Our several tours in California aggregated more than thirty thousand
miles and extended from Tia Juana to the Oregon border. The scope of
this volume, however, is confined to the southern half of the state
and the greater part of it deals with the section popularly known as
Southern California—the eight counties lying south of Tehachapi Pass.
Of course we traversed some roads several times, but we visited most of
the interesting points of the section—with some pretty strenuous trips,
as will appear in due course of my narrative. We climbed many mountains,
visited the endless beaches, stopped at the famous hotels, and did not
miss a single one of the twenty or more old Spanish missions. We saw
the orange groves and palms of Riverside and Redlands, the great oaks
of Paso Robles, the queer old cypresses of Monterey, the Torrey Pines
of La Jolla, the lemon groves of San Diego, the vast wheatfields of the
San Joaquin and Salinas Valleys, the cherry orchards of San Mateo, the
great vineyards of the Napa and Santa Rosa Valleys, the lonely beauty of
Clear Lake Valley, the giant trees of Santa Cruz, the Yosemite Valley,
Tahoe, the gem of mountain lakes, the blossoming desert of Imperial, and
a thousand other things that make California an enchanted land. And the
upshot of it all was that we fell in love with the Golden State—so much
in love with it that what I set down may be tinged with prejudice; but
what story of California is free from this amiable defect?
II
ROUND ABOUT LOS ANGELES
When we first left the confines of the city we steered straight for
the sunset; the wayfarer from the far inland states always longs for a
glimpse of the ocean and it is usually his first objective. The road,
smooth and hard as polished slate, runs for a dozen miles between green
fields, with here and there a fringe of palms or eucalyptus trees and
showing in many places the encroachments of rapidly growing suburbs. So
seductively perfect is the road that the twenty miles slip away almost
before we are aware; we find ourselves crossing the canal in Venice and
are soon surrounded by the wilderness of "attractions" of this famous
resort.
There is little to remind us of its Italian namesake save the wide
stretch of sea that breaks into view and an occasional gondola on the
tiny canal; in the main it is far more suggestive of Coney Island than
of the Queen of the Adriatic. To one who has lost his boyish zeal
for "shooting the shoots" and a thousand and one similar startling
experiences, or whose curiosity no longer impels him toward freaks of
nature and chambers of horror, there will be little diversion save the
multifarious phases of humanity always manifest in such surroundings. On
gala days it is interesting to differentiate the types that pass before
one, from the countryman from the inland states, "doing" California and
getting his first glimpse of a metropolitan resort, to the fast young
sport from the city, to whom all things have grown common and blase and
who has motored down to Venice because he happened to have nowhere else
to go.
With the advent of prohibition the atmosphere of the place has
noticeably changed—the tipsy joy-rider is not so much in evidence nor
is the main highway to the town strewn with wrecked cars as of yore.
But for all this, Venice seems as lively as ever and there is no falling
off in its popularity as a beach resort. This is evidenced by the prompt
reconstruction of the huge amusement pier which was totally destroyed by
fire in 1920. It has been replaced by a much larger structure in steel
and concrete—a practical guarantee against future conflagrations—and
the amusement features are more numerous and varied than of yore. It
is still bound to be the Mecca of the tourist and vacationist who needs
something a little livelier than he will find in Long Beach and Redondo.
But to return from this little digression—and my reader will have to
excuse many such, perhaps, when I get on "motorological" subjects—I
was saying that we found little to interest us in the California Venice
save odd specimens of humanity—and no doubt we ourselves reciprocated
by affording like entertainment to these same odd specimens. After
our first trip or two—and the fine boulevards tempted us to a good
many—we usually slipped into the narrow "Speedway" connecting the town
with Ocean Park and Santa Monica. Why they call it the Speedway I am
at a loss to know, for it is barely a dozen feet wide in places and
intersected with alleys and streets every few feet, so that the limit of
fifteen miles is really dangerously high. The perfect pavement, however,
made it the most comfortable route—though there may be better now—and it
also takes one through the liveliest part of Ocean Park, another resort
very much like Venice and almost continuous with it. These places are
full of hotels and lodging-houses, mostly of the less pretentious and
inexpensive class, and they are filled during the winter season mainly
by Eastern tourists. In the summer the immense bathing beaches attract
crowds from the city. The Pacific Electric brings its daily contingent
of tourists and the streets are constantly crowded with motors—sometimes
hundreds of them. All of which contribute to the animation of the scene
in these popular resorts.
In Santa Monica we found quite a different atmosphere; it is a residence
town with no "amusement" features and few hotels, depending on its
neighbors for these useful adjuncts. It is situated on an eminence
overlooking the Pacific and to the north lie the blue ranges of the
Santa Monica Mountains, visible from every part of town. Ocean Drive, a
broad boulevard, skirts the edge of the promontory, screened in places
by rows of palms, through which flashes the blue expanse of the sea. At
its northern extremity the drive drops down a sharp grade to the floor
of the canyon, which opens on a wide, sandy beach—one of the cleanest
and quietest to be found so near Los Angeles.
This canyon, with its huge sycamores and clear creek brawling over the
smooth stones, had long been an ideal resort for picnic parties, but in
the course of a single year we found it much changed. The hillside had
been terraced and laid out with drives and here and there a summer house
had sprung up, fresh with paint or stucco. The floor of the valley was
also platted and much of the wild-wood effect already gone. All this
was the result of a great "boom" in Santa Monica property, largely the
work of real estate promoters. Other additions were being planned to the
eastward and all signs pointed to rapid growth of the town. It already
has many fine residences and cozy bungalows embowered in flowers and
shrubbery, among which roses, geraniums and palms of different varieties
predominate.
Leaving the town, we usually followed the highway leading through the
grounds of the National Soldiers' Home, three or four miles toward
the city. This great institution, in a beautiful park with a wealth of
semi-tropical flowers and trees, seemed indeed an ideal home for the
pathetic, blue-coated veterans who wandered slowly about the winding
paths. The highway passes directly through the grounds and one is
allowed to run slowly over the network of macadam driveways which wind
about the huge buildings. At the time of which I write, there were
some thirty-five hundred old soldiers in the Home, few of whom had not
reached the age of three score and ten. Their infirmities were evidenced
by the slow and even painful manner in which many moved about, by the
crowded hospitals, and the deaths—which averaged three daily. True,
there were some erect, vigorous old fellows who marched along with
something of the spirit that must have animated them a half century
ago, but they were the rare exceptions. Visitors are welcomed and shown
through all the domestic arrangements of the Home; the old fellows
are glad to act in the capacity of guides, affording them, as it does,
some relief from the monotony of their daily routine. So perfect are
the climatic conditions and so ideally pleasant the surroundings that
it seems a pity that the veterans in all such homes over the country
might not be gathered here. We were told that this plan is already
in contemplation, and it is expected, as the ranks of the veterans
are decimated, to finally gather the remnant here, closing all other
soldiers' homes. It is to be hoped that the consummation of the plan may
not be too long delayed, for surely the benign skies and the open-air
life would lengthen the years of many of the nation's honored wards.
We passed through the grounds of the Home many times and stopped
more than once to see the aviary—a huge, open-air, wire cage filled
with birds of all degrees, from tiny African finches half the size of
sparrows to gorgeous red, blue, green, and mottled parrots. Many of
these were accomplished conversationalists and it speaks well for the
old boys of the Home that there was no profanity in the vocabulary of
these queer denizens of the tropics. This and other aviaries which
we saw impressed upon us the possibilities of this pleasant fad in
California, where the birds can live the year round in the open air in
the practical freedom of a large cage.
Returning from the Home one may follow Wilshire Boulevard, which passes
through one of the most pretentious sections of the city, ending at
beautiful Westlake Park; or he may turn into Sunset Boulevard and pass
through Hollywood. A short distance from the Home is Beverly Hills, with
its immense hotel—a suburban town where many Los Angeles citizens have
summer residences. A vast deal of work has been done by the promoters of
the town; the well-paved streets are bordered with roses, geraniums, and
rows of palm trees, all skillfully arranged by the landscape-gardener.
It is a pretty place, though it seemed to us that the sea winds swept it
rather fiercely during several of the visits we made. Another unpleasant
feature was the groups of oil derricks which dot the surrounding
country, though these will doubtless some time disappear with the
exhaustion of the fields. The hotel is of a modified mission type,
with solid concrete walls and red tile roof, and its surroundings and
appointments are up to the famous California standard at such resorts.
Hollywood is now continuous with the city, but it has lost none of
that tropical beauty that has long made it famous. Embowered in flowers
and palms, with an occasional lemon grove, its cozy and in some cases
palatial homes never fail to charm the newcomer. Once it was known as
the home of Paul de Longpre, the flower painter, whose Moorish-looking
villa was the goal of the tourist and whose gorgeous creations were a
never-failing wonder to the rural art critic. Alas, the once popular
artist is dead and his art has been discredited by the wiseacres; he was
"photographic"—indeed, they accuse him of producing colored photographs
as original compositions. But peace be to the painter's ashes—whether
the charge of his detractors be true or not, he delighted thousands with
his highly colored representations of the blooms of the Golden State.
His home and gardens have undergone extensive changes and improvements
and it is still one of the show places of the town.
The Hollywood school buildings are typical of the substantial and
handsome structures one sees everywhere in California; in equipment
and advanced methods her schools are not surpassed by any state in the
Union.
No stretch of road in California—and that is almost saying in all the
world—is more tempting to the motorist than the twenty miles between
Los Angeles and Long Beach. Broad, nearly level, and almost straight
away, with perfect surface and not a depression to jolt or jar a swiftly
speeding car, Long Beach Boulevard would put even a five-year-old model
on its mettle. It is only the knowledge of frequent arrests and heavy
fines that keeps one in reasonable bounds on such an ideal speedway
and gives leisure to contemplate the prosperous farming lands on either
side. Sugar beets, beans, and small grains are all green and thriving,
for most of the fields are irrigated. There is an occasional walnut
grove along the way and in places the road is bordered with ranks of
tall eucalyptus trees, stately and fragrant. Several fine suburban homes
adjoin the boulevard and it is doubtless destined to be solidly bordered
with such.