Since 2018, there have been four distinct segments in Los Angeles County signed as Sepulveda Boulevard. The southernmost of the four segments is an east-west route located in the South Bay, and continues west as Camino Real in Torrance and east as Willow Street in Long Beach. The second segment runs from Manhattan Beach north to the southern border of El Segundo. The third segment runs from LAX, through the Westside regions, and over the Santa Monica Mountains at the Sepulveda Pass into the San Fernando Valley. The northernmost section of Sepulveda Boulevard is in Sylmar, running from Roxford Street north to San Fernando Road.
Sepulveda Boulevard was formerly the longest street in the city and county of Los Angeles, with the Los Angeles Times reporting in 2006 that it was around 42.8 miles (68.9 km) in length.[1] The City of El Segundo has since renamed their portion SR 1 Pacific Coast Highway.
History
In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition, the first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north through Sepulveda pass on August 5. The party had been travelling west, intending to reach and follow the coast, but were discouraged by the steep coastal cliffs beginning at today's Pacific Palisades and decided to detour inland. They found the pass through the Santa Monica Mountains and followed it into the San Fernando Valley.[2] The pass had originally been a faint footpath used by the native Tongva people.[3]
The part of the route that runs through the San Fernando Valley was[when?] a major hub of prostitution.[5] The entertainment industry has also referenced the street. The 1931 comedy film Everything's Rosie has a chase scene that goes through the newly built Sepulveda Boulevard tunnel. In 1946, the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans composing duo wrote the song Sepulveda in tribute to the street; the song would be recorded by Alvino Rey and his Orchestra with Joanne Ryan for Capitol Records, as would The King's Jesters for Vogue Records.[6] Sepulveda Boulevard, along with Pico Boulevard, is mentioned in the title and lyrics of a novelty song Pico and Sepulveda composed by Eddie Maxwell (Eddie Cherkose) and Jule Styne; this song was recorded by Freddy Martin and his Orchestra in 1947 for release as a single.[7]
Name changes
Portions of Sepulveda Boulevard have had the name changed, especially most of those segments that were designated by state officials as part of State Route 1. Hermosa Beach historian John Hales said that the city formally adopted the name of Pacific Coast Highway in 1947 to possibly end a dispute to whether to name the route Sepulveda or Camino Real.[8] In 2018, the city of El Segundo also decided to formally change the name to Pacific Coast Highway to better appeal to visitors as being a coastal community.[9]
Sepulveda Boulevard from a Boeing 757 on approach to LAXSepulveda Boulevard Tunnel, Opened in 1930Sepulveda Blvd., Sepulveda Pass
Since 2018, there are four distinct segments in Los Angeles County signed as Sepulveda Boulevard. All four once connected to each other[dubious – discuss]. The three north-south segments were once a continuous route but were separated by local renaming and freeway construction. There is no current evidence that the southernmost east-west route was once continuous with the north-south segments.
The northernmost section of Sepulveda Boulevard in Sylmar, running from Roxford Street to San Fernando Road,[14] is primarily a frontage road along the Golden State Freeway (I-5). Prior to the construction of the 405 freeway in the 1960s, that disjunct piece and the main section of Sepulveda Boulevard were one continuous street, separated when the 405 freeway interchange with the Golden State Freeway was built atop the section between Rinaldi and Roxford Streets and referred to as the "boulevard of death" due to having over 30 deaths in 11 years at this now demolished segment.[15]
