Highway 101: The History of El Camino Real: 2 (California's Historic Highways, 2)

Interesting story of how capitalism formed the roads of a country

As a native Californian I can say with some authority that this book is accurate, complete and a joy to read. Brings back many memories and I never read anything here that wasn't accurate or that I could question. Driving CA 101 will be all the better for reading this book. The author's HIGHWAY 99 is just as enjoyable and even more to learn there. I recommend it as well.

I was immediately excited about this book when I opened it at random to p.95. Here was a beautiful photo staring at me of the old concrete highway ascending Cuesta grade north of San Luis Obispo, long since replaced by the current Highway 101. When I was a youngster travelling with my parents on one of our frequent trips to Southern California in the 1950's - when there was no I-5 - I had my very first experience of viewing an abandoned highway from the passenger side of our car as we headed south towards San Luis Obispo. It was this section of Highway 101 I was drawn to as shown here. From then on through the rest of my life, I have sought to locate these crumbling concrete treasures wherever I go. (You not only can see this segment of highway from today's 101 but from Amtrak trains passing by on the ridge above.) Anyone who could put such an obscure section of old highway I thought only I was familiar with in such a wonderfully detailed book like this deserves a great deal of credit and admiration from me.A few years ago, I spotted the old San Juan Grade on a map and soon went out to explore it. This steep and winding road still runs between Salinas and San Juan Bautista. This was Highway 101 until the much less elevated and much straighter "Prunedale Cutoff" was finally opened for traffic on July 20,1932 and which most of us are much more familiar with in the present day. Mr. Provost writes eloquently of the evolution of what took place with this on p. 183-184.There is so much more to this book than these two favorite segments of mine such as the extensive photos of towns and business establishments nobody ever heard of nor would ever think about. Provost's descriptions of "hole in the wall" places and establishments which were there once but are now long gone places this book in a class all by itself. Who would have any idea where to look to find out anything about any of these places? This book is a great reference source for such obscure interests. It must have taken Mr. Provost forever to research what is here!But with so much to cover on this long highway, there are inevitably gaps. North of San Juan Bautista, towns like Gilroy and Morgan Hill are completely omitted along with towns between San Jose and Burlingame. Not mentioned, just south of Gilroy, there is a stretch of old 101 which veers away from the current highway, ending up on private property, descends to a place where a grade crossing with the Southern Pacific once existed, then followed by a short stretch of old concrete highway similar to the one on the old Cuesta grade. This is a place called Sargent caught between a railroad beet loader and the current 101. As I say, you can't cover everything when the author is tackling such lengthy territory.Here is a more obvious omission: MAPS! There are only two small ones and neither adequately show the many communities Mr. Provost describes in such wonderful detail! If you write a book on a major highway and its history and all of its routes and settlements, why would you not include at least one detailed map for us to refer to as we seek to locate all of these interesting places in this otherwise perfect book? There are six blank pages at the start of this book. Surely someone could have drawn a map of Highway 101 in it's entirety or one could have been reproduced from another source. I have a stack of AAA strip maps from the 1915 era which would have fit nicely in here. These maps, which I have never seen the likes of, show the distances between service stations and hotels within a half mile range of their locations.Nevertheless, I want to emphasize how much I like and recommend this book and Provost's book on Highway 99 is even better! I concede not everyone in the world is a map nut like me! So, many of you may not even think maps are of your concern.

Evoked many memories of trips with my parents from age 8 to 16 north and south on the 101 from home in San Pedro. Brought back the stories of their travels on the 101 in the '20s, '30s, & early '40s.

I am really enjoying seeing so many familiar sights from my old stomping grounds. Thank you for all of the pictures. And I am also enjoying learning about things that I saw all of the time and really didn't know anything about. Makes me homesick. I highly recommend this book.