About three years ago, I saw this postcard on the internet:
hippostcard.com
The image is dated from 1937. It intrigued me. In my lifetime, US-101 has always ended just south of downtown Los Angeles, at the East LA Interchange, where driving south, you have the choice of going eastbound on the 10, eastbound on the 60, or southbound on the 5.
US-101 in San Diego County was bypassed by Interstate 5 in the 1960s, and eventually decommissioned. In the late 1990s or early 2000s, there was an interest to designate the old route of US-101, and some north county cities started putting up signs along parts of the route:
Wikimedia Commons
The City of San Diego also has signs like this along its portions of what used to be US-101.
And then a few weeks ago, I saw this picture on the internet:
sandiegohistory.org
The image dates from 1961. It inspired me to take a little road trip/day trip down to San Diego, but going by way of old US-101.
I've driven down to San Diego many times, but always on the 5 (a few times by using Interstate 15). The 5 is obviously a fast way down to San Diego, but you miss out on going through the coastal towns of San Diego County.
So on Saturday (12.5.2020), my partner and I drove down to Oceanside via Interstate 5, and then took the old US-101 route into San Diego. And I took some pics.
Oceanside... Jarheads and Surfers.
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"What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a pelican go fishing before??"
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Carlsbad.
From Wikipedia: "In the 1880s a former sailor named John Frazier dug a well in the area. He began offering his water at the train station and soon the whistle-stop became known as Frazier's Station. A test done on a second fresh-water well discovered the water to be chemically similar to that found in some of the most renowned spas in the world, and the town was named after the famed spa in the Bohemian town of Karlsbad (now Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic).
To take advantage of the find, the Carlsbad Land and Mineral Water Company was formed by a German-born merchant from the Midwest named Gerhard Schutte together with Samuel Church Smith, D. D. Wadsworth and Henry Nelson. The naming of the town followed soon after, along with a major marketing campaign to attract visitors. The area experienced a period of growth, with homes and businesses sprouting up in the 1880s. Agricultural development of citrus fruits, avocados and olives soon changed the landscape. By the end of 1887, land prices fell throughout San Diego County. However, the community survived on the back of its fertile agricultural lands.
'The site of John Frazier's original well can still be found at Alt Karlsbad, a replica of a German Hanseatic house, located on Carlsbad Boulevard." You can buy the water from the well.
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Leucadia and Encinitas.
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Fletcher Cove Beach Park, Solana Beach.
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Just one pic of
Del Mar. It's of course known for its racetrack by the sea, and Amtrak even stops near the racetrack. We just kept driving through.
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Entering
San Diego and Torrey Pines State Beach. And of course here's that bridge from the old photos.
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Another old photo of it, from 1952. Very small though.
library.ucsd.edu
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La Jolla Shores neighborhood of San Diego. Not to be confused with La Jolla Village, where most of the tourists go.
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VW with Mexican plates.
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Baja California.
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Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego.
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First.
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Second.
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Third.
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Alas, it was SoCal's last Saturday before a state-mandated stay-at-home order banning even outdoor dining in all of southern California because of spiking COVID rates and increases in ICU hospitalizations. We certainly enjoyed our last Saturday night eating out for at least 3 weeks. Hung out for a bit, chatted briefly with our waiter, and then drove back home.