Cato Hernández
has scoured through tons of archives to understand how our region became the way it is today.
Published November 29, 2023 5:00 AM
Ramona Boulevard, 100 feet north of the intersection of Mitchell and Echandia Streets, on April 16, 1935.
(
Public Domain, USC Libraries Special Collections
/
USC Libraries and California Historical Society
)
Topline:
Angelenos have a love/hate relationship with the 10 Freeway (and probably any other for that matter), but the 10’s historical feats have left quite a mark on the county. So as repairs continue on the 10, we look into how this route changed driving in L.A.
How did the 10 Freeway start? The routes have gone through many name changes and have fallen under different plans, but the state really got coordinated in the 50s.
But was it the first freeway? Not quite, but it’s sort of its own first. Before the 10 Freeway that we know today existed — with its elevated and structured routes — Ramona Boulevard created buzz as a highway in 1935. This four-mile stretch had some hallmarks of a freeway, which later became the 10, but it lacked a key safety feature.
Read on… to learn about other big firsts on the freeway.
Freeways aren’t that cool — but the 10 gets kind of close because of its curious past.
It’s been in the news after the pallet fire and speedy recovery (although it's still undergoing repairs), but now, let’s look at some of its pivotal growth spurts.
A brief history of the 10 Freeway
While it wasn’t always called the 10, the route has been around for a long time.
In the early 20th century, Los Angeles was experiencing rapid growth. More and more people were buying cars, and there was a hodgepodge of different types of roads, ranging from dirt roads to flashier paved routes where you could drive faster than on other streets.
Travelers could use these roads to get from point A to point B in L.A. a little faster, but it was still slightly chaotic. So by the 1930s, the city began planning for a more organized network of roadways, especially between commerce and urbanized areas.
Today the route of Interstate 10 stretches thousands of miles from Santa Monica all the way to Florida, but before all that concrete was laid out, what would become the 10 Freeway was a much smaller system of highways with different names and destinations.
Is it LA’s first freeway?
The Ramona Freeway was the earlier name for Interstate 10 and went from downtown Los Angeles to the San Bernardino County line. The Macy Street Bridge, shown here in 1943, went above the route.
(
Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angles Public Library
)
One of those upgraded routes was Ramona Boulevard, which opened in April 1935. It ran for four miles downtown under where the 10 is now, between Aliso Street and Garvey Avenue (ironically likely near where the pallets caught fire).
It created buzz because of its physical innovations — many of which would become central to the definition of a freeway.
Author Paul Haddad wrote that it was a roadway “with all the hallmarks of a freeway: separate grades, sloped embankments, and bridges replacing cross-traffic.”
(The person who coined the term 'freeway' — h/t Edward Bassett — saw it as different from other types of thoroughfares. A freeway wasn't about scenic routes or open access, it was about controlled and quick movement, leading to a free flow of traffic.)
Whether or not it’s the first freeway isn’t an easy answer because Ramona Boulevard started with new nomenclature.
The L.A. Department of Transportation says the state called it an “airline route” because “motorists could ‘fly’ without intersectional conflict at 50 miles per hour.”
But then in 1943, eight years after opening, the county’s regional planning commission referred to this stretch as a freeway “conversion of an existing highway.”
It’s not all semantics, though. The commission did define a freeway as a route:
exclusively for the movement of motor vehicles
separated from other properties by barriers
that prohibits going in and out
with reasonably spaced out entries and exits
with uninterrupted traffic flow that’s divided into two sides
The thing is, Ramona Boulevard had all the above except that last one — the dividing section between the two sides. So, it didn’t pass the “freeway” name test.
But ironically it proved how important a dividing section could be because of the number of accidents that happened without one: during its first 40 months, there were 77 injuries (including deaths) on Ramona Boulevard, according to LADOT history, mostly from head-on and sideswipe collisions.
To make it safer, a city traffic engineer asked the state to approve a “narrow guard rail design with lights atop” that would go in the middle. The interim measure worked, and since then all high-speed state highways use a raised median or barrier in the center.
While Ramona can’t technically claim the “first freeway” title because it didn’t have a divider between sides, we wouldn’t have sussed out what a freeway needs to be without it. A real chicken or the egg situation.
The upshot is that the title of L.A.’s first freeway officially goes to its neighbor, the 110, the Arroyo Seco Parkway which mostly opened in 1940 — Ramona was L.A.’s scrappy trial run.
A growing freeway system
The interchange of the Harbor, San Bernardino, Santa Ana and Hollywood freeways in May 1957.
(
Clinton H. Betz
/
Los Angeles Photographers Collection/Clinton H. Betz Collection/Los Angles Public Library
)
Through the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, coordinated state plans emerged to develop these routes and other thoroughfares, into a network of fast-paced freeways.
There was much back and forth between leaders about what freeway routes would exist, where they’d lead and how they’d be named. But eventually, crews broke ground on the newly named Santa Monica Freeway portion over the L.A. River in 1957. The eastern side near Alhambra, which used to be called Ramona Freeway, was already open and was renamed the San Bernardino Freeway in 1954.
A portion of the freeway was included in the interstate highway system in 1957, earning that recognizable I-10 number. Other sections were included under the 10 moniker later, in an honestly way too confusing way.
Growth came at a cost for those in the freeway’s path. The routes were put close to schools and residences, which Angelenos complained would impact people’s health over time. A west side section of the 10 also displaced thousands of residents, including folks who lived in the now bisected Sugar Hill neighborhood.
Innovations on the 10
Newly installed traffic condition information sign on the Santa Monica Freeway in 1973. This was a test message.
(
Security Pacific National Bank Collection/Los Angles Public Library
)
The 10 Freeway brought other big innovations to L.A., such as electronic message boards.
Citizens Against the diamond lane picket Gov. Brown's presidential campaign headquarters at 4055 Wilshire Blvd. demanding he review the experiment with an eye toward ending it on May 16, 1976.
(
Mike Mullen
/
Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angles Public Library
)
According to Haddad, the new boards pointed drivers to another innovation: the diamond lane. Essentially a carpool lane, it ended up a flop. Drivers hated it because it took over an existing freeway lane and you could only use it if you had three or more people in your car. The dislike was so strong that the woman behind the lane received “sexist taunts and death threats,” according to Haddad.
Sexism in engineering would have to take another back seat, though. Marilyn Reece, designer of the 10 and 405 interchange, was the first woman engineer registered in California, and Caltrans dedicated this junction to her in 2008.
According to Haddad, the 10 is also the first to use white letters on green signs and turnouts for the California Highway Patrol to clear accidents.
Cato Hernández
covers important issues that affect the everyday lives of Southern Californians.
Published December 10, 2025 4:16 PM
A file photo of an ink-based printer.
(
Neilson Barnard
/
Getty Images
)
Topline:
The L.A. City Council has voted to create a new ordinance that bans the sale of certain single-use ink cartridges from online and local retailers.
Why now? L.A. is recommending that a ban target single-use cartridges that don’t have a take-back program or can’t be refilled. That's because they’re winding up in the landfill, where, L.A. Sanitation says, they can leach harmful substances into the ground.
What’s next? The City Attorney’s Office is drafting the ordinance. It will go before the council’s energy and environment committee before reaching a full vote.
Read on ... to see how the ban could work.
Los Angeles could become the first city in the U.S. to ban ink cartridges that can be used only once.
The L.A. City Council unanimously voted Wednesday to approve the creation of an ordinance that prohibits their sale. The move comes after more than a year of debate over the terms.
Why the potential ban
This builds upon the city’s effort to reach zero waste, including phasing out single-use plastics. You’re likely familiar with some of those efforts — such as only getting plastic foodware by request and banning single-use carryout bags at stores. Multiple plastic bans have been suggested, like for single-use vapes and bag clips, but now it’s ink’s turn.
The cartridges are tough to dispose of because of the plastic, metal and chemicals inside, according to the city. They’re also classified as regulated waste in the state because they can leach toxic substances into the environment, such as volatile organic compounds and heavy metals.
That poses a problem. L.A.’s curbside recycling program can’t recycle the cartridges, and while its hazardous waste program can take them, a significant portion end up in landfills.
Major printer manufacturers and some ink retailers have take-back programs for used cartridges so they can get refilled. However, L.A. Sanitation says there are certain single-use cartridges that don’t have recovery programs. These are usually cartridges that work with a printer but aren’t name brand.
How outlawing them could work
LASAN has spent months figuring out what a ban would cover — and it hasn’t been without pushback. The city’s energy and environment committee pressed the department back in September on how effective a ban would be.
Ultimately, the committee moved it forward with a promise that LASAN would come back with more details, including environmental groups’ stance, concrete data to back up the need and a public education plan.
The department’s current recommendation is that the ordinance should prohibit retail and online establishments from selling any single-use ink cartridge, whether sold separately or with a printer, to people in the city. Retailers that don’t follow the rules would get fined.
So what does single-use mean here? The ban would affect a printer cartridge that:
is not collected or recovered through a take-back program
cannot be remanufactured, refilled or reused
infringes upon intellectual property rights or violates any applicable local, state or federal law
Any cartridges that meet one of these points would fall under the ban, though you still could get them outside L.A.
The proposed ordinance will go to the committee first while LASAN works on a public education plan.
If it ends up getting approved by the full council, the ban likely would go into full effect 12 months later.
Julia Barajas
explores how college students achieve their goals, whether they’re fresh out of high school, pursuing graduate work or looking to join the labor force through alternative pathways.
Published December 10, 2025 3:36 PM
Cal State Dominguez Hills faces significant budget pressure.
(
Julie Leopo
/
LAist
)
Topline:
Faculty, students, alumni and community partners are demanding the California State University, Dominguez Hills, administration withdraw a proposal to eliminate six academic programs.
Why it matters: In addition to fewer academic options, according to the California Faculty Association — the union that represents CSU professors, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches — an estimated 40 jobs will be eliminated at Cal State Dominguez Hills if this plan is approved.
What the university says: "The university’s current financial constraints limit our ability to invest in new or expanded programs that could meet those needs," university spokesperson Lilly McKibbin said via email.
She added that no final decisions have been made and that the process to end a program would give faculty a chance to "review data and hear from the campus community."
What educators say: “These programs are not expendable — they are essential,” said Stephen McFarland, a labor studies professor at the campus and a CFA executive board member. “Eliminating them would narrow students’ opportunities at a moment when they need more pathways, not fewer.”
The backstory: The CSU system is facing a $2.3 billion budget gap, despite tuition increases. The gap is rooted in cuts to state funding and increased labor costs. The university did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sophie Kinsella, who wrote the massively popular "Shopaholic" book series, has died. The writer, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was 55 years old. Last year, she announced she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.
'Shopaholic' series: Kinsella's novels were a sensation; they sold tens of millions of copies and were translated into dozens of languages. The first two books in the Shopaholic series were adapted into the 2009 movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher.
Read on ... for a 2019 interview with Kinsella.
Sophie Kinsella, who wrote the massively popular Shopaholic book series, has died. The writer, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was 55 years old. Last year, she announced she had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022.
Her death was announced on Instagram on Wednesday: "Despite her illness, which she bore with unimaginable courage, Sophie counted herself truly blessed — to have such wonderful family and friends and to have had the extraordinary success of her writing career. She took nothing for granted and was forever grateful for the love she received."
Kinsella's novels were a sensation; they sold tens of millions of copies and were translated into dozens of languages. The first two books in the Shopaholic series were adapted into the 2009 movie Confessions of a Shopaholic, starring Isla Fisher.
In an NPR interview from 2019, she said her novels focused on young women and their travails, even though she was herself a mother with five children.
"I just think there's something exciting about the time of life where you're on the lookout for opportunities in all directions. You're looking at your career. You're looking at finding someone to love. Everything is ahead of you," she said. "And for me, the — kind of the wide, open horizon is so exciting. There is something exhilarating about meeting a stranger in a coffee shop and thinking, 'Where's this going to go?'"
Makenna Sievertson
covers the daily drumbeat of Southern California — events, processes and nuances making it a unique place to call home.
Published December 10, 2025 2:29 PM
The Alphabet Streets neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. Pepperdine's Disaster Relief Clinic assists survivors with an array of legal issues as they recover and rebuild from January's fires.
Why it matters: Faculty, students and volunteers at Pepperdine University were on the ground within days of the Eaton and Palisades fires offering free legal assistance and relaunching its Disaster Relief Clinic, which provided pro bono services after the Thomas and Woolsey fires in 2017-18.
Why now: “We provide really good legal help for people that have been damaged by the fire[s],” David A. DeJute, the clinic’s director, told LAist. “It makes me feel like I'm providing something of value and worth back to the community.”
The backstory: Since then, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law's Disaster Relief Clinic has assisted more than 300 fire survivors with hundreds of hours of free legal services, according to the university.
Read on ... to learn more about the Disaster Relief Clinic.
Faculty, students and volunteers at Pepperdine University were on the ground within days of the Eaton and Palisades fires offering free legal assistance and relaunching the Disaster Relief Clinic, which provided pro bono services after the Thomas and Woolsey fires in 2017 and 2018.
Since then, Pepperdine Caruso School of Law's Disaster Relief Clinic has assisted more than 300 fire survivors, according to the university. The clinic has helped recover at least $750,000 in FEMA assistance and millions more from insurance claims.
“We provide really good legal help for people that have been damaged by the fire[s],” David A. DeJute, the clinic’s director, told LAist. “It makes me feel like I'm providing something of value and worth back to the community.”
About the clinic
The clinic is designed to help fire survivors with a wide variety of legal issues they may face as they go through the recovery and rebuilding process, including having to find rental housing, working with remediation companies to clean up ash and navigating insurance policy limits.
Pepperdine University faculty, students and volunteers were on the ground within days of January's fires, offering free legal assistance to survivors.
(
Courtesy Pepperdine University
)
DeJute, who’s also an adjunct professor with Pepperdine’s law school, said the weeks after the fires were a “little like triage” as the clinic focused on helping people prioritize their next steps.
“When you have someone in your family die, you experience trauma and shock and remorse, and nobody is surprised that it affects your mood and your ability to process information,” he said. “Same thing happens when you've lost your home.”
DeJute said some of the most common legal issues that come up at the clinic have to do with FEMA applications, landlords and price gouging.
If a survivor needs more help than the clinic can handle, like with litigation, it will refer them to other lawyers who’ve agreed to take clients pro bono, according to Pepperdine.
The clinic also has trained around 600 lawyers to bring free legal services to their own communities after a disaster, according to the university. DeJute said that includes a student who stepped in to help after the deadly flash flooding in Texas this summer.
A survivor’s story
Pergrin Jung’s family home was “completely destroyed” in the Palisades Fire in what he described to LAist as “the worst days of our lives.”
Jung, like many other survivors, wasn’t sure how to start picking up the pieces.
“Not only were we in a state of shock,” he said. “But also, none of us really knew what the next steps would be.”
Jung reached out for help with an insurance claim for his homeowner’s policy and said the clinic was a “staple” every step of the way. He said students and staff helped explain the legal system, gave feedback on letters he sent to the insurance company and guided his strategy throughout the process.
“Having this resource made all the difference to us,” Jung said. “They were invaluable.”
The clinic is run by Pepperdine faculty, staff and law students who get hands-on experience operating as attorneys under DeJute’s supervision.
The students are tasked with communicating with clients, diving into details of their legal needs, pushing back against price gouging and managing issues with mortgage companies, to name a few.
Taylor Wedlock, a third-year law student, said the clinic was an opportunity to do her part for the community, especially after her father, an L.A. fire captain, spent about a week fighting the Palisades Fire.
“We weren't just doing FEMA appeals or applications,” she told LAist. “We're going to … help to get this survivor his instruments back so he can so he can start his, you know, his musical career again.”
Wedlock said the clinic helps students apply what they learn in law school textbooks and lectures while exploring the more personal aspect of being a lawyer.
Wedlock recalled the relief in her client’s voice when she got approved for FEMA rental assistance after more than six months of denials, for example. She said she considers that one of her major wins of the semester.
“It may seem impossible to come back from such devastation, but there are options,” Wedlock said. “There are a lot of people who are willing to help.”
How to get involved
People seeking disaster-related legal assistance from the clinic can fill out the request form here. (Please note: A staff attorney or law student will respond to each request, but filling out the form doesn’t create an attorney-client relationship, according to Pepperdine.)
