Harrison Scott, the foremost authority on the historic Ridge Route, tells the story of the road that united California in this episode of “Legacy: Santa Clarita’s Living History.”

This episode of “Legacy” was taped in 2002 with Leon Worden of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society.

To view the video visit https://scvtv.com/2002/07/01/harrison-scott-and-the-historic-ridge-route/.

The Ridge Route Preservation Organization is a 501(c)(3) California non-profit corporation founded by Scott and committed to educating the public to the importance of California’s historic 1915 Ridge Route Highway, an engineering marvel that prevented California from separating into two separate states.

Seventeen point six miles of the original road were recorded onto the National Register of Historic Places on Sept. 25, 1997.

The nonprofit holds monthly events to help maintain the Ridge Route.

August Clean Up the Ridge Route

Sunday, Aug. 24

8 a.m.-noon

Meet at Carls Jr, 49669 Gorman Post Road, Gorman, CA 93243.

These events focus on making the Old Ridge Route a better place. Seasonally, tasks can vary.

Summer and Fall usually focus on improvements. Filling potholes, clearing brush, picking up trash and making the Ridge Route a much more accessible place for visitors and the emergency services.

For more information on the Ridge Route Preservation Organization visit https://ridgeroute.org/about-the-organization/.

A (Short) History of the Ridge Route

Opened in 1915, and credited by historians with uniting the economies of Northern and Southern California, the historic Ridge Route was replaced in 1933 by Highway 99, and in 1970 by the I-5 Freeway.

The Ridge Route, officially the Castaic–Tejon Route, was a two-lane highway between Los Angeles County and Kern County. The route was paved with concrete between 1917 and 1921 It was the first paved highway directly linking the Los Angeles Basin with the San Joaquin Valley.

The Ridge Route was built with crews operating horse-drawn scrapers who carved a narrow two-lane passage between Castaic and Grapevine, shaving 24 miles off the previous route. The new road included 697 curves and climbed to more than 4,000 feet above sea level.

The road was once dotted with gas stations, diners, nightclubs and hotels that hosted gangsters and Hollywood stars. Clark Gable, Jean Harlow and Bugsy Siegel visited places such as Kelly’s Halfway Inn, set dead center in the 12-hour automobile journey between Bakersfield and Los Angeles and Sandberg’s Summit Hotel, which had a sign by the front door that said, “No Dogs or Truck Drivers Allowed.”

It was considered a construction triumph despite its curvey road with a speed limit of only 15 mph.

At one time there were calls to split California into two states because of the difficulty in travel between northern and southern California. The Ridge Route is credited with eliminating those proposals.

Harrison Scott, founder of the Ridge Route Preservation Organization