THE ROAD
U.S. 101, facing north from Fourth Street in Arroyo Grande, 2016.
The old alignment of U.S. 101 through the redwoods in northern California, Avenue of the Giants is a 31-mile stretch of scenic road now signed as State Route 254 in Humboldt County.
Concrete on the old U.S. 101 alignment between San Luis Obispo and Santa Margarita; the modern Cuesta Grade highway is to the right of this photo (not pictured).
This section of old U.S. 101 northwest of San Luis Obispo is now on private property in the Santa Lucia Range; this photo was taken looking down from the modern highway.
You can still walk out onto the 1918 concrete arch bridge over Arroyo Hondo Creek near Gaviota. The modern highway, farther inland, replaced it in the 1980s.
A billboard advertises Pea Soup Andersen’s on the old highway, now called Jonata Park Road, just north of Buellton.
A strip of old concrete, foreground, runs past the historic Octagon Barn off the old highway (Higuera Street) at the southern end of San Luis Obispo.
This strip of old concrete once carried the highway around the large outcropping at Point Mugu on what’s now State Route 1, formerly the northern end of the U.S. 101 Alternate in southern California.
Old concrete survives beneath the asphalt of the San Juan Grade, an old and winding alignment of U.S. 101 northeast of Salinas.
A stroll out onto the old Eel River Viaduct north of Leggett will produce this view of the river for which the abandoned section of highway is named.
An old section of highway in San Miguel, near the mission.
Bill’s is an old drive-in burger joint on old 101, Broadway, in Santa Maria. It was still serving up fast food when this photo was taken in 2016.
The Buckboard Motel’s large sign hearkens back to an era when Broadway was U.S. 101 through town.
A fixture along Ventura Boulevard (old 101) in the San Fernando Valley community of Encino, this was where the author learned to bowl … or sort of learned.
The Farmhouse Motel in Paso Robles is at the southern end of Spring Street, historic/business 101.
The Fremont Theatre opened in 1942 on Monterey Street in San Luis Obispo. Movies are still shown there, and the theater hosts live events, as well.
Foster’s Freeze operated in San Luis Obispo for 65 years on Marsh Street, a section of old U.S. 101, before it shut its doors in 2014. This photo was taken just after it closed.
A crescent moon rises at twilight above the neon sign at the Homestead Motel, just off the highway in San Luis Obispo.
This neon sign in Garberville still lights up at night; the pancakes were made to flash on and off in sequence, giving the impression that the chef is flipping them above his pan.
The sign for the Motel Inn at the north end of Monterey Street, old U.S. 101, in San Luis Obispo. The first inn to be called a “motel,” it was being rebuilt and refurbished as of this writing.
The sign on the Star Theatre on North Coast Highway (U.S. 101) at Civic Center Drive provides one of the visual highlights along this section of the road. The theater was built in 1956.
The irony of this sign shouldn’t be missed: It’s an outpost all its own these days, pointing the way to a motel that’s no longer there, near the Eel River Viaduct in northern California.
A cowboy rides an oil rig at the western entrance to San Ardo on a bypassed section of U.S. 101 east of the modern highway in the Salinas Valley.
The 101 Café along the Coast Highway in Oceanside features a mural on its south side that evokes memories of the 1950s’ drive-in, cruiser culture.
The Benbow Inn beside the Eel River in Garberville offers deluxe accommodations, tasty meals … and a reputation for being haunted.
This totem pole is one of many attractions and carvings at Confusion Hill in the Leggett area, off a section of the old Redwood Highway that has since been abandoned and now serves as the roadside stop’s parking lot.
The Chandelier Tree in Leggett is one of many redwood attractions in the area.
The Del Mar Racetrack, closely associated with legendary actor-crooner Bing Crosby, is seen from Camino Del Mar, a section of U.S. 101 later bypassed by Interstate 5.
A historic house on the Long-Bonetti Ranch at Higuera Street (old U.S. 101) and Tank Farm Road in San Luis Obispo. The ranch house, which dates to 1908, was to be converted into a restaurant under redevelopment plans in the works by 2014.
The One Log House off U.S. 101 in Garberville is a tourist attraction that once traveled the country; it was hollowed out from a single log in 1946 and features connected rooms inside.
Rod’s Auto Body in Arroyo Grande sits along old U.S. 101, where it’s known as Traffic Way. It dates from the 1930s and previously housed Standard and Chevron service stations.
The Tustin Garage is now a seafood restaurant, but it began as a garage a century ago.
A bell tower greets visitors exiting the highway at the southern end of San Miguel, site of one of California’s historic missions.
Now a sixplex in the Regal chain, this theater was built in the 1940s by Redwood Theatres with a single screen.
