AUTOMOBILE ACCESS TO THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY IN THE 1920S

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY          2013

For those who are inventing new curse words while trying to get into the San Fernando Valley after a hard day's work, access to the region can (and, has long been) a real adventure. Only a few transportation arteries are available in the 21st century. Can you image what it was like in the early decades of the 20th century?

Here are three romantic images of Highways 5 and 101 from early days of automobiles in California.  Can you imagine what these roads were like in the eras of horses and buggies?

Vintage postcard of the Ridge Route c. 1920 - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernandno Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013. (click on images to enlarge them.)  "The climb to Swede's Cut, 'Ridge Route'. Los Angeles to Bakersfield, California."

Modern vehicles, unless they are facing snow or high winds, have little difficulty climbing over the "Grape Vine". Imagine however, what these roads were like 90 years ago?  Think about the conditions the "arkies" and "oakies" faced when they fled the Dust Bowl into California in old and over loaded cars? The conditions described in John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath were real for the ancestors of many modern Valley residents.

The Ridge Route - vintage postcard -  Gift to The Museum of the San Fernandno Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013. Interstate Highway 5 now serves this area.

Pacific Coast Highway at the "Rincon" - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernandno Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013. Interstate Highway 101  now serves this area. 

Between Santa Barbara and Ventura, Highway 101 this area still called today "the Rincon" (Spanish for corner), the area was once the site of a major Chumash Indian village. In the 1920s this major access road to the San Fernando Valley was an unpredictable experience.

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Woodland Hills, CA 91364-2230

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THE SANTA SUSANA PASS CONNECTS TWO COUNTIES

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY                    2013

The Santa Susana Pass was a steep and scary trail, when it served as one of the few connection paths

joining the Chumash of Ventura County and the Native Tongva people of the San Fernando Valley. The pathway was one of the few travel alternatives for 8,000 years prior to the arrival of Spanish Europeans. 

Coastal trails coming up from San Diego disappeared when they met the high cliffs of the Malibu coast. And, because sea travel was very difficult for the Chumash with their small redwood log canoe, the rugged Santa Susanna Pass at the northwestern end of the San Fernando Valley was an important connection from pre-historic times. 

In the mid-1800s, the path was turned into a road by the new California state government. One of its early uses was for stage coaches and freight wagons. 

 When I first began teaching at Moorpark College, I had to use this narrow road through the Santa Susana Pass from my home in what is now West Hills. It took me a long, long time.

Santa Susana Pass - Vintage Postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013 - (click on the image to enlarge it.) The Pass goes between the Santa Susana Mountains and the Simi Hills.

The Expedition of Gaspar de Portola entered the San Fernando Valley through the Sepulveda Pass on August 5th, 1769. The Expedition was seeking an inland pass to get around the impassible Malibu cliffs. There is no proof that scouts from that group found the Santa Susan Pass, but the name of the location may hold a clue. The feast of the Catholic saint, Saint Susana has long been celebrated on August 9th. This was four days after the Spaniard explorers arrived in the Valley.

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The Museum of the San Fernando Valley

Acquisitions Committee
21031 Ventura Blvd., Suite 419
Woodland Hills, CA 91364-2230

THE MUSEUM’S TELEPHONE
1 (818) 347-9665

THE MUSEUM'S EMAILS
gerald.fecht@TheMuseumSFV.org
info@TheMuseumSFV.org

THE MUSEUM’S BLOG

www.museumsanfernandovalley.blogspot.com/

THE MUSEUM’S WEBSITE

www.TheMuseumSFV.org

DAY 3 - CHUMASH PEOPLE IN CALABASAS

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY      2013

      Not much has changed in the area along Ventura Boulevard from Woodlake to Valley Circle Drive, since my first walking experience there a few years ago.  Three uninspiring office buildings face the boulevard and two private residences. There is a long, boarded up building that serves as a Christmas tree lot in the winter. A tinsel decorated booth stands sadly in the vacant tree lot.

        Day 3 was the perfect time for the battery of my camera to die, so I made an attempt to use my cell phone camera. In the meanwhile, here are a few photographs of the American Indian replica houses in Calabasas Creek Park.

 

       Two groups of Native Americans lived in the western most parts of the San Fernando Valley, at the time of the Spanish conquest. They were the Chumash and the Tongva. They appear to have been relatively peaceful. Air-filled tulle reeds were used by the Tongva as bed mats and for insulated sides of their huts.

        As progressive as the Native Americans were in the days before the arrival of the Spaniards, it is doubtful that they had ancient rebar. Instead they likely used carefully cured branches of willow.