Sepulveda Boulevard

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Sepulveda Boulevard
Maintained by Bureau of Street Services, City of L.A. DPW, City of Torrance, City of Carson, Co. of L.A. DPW, Caltrans
Length 42.8 mi (68.9 km)
North end I-5 in San Fernando
Major
junctions		 SR 118 in Mission Hills
US 101 in Van Nuys
SR 2 in West Los Angeles
I-10 in West Los Angeles
I-405 in Culver City
I-105 near LAX Airport
I-110 West Carson / Carson
South end SR 103 in Long Beach

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 boulevard is around 42.8 miles (68.9 km) in length, from the northern San Fernando Valley, over the Santa Monica Mountains at Sepulveda Pass, across the Westside and South Bay regions, to Long Beach. It generally runs north-south, passing underneath two of the runways of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). It is the longest street in the city and county of Los Angeles.[1]

History

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]

Sepulveda Boulevard is named for the Sepulveda family of San Pedro, California. The termination of Sepulveda is on a part of the Sepulveda family ranch, Rancho Palos Verdes, which consisted of 31,619 acres (127.96 km2) of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. In 1784 the Spanish land grant for Rancho San Pedro was issued to Juan Jose Dominguez by King Carlos III—the Spanish Empire. A judicial decree was made by Governor José Figueroa which was intended to settle the land dispute between the Domínguez and Sepúlveda families. The rancho was formally divided in 1846, with Governor Pío Pico granting Rancho de los Palos Verdes to José Loreto and Juan Capistrano Sepulveda.

Route

  • Sepulveda Boulevard from a Boeing 757 on approach to LAX

  • Sepulveda Boulevard Tunnel

  • Sepulveda Blvd., Sepulveda Pass

There is a separate section of Sepulveda Boulevard in Sylmar, in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, running only from San Fernando Road to Roxford Street, and now primarily a service road along the Golden State Freeway (Interstate 5). Prior to the construction of the San Diego Freeway (Interstate 405) in the 1960s, that disjunct piece and the main section of Sepulveda Boulevard were one continuous street, separated when the 405 interchange with the Golden State Freeway was built atop the section between Roxford and Rinaldi Streets.

The main Sepulveda Boulevard now begins in the northern San Fernando Valley at Rinaldi Street in Mission Hills, and heads south running parallel to the 405 through North Hills and Van Nuys, crossing the Los Angeles Metro Orange Line rapid transit route, and passing under the Ventura Freeway (Hwy 101). After crossing Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks, it passes under the San Diego Freeway (405) and climbs Sepulveda Pass in a serpentine fashion, peaking inside a tunnel under Mulholland Drive near the Skirball Cultural Center. It once again parallels the 405 down through Sepulveda Canyon past Bel Air before leveling out in Westwood, passing the Los Angeles National Cemetery, proceeding on into the Westside region of the Los Angeles Basin.

Sepulveda Boulevard functions as a primary thoroughfare through Westwood, West Los Angeles, and Culver City, where just north of Slauson Avenue it merges with Jefferson Boulevard. It shortly un-merges and then heads directly south through Westchester. At the north side of Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) Lincoln Boulevard merges into Sepulveda Boulevard, which now becomes signed as State Route 1. It then uses the LAX Airport Tunnel to pass under its runways, then crosses under the light rail Los Angeles Metro Green Line and passes the western terminus of the Century Freeway (Interstate 105), as entering El Segundo and the South Bay region.

In the South Bay, Sepulveda Boulevard runs from El Segundo through Manhattan Beach and enters Hermosa Beach, where it diverts 1.3 miles (2.1 km) east and becomes the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) at Artesia Boulevard, and continues southwards

At Torrance Boulevard (formerly Opal Street) in Redondo Beach, the road turns east a few blocks to Camino Real, then southeast to Torrance, where Sepulveda Boulevard signage begins again. Originally PCH was on a section of the 19th century El Camino Real crossing the Rancho Sausal Redondo. The present day Camino Real section has El Camino Real bell markers along it.

Sepulveda Boulevard then runs southeast through Torrance, Harbor Gateway (from Western Avenue to Normandie Avenue), and the unincorporated area of southern Los Angeles County known as West Carson (from Normandie to the Harbor Freeway (Interstate 110). It then continues eastward through Carson to end at the Long Beach city border. Here the boulevard's name changes to Willow Street.

Upon leaving Long Beach and crossing into Orange County, Willow Street becomes Katella Avenue, a major thoroughfare across that county.

Public transportation

Street busses

Public transit along Sepulveda Boulevard is provided by several different bus lines. The north south-part provides bus service in the San Fernando Valley and through the Sepulveda Pass by Metro Local line 234[3] and Metro Rapid line 734,[4] through West Los Angeles, Culver City and LAX by Culver City Transit Line 6 and Rapid 6,[5] and from LAX onwards by Metro Local line 232.[6] The west-east portion of Sepulveda Boulevard provides bus service by Torrance Transit line 7.[7]

Rapid transit

The Los Angeles Metro Orange Line serves the Sepulveda Metro station in Van Nuys, located on Erwin Street a block west of Sepulveda Boulevard. The Orange Line crosses the Valley (east/west) from North Hollywood to Chatsworth.

The Los Angeles Metro Expo Line will serve a new elevated Sepulveda/Expo Metro station at the intersection of Sepulveda and Exposition Boulevards in West Los Angeles, opening in early 2016. The Expo Line connects Downtown Los Angeles with Culver City now, and with Santa Monica in 2016.

The Los Angeles Metro Green Line runs along the south side of LAX. Its closest station to Sepulveda Boulevard is the Aviation/LAX Metro station, located 4 large blocks east, at the Century Freeway and Aviation Boulevard.

Major intersections

Location Destinations Notes
San Fernando I-5 (Golden State Freeway) / I-405 (San Diego Freeway) North end of arterial
Mission Hills SR 118 (Simi Valley Freeway)
Van Nuys US 101 (Ventura Freeway)
Sherman Oaks Ventura Boulevard (Former (BUS) US 101)
Brentwood−Bel Air Sunset Boulevard
Westwood−Sawtelle Wilshire Boulevard
West Los Angeles SR 2 (Santa Monica Boulevard)
I-10 (Santa Monica Freeway)
Mar Vista−Palms Venice Boulevard Former SR 187
Culver City SR 90 (Marina Freeway)
Westchester Former SR 42 (Manchester Boulevard) Beginning of SR 1 overlapping
El Segundo I-105 (Century Freeway)
Manhattan Beach
Artesia Boulevard Former SR 91
Hermosa Beach
Redondo Beach Torrance Boulevard
Ending of SR 1 overlapping		 Ending of Metro Green Line (at Marine Avenue)
Torrance Former SR 107 (Hawthorne Boulevard)
Western Avenue Former SR 213
Harbor Gateway
West Carson I-110 (Harbor Freeway)
Carson
Long Beach Name changes to Willow Street South end of arterial

In popular culture

  • Sepulveda Boulevard is referenced in the 1947 song "Pico and Sepulveda" by Freddy Martin and his orchestra.
  • In a Strong Bad E-mail, a feature on the Homestar Runner site, Strong Bad mentions that singers can screaam Los Angeles street names among other things. The given example is, ”To-nite, wooh-mon, we’ll be driving down Sepulveda with the T-top down.”
  • In 1946, Jay Livingston & Ray Evans wrote SEPULVEDA in tribute to the street. SEPULVEDA was recorded by Alvino Rey and his Orchestra with Joanne Ryan, Capitol Records, 262 and The King's Jesters, Vogue Records, 766.[8]
  • Tiny Toon Adventures has an episode titled and set on Sepulveda Boulevard as a parody of the film Sunset Boulevard, named for another major street in Los Angeles.
  • Whispers in the background of the opening dialogue of Tales from the Resistance: Back to the 2nd Dimension, an episode of Phineas and Ferb, mention Sepulveda.

References

  1. ↑ "The Long and the Short of the Southland's Street Names", by Cecilia Rasmussen, Los Angeles Times, December 10, 2006, B2
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Line 234
  4. ↑ Line 734
  5. ↑ Culver Line 6
  6. ↑ Line 232
  7. ↑ Torrance Line 7
  8. ↑ http://rayevans.org/music/song.cfm?tSong_id=1349

External links

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