Street in Los Angeles, California
Sepulveda Boulevard
is a major street and transportation corridor in the
City of Los Angeles
and several other cities in western
Los Angeles County, California
. The street parallels
Interstate 405
for much of its route. Portions of Sepulveda Boulevard between
Manhattan Beach
and
Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX) are designated as part of
State Route 1 (SR 1)
.
Since 2018, there have actually been four distinct segments in Los Angeles County signed as Sepulveda Boulevard. The southernmost of the four segments is an east-west route located in the
South Bay
, and continues west as Camino Real in
Torrance
and east as Willow Street in
Long Beach
. The second segment runs from
Manhattan Beach
north to the southern border of
El Segundo
. The third segment runs from LAX, through the
Westside
regions, and over the
Santa Monica Mountains
at the
Sepulveda Pass
into the
San Fernando Valley
. The northernmost section of Sepulveda Boulevard is in
Sylmar
, running from Roxford Street north to
San Fernando Road
.
At one point, Sepulveda Boulevard was the longest street in the city and county of Los Angeles, with the
Los Angeles Times
reporting in 2006 that it was around 42.8 miles (68.9 km) in length.
[1]
The
City of El Segundo
has since renamed their portion of SR 1 Pacific Coast Highway.
History
[
edit
]
In 1769, the Spanish
Portola expedition
, the first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north through Sepulveda pass on August 5. The party had been travelling west, intending to reach and follow the coast, but were discouraged by the steep coastal cliffs beginning at today's
Pacific Palisades
and decided to detour inland. They found the pass through the Santa Monica Mountains and followed it into the San Fernando Valley.
[2]
The pass had originally been a faint footpath used by the native
Tongva
people.
[3]
Sepulveda Boulevard was named in 1925 after 18th century cattle rancher
Francisco Xavier de Sepulveda
, whose ranch,
Rancho San Vicente y Santa Monica
, extended from the route to the
Pacific Ocean
.
[1]
Between the
City of Hermosa Beach
and Lincoln Boulevard, the road was once signed as
U.S. Route 101 Alternate
until being replaced by
State Route 1
,
[4]
and between Lincoln Boulevard and San Fernando Road (formerly
US 99
), the road was once signed as
State Route 7
until being replaced by
Interstate 405
.
[3]
[4]
The part of the route that runs through the
San Fernando Valley
was
[
when?
]
a major hub of
prostitution
.
[5]
The entertainment industry has also referenced the street. The 1931 comedy film
Everything's Rosie
has a chase scene that goes through the newly built Sepulveda Boulevard tunnel. In 1946, the
Jay Livingston
and
Ray Evans
composing duo wrote the song
Sepulveda
in tribute to the street; the song would be recorded by
Alvino Rey
and his Orchestra with Joanne Ryan for
Capitol Records
, as would
The King's Jesters
for
Vogue Records
.
[6]
Sepulveda Boulevard, along with
Pico Boulevard
, is mentioned in the title and lyrics of a novelty song
Pico and Sepulveda
composed by Eddie Maxwell (Eddie Cherkose) and
Jule Styne
; this song was recorded by
Freddy Martin
and his Orchestra in 1947 for release as a
single
.
[7]
Name changes
[
edit
]
Portions of Sepulveda Boulevard have had the name changed, especially most of those segments that were designated by state officials as part of State Route 1.
Hermosa Beach
historian John Hales said that the city formally adopted the name of Pacific Coast Highway in 1947 to possibly end a dispute to whether to name the route Sepulveda or Camino Real.
[8]
In 2018, the city of
El Segundo
also decided to formally change the name to Pacific Coast Highway to better appeal to visitors as being a coastal community.
[9]
Route description
[
edit
]
Since 2018, there are four distinct segments in Los Angeles County signed as Sepulveda Boulevard.
All four once connected to each other
[
dubious
–
discuss
]
. The three north-south segments were once a continuous route but were separated by local renaming and freeway construction. There is no current evidence that the southernmost east-west route was once continuous with the north-south segments.
The southernmost segment is an east-west route located in the
South Bay
area that continues east as Willow Street near
SR 103
in
Long Beach
, and west as Camino Real before Torrance Boulevard in
Torrance
. It crosses the
Harbor Freeway (I-110)
in
West Carson
.
[10]
Sepulveda Boulevard then resumes at
Artesia Boulevard
in
Manhattan Beach
as a continuation of
SR 1
. In 2018, the city of
El Segundo
renamed their portion of SR 1 to Pacific Coast Highway from
Rosecrans Avenue
to
Imperial Highway
where SR 1 continues again as Sepulveda Boulevard.
[11]
Past Imperial Highway, it crosses the western terminus of the
Century Freeway (I-105)
, going through the
LAX Airport Tunnel
to pass under its runways. The road then passes through an interchange with
Century Boulevard
, which provides access to LAX's terminals to the west and the
San Diego Freeway (I-405)
to the east.
[12]
At the north end of LAX, SR 1 branches to the west as
Lincoln Boulevard
while Sepulveda Boulevard continues north to become a primary thoroughfare through the
Westside
region cities and communities of
Westchester
,
Culver City
,
West Los Angeles
, and
Westwood
. In Culver City, north of
Slauson Avenue
, it merges for a few blocks with
Jefferson Boulevard
. From Jefferson, Sepulveda Boulevard runs parallel to I-405 as it goes through West Los Angeles and Westwood, passing the
Los Angeles National Cemetery
.
After going past
Bel Air
, it parallels the freeway up the Sepulveda Canyon. At the
Skirball Cultural Center
, Sepulveda Boulevard then curves west away from I-405, passes through a tunnel under
Mulholland Drive
, and then follows a serpentine route down the north side of the
Sepulveda Pass
. It then passes under I-405 just before crossing
Ventura Boulevard
in
Sherman Oaks
. Sepulveda Boulevard then runs parallel to the east of I-405, crossing the
Ventura Freeway (US 101)
and the
Los Angeles Metro G Line
rapid transit route, and through the
San Fernando Valley
communities of
Van Nuys
and
North Hills
, to its northern terminus at the Rinaldi Street interchange with I-405 in
Mission Hills
.
[13]
The northernmost section of Sepulveda Boulevard in
Sylmar
, running from Roxford Street to
San Fernando Road
,
[14]
is primarily a
frontage road
along the
Golden State Freeway (I-5)
. Prior to the construction of the 405 freeway in the 1960s, that disjunct piece and the main section of Sepulveda Boulevard were one continuous street, separated when the 405 freeway interchange with the Golden State Freeway was built atop the section between Rinaldi and Roxford Streets and referred to as the "boulevard of death" due to having over 30 deaths in 11 years at this now demolished segment.
[15]
Public transportation
[
edit
]
Public transit
along Sepulveda Boulevard is provided by several bus lines. The north-south part provides bus service in the San Fernando Valley by
Metro Local
line 234,
[16]
through the
Sepulveda Pass
by
Metro Rapid
line 761, through West Los Angeles, Culver City and LAX by
Culver City Transit
Line 6 and Rapid 6,
[17]
and from LAX onwards by Metro Local line 232.
[18]
The west-east portion of Sepulveda Boulevard provides bus service by
Torrance Transit
line 7.
[19]
Metro Rail
has a
station
at Exposition Blvd on the
E Line
while
Metro Busway
has a
station of the same name
on the
G Line
. The
A Line
has a
station
in Long Beach at
Long Beach Blvd
within Willow Street, which is a section of the same road as Sepulveda after its terminus. A large portion of the boulevard is set to be served by the
Sepulveda Transit Corridor
which will include the
Sepulveda Pass
.
Major intersections
[
edit
]
The entire route is in
Los Angeles County
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
Rasmussen, Cecilia (December 10, 2006).
"The Long and the Short of the Southland's Street Names"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
May 10,
2021
.
- ^
Bolton, Herbert E. (1927).
Fray Juan Crespi: Missionary Explorer on the Pacific Coast, 1769-1774
. HathiTrust Digital Library. pp. 150?151.
- ^
a
b
Masters, Nathan (June 27, 2017).
"How Sepulveda Canyon Became the 405"
.
kcet.org
. Retrieved
May 10,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
Los Angeles and Vicinity
(Map). 1939
. Retrieved
April 3,
2021
.
- ^
Krikorian, Michael (June 19, 2001).
"Prostitution Is Still a Problem on Sepulveda"
.
Los Angeles times
. Retrieved
April 8,
2021
.
- ^
"Sepulveda 1946"
.
rayevans.org
. The Ray & Wyn Ritchie Evans Foundation
. Retrieved
May 14,
2019
.
- ^
"Pico and Sepulveda"
.
Felix Figueroa & His Orchestra
. Mad Music Productions, LLC
. Retrieved
December 4,
2018
.
- ^
Pool, Bob (February 5, 2004).
"Winding Street Tells Tale of L.A., Past and Present"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
March 30,
2021
.
- ^
"El Segundo Renames Portion of Sepulveda To PCH"
.
CBS Los Angeles
. June 19, 2018
. Retrieved
March 26,
2021
.
- ^
Google
(August 7, 2021).
"Driving directions from Willow St & Sepulveda Blvd to Sepulveda Blvd & Camino Real"
(Map).
Google Maps
. Google
. Retrieved
August 7,
2021
.
- ^
"El Segundo renames Sepulveda Boulevard"
.
abc7.com
. June 6, 2018
. Retrieved
March 26,
2021
.
- ^
Google
(August 7, 2021).
"Driving directions from Artesia Blvd & Sepulveda Blvd to Sepulveda Blvd & Lincoln Blvd"
(Map).
Google Maps
. Google
. Retrieved
August 7,
2021
.
- ^
Google
(August 7, 2021).
"Driving directions from Sepulveda Blvd & Lincoln Blvd to Sepulveda Blvd & Rinaldi Street"
(Map).
Google Maps
. Google
. Retrieved
August 7,
2021
.
- ^
Google
(August 7, 2021).
"Driving directions from Roxford St & Sepulveda Blvd to Sepulveda Blvd & San Fernando Road"
(Map).
Google Maps
. Google
. Retrieved
August 7,
2021
.
- ^
"Boulevard of Death' is closed forever"
. 1963
. Retrieved
May 27,
2023
.
- ^
"Line 234"
(PDF)
. LA Metro.
- ^
"Line 6 Sepulveda Blvd"
.
www.culvercity.org
. Culver City
. Retrieved
May 14,
2019
.
- ^
"Line 232"
(PDF)
. LA Metro.
- ^
"Torrance Line 7"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on March 6, 2009.
External links
[
edit
]
KML is from Wikidata
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