Dedicated to the preservation of California's Main Street – former US Highway 99
Author: Michael Ballard
I am the founder of the Historic Highway 99 Association of California. I am also the author and administrator of the "Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads" website at https://socalregion.com, since 1995. I have been studying the geology and highway history throughout southern California for most of my life. I am also the President of the Ridge Route Preservation Organization.
On Tuesday, April 6 at 6pm, Michael Ballard will be giving a presentation via Zoom on the Ridge Route Alternate section of US 99 during our regular monthly meeting. It will cover the history of the roadway from its original construction through to its replacement by I-5 from Castaic to Tejon Pass. The presentation will include some rarer photos of the route and have time at the end for questions. Come join us and learn a bit about the history of US 99 in Southern California!
To register for the presentation, use the link below:
Our signs for our Calexico project (04IMP21001) have finally arrived! These signs were made by Zumar Industriesin Santa Fe Springs, CA. We are quite pleased with how they turned out.
Our sign from Zumar.
We anticipate these to be installed in Calexico in the next month. More signs will be ordered as other projects move forward. This wouldn’t be possible without your donations and support. We want to thank everyone that donated. We would also like to thank Zumar Industries for making such a great sign. We anticipate more orders from them in the future.
Greetings and Welcome to the Historic Highway 99 Association of California’s monthly newsletter! My name is Sara Lazarus and I am the Treasurer of the Association. We are a young, but growing group of Highway 99 enthusiasts who share one common goal: Preserving the original sections of Highway 99 and the stories of those involved. As time goes on, and with help from our Members, donors and volunteers, we will be working on installing new signage, telling the stories of Businesses, Families and detailing historic events along the highway. None of these things could happen, however, without all of you, our Members. With your support, we can all help to preserve the history of California’s Main Street. As we speak, we have ordered our first new signage for the City of Calexico, California and are awaiting delivery to their Public Works Department. These signs will be going up on First at Heffernan and Second at Imperial in the not-too-distant future. We are also in the process of working with other entities throughout the State to determine signing and material needs. Thank you all for being a part of this organization and helping to save history.
Advocacy / Projects
Original sign, since replaced in Mountain Gate.
A report from Mountain Gate in Shasta County (Region 1) regarding our last “99 Alert“:
On Feb 4th, a Historic US 99 sign in the Community of Mountain Gate, CA was discovered to be stolen using a metal saw. The local historian on his local walk discovered the sign missing and reported it to Shasta County Public Works. He made a hypothetical guess that it was stolen during the recent snow storm since Interstate 5 closes near the spot where the sign is located and the roadways turned into a parking lot for people wishing to drive forward. This guess was because the sign was at that location a few days before the snow storm hit. The historian also sent a message to the local community Facebook page as well as the Historic US 99 and the historic enamel California signs asking for their help in the location of the sign. Some of the members wondered if the county or the state knocked down the sign with a snow plow but Caltrans and Shasta County Public Works confirmed that the sign was not knocked down to their knowledge which also confirmed that the sign was stolen. Shasta County Public Works then after waiting for a week went ahead and got a sign purchased as per to the original agreement between the County and Mountain Gate in regards to the Historic US 99 signs. They also then installed the sign afterwards. The new sign is of the same size as the old one but it has modern reflective materials. The Mountain Gate, CA historian is quite grateful for the assistance of everyone willing to help. This Historic US 99 project is not the final one for this area…Someday I hope to see these roads repaved with the original materials but to modern specs.
-Mountain Gate, CA Historian
Fundraising
Fundraising has been slow but steady. While we have not yet reached our main funding goal, we did get enough to pay for two signs in Calexico. We currently have one main fundraiser going for a stock of now eight signs for Banning and Beaumont. Other projects, beyond sign projects, are still in the works. We do wish to thank all that have donated so far to our cause. Once we obtain our 501c3 status, you will be given a proper receipt for tax purposes.
We are still working to contact the various agencies, historical societies, and clubs along US 99 in California. This is a slow process but so far successful. We are also now hosting monthly meetings via Zoom. Our first will be held on March 4 at 5:30 pm. Join us and meet the Association! If you’d like to join our meeting, please register using the link below. Future meetings will be posted on our site. We are still working on a regular time and date for the meeting, so it may change slightly each month for now.
Starting March 1, we officially have a membership program. We decided to proceed without our 501c3 as we anticipate it coming through in the very near future. Sign ups, for now, are completely online. Join us and help our organization grow! If you join now, your membership will be valid until the end of March 2022. In the future, once we have a 501c3, we will also accept applications through the mail.
Mt Shasta from Redding, California. Courtesy – Michael F Ballard
This month, we feature a photo showing a snow-capped Mt Shasta peeking out from the mountains north of Redding, CA at the intersection of Lake Blvd and State 273 (old US 99) in Region 1. Mt Shasta is the most picturesque mountain in all of California, in my opinion. The photo was taken in October 2007 on a trip to see what parts of US 99 were exposed at Lake Shasta. That year, the water level was low enough to see most of the old highway but nearly as much as just a year later in October 2008 when it was possible to traverse almost all of old US 99 from O’Brien Inlet to Lakehead.
Errata
We want to hear from you! One of our goals is to promote local businesses. If you own a business along old US 99 and are looking for more exposure, join us and we will feature your business in our newsletter and our website. If you would like to have one of your photos featured in our newsletter, send us a message!
Today’s photo was taken in 2012 and is one half of a section of former expressway. It was bypassed in the 1970’s and is located in Region 3. Where is it?
The photo shows a section of former US 99 known as Floyd Lane between Bowman Road and Sunset Hills Drive in Tehama County just south of Cottonwood. The concrete dates to the late 1910’s and was bypassed about 1940.
We are finally starting memberships! All memberships this started this month will be effective March 1, 2021. We are still waiting for our 501(c)3 status to come through, but it should be sometime in March. Your contributions will allow us to continue projects like ours in Calexico, to help promote the highway as well as the towns and businesses along it, and preserve what is left of former US Highway 99.
