CA RxR 2.12: Route 2: Hills and Mountains (Glendale and Angeles National Forest)

Episode 2.12 of California Highways: Route by Route is the second of two episodes on Route 2. In this episode, we complete our exploration of Route 2. This time, we focus on the segments in Glendale and through the Angeles National Forest, roughly from US 101 to Route 138. We talk about the pre-freeway routing, the history of the Glendale Freeway, the proposals for an Angeles Forest Freeway, and the history of Angeles Crest Highway. This is the last episode of Season 2. We hope to do some bonus episodes during the season break while we complete writing Season 3, which will cover Route 3 through Route 7.

Here’s the link to the show:

And here’s the link on Spotify for Podcasters:

Here are some relevant links (I may edit this to add more links in later):

• California Highways:
  • Route 2
  • Route 138
  • Route 173
  • I-210
  • Route 122
  • Route 249
  • Route 196
  • LA County Route N3
  • LRN 162
  • LRN 61
  • LRN 59
  • LRN 188
• Gribblenation:
  • Hollywood Freeway; California State Route 170, US Route 101, US Route 66 and California State Route 2
  • California State Route 2 on the Glendale Freeway
  • California State Route 2 on the Angeles Crest Highway
  • California State Route 173; former California State Route 2 and the last stand of the dirt State Highway
  • California State Route 138
• Other Road Scholars:
  • AARoads: California 2
  • Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads (Michael Ballard):
    • Route 2
• Other links:
  • LA TImes: Desert-to-L.A. Tunnel Idea Surfaces Again.
  • Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles. Paul Haddad, 2021. Amazon says: “Freewaytopia: How Freeways Shaped Los Angeles explores how social, economic, political, and cultural demands created the web of freeways whose very form―futuristic, majestic, and progressive―perfectly exemplifies the City of Angels. From the Arroyo Seco Parkway, which began construction during the Great Depression, to the Century Freeway, completed in 1993, author Paul Haddad provides an entertaining and thought-provoking history of the 527 miles of roadways that comprise the Los Angeles freeway system. Each of Los Angeles’s twelve freeways receives its own chapter, and these are supplemented by “Off-Ramps”―sidebars that dish out pithy factoids about Botts’ Dots, SigAlerts, and all matter of freeway lexicon, such as why Southern Californians are the only people in the country who place the word “the” in front of their interstates, as in “the 5,” or “the 101.””

We encourage you to explore our back catalog through this site or our Spotify for Podcasters home.