Pacific Coast Highway Paved Way for Supreme Court Ruling

The idea of taking a road trip these days puts some people off now that gas costs more than $4.50 a gallon. But taking to the road to see inspiring sights is the right of every American, a right recognized by no less than the U.S. Supreme Court. That ruling was inspired by a California road: Pacific Coast Highway. KPCC's Special Correspondent Kitty Felde reports.

Matt Roth: Pacific Coast Highway has it all.

Kitty Felde: Matt Roth is historian for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Roth: Sunshine, sand, movie stars, the ocean. It's the quintessential highway for the image of Southern California. The remarkable thing is that none of that had to do with the origins of the road.

Felde: Central Valley lawmakers wanted a north-south road to take produce to market. Matt Roth says in 1909, they proposed California's first highway bond.

Roth: In order to enlist the support of the legislators from coastal counties, they said well, we'll have two roads: one down the coast and one through the Central Valley.

Felde: But San Francisco lawmakers didn't want to pay because the new roads would bypass the city. So San Francisco got an exemption from paying for the bond. San Diego, on the other hand, thought the highway would help it compete with Los Angeles.

So San Diego County put up its own money to pave a road that stretched along the coast to the Orange County line. But Roth says when it opened for traffic in 1915, it was a series of disasters.

Roth: First of all, it's 4 inch thick unreinforced concrete, which just crumbles the first time a truck goes over it. Well, they also built a bridge, the county did, across the San Luis Rey River in the northern end of the county.

Open span through a concrete arch. You know, very modern, up to date, sophisticated construction technology. But the coastal environment is a very difficult place for structural engineering and they did not provide adequate footing, so the first big storm, this bridge washes out to sea.

Felde: Eventually, they fix the problems along the southern stretch of PCH. But the project hits a snag north of L.A. The state had hoped property owners would be civic minded and donate right-of-way. Instead, the lawyers for the state spent a lot of time in court. The Auto Club's Matt Roth says the toughest challenge was May Rindge, who owned Malibu ranch. She kept the Southern Pacific Railroad off her land and was prepared to fight PCH, too.

Roth: The ranch would probably would have been left alone if something else hadn't happened to the south.

Felde: The South Bay was on the verge of a real estate boom, headed by Frank Vanderlip.

Roth: Frank Vanderlip was always referred to in the Los Angeles newspapers as, quote, "an Eastern capitalist."

Felde: Vanderlip bought Palos Verdes Peninsula to build an "ocean suburb." He and other real estate interests, from Redondo Beach to San Pedro, eagerly watched the progress of PCH as it neared their land. But the road project was running out of money. The state issued two more bonds.

Roth: The 1919 bond issue, $43 million, Frank Vanderlip buys 10 million of the bonds. On the condition that the road run past his property.

Felde: Back in court, May Rindge cites a state highway report that's says no one lives in Malibu. That means there's no reason to build the highway through Malibu. But L.A. lawyers counter this way.

Roth: Driving past scenic landscapes is a public good.

Felde: The case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court, which rules in 1923.

Roth: And what it says is, the taking of land for park purposes has been well established. In this modern day of motoring, driving past scenic wonders is definitely part of public health. And so in effect, what the Pacific Coast Highway does is it occasions the expanded definition of citizenship in the United States, which is that it includes pleasure driving.

Felde: 1923 is also when California institutes a gasoline tax, ensuring a stream of money for building roads. Five years later, the state finishes PCH. A year after that, May Rindge, who tried to keep the road out of Malibu, puts out a leather-bound brochure offering property for sale in Rancho Malibu.

And she points out that the new highway means you can get from Malibu to Hollywood in half an hour. It'll take longer than that these days to make the trip. But go ahead and hit the road. After all, the Supreme Court says it's your right to cruise PCH and enjoy the scenery.