What happened to the Mulholland "King of the Hill" RSR?

[Jeff Hail]

1961 Sepulveda Pass



1962 405

[Jeff Hail]

Mul can be hairy and wet

[Jeff Hail]

Our citys finest at work for those that take the detour off Mul.

[Jeff Hail]

Cahuenga Pass

I really like that sign!

[Maxim S]

Speaking of the Cahuenga pass, does anybody know the guy who lives just on the east side of it and has a bunch of old vehicles and stuff in the yard, including a long hood 911 that's part way through a 911R taillight conversion? (Still has unpainted primer around them IIRC.) I live right up the street and keep driving past it, but it's on the far side of a pretty big yard and it doesn't look like a welcoming place to go poking around.

[Noah930]

There's a throwaway freebie magazine around here called Ventura Blvd. In this month's issue they have an article on Mulholland. Not the races or road, so much. But about the man, his accomplishments, and the St. Francis Dam disaster. Wonder if the author did any of his research using this thread.

[Drew001]

Originally Posted by Jeff Hail

Our citys finest at work for those that take the detour off Mul.

That is a fantastic picture.

[Jeff Hail]

More Mulholland shunts. Mul and Sepulveda.

[Jeff Hail]

Imagine no 405 Freeway?






405 Construction. Sepulveda was eventually rerouted so the 405 could b-line through.



On Monday, April 4, 1960 the bridge across the Sepulveda Pass was completed.

The new Mulholland Dr Bridge received few headlines. After all, the bridge overlooked an undeveloped canyon. No freeway ran beneath it. No rapid route between West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley existed.

Now renamed Kiewit Infrastructure West, the contractor that built Mulholland Drive Bridge will later demolish it (ironic) . The San Diego Freeway that carried 100,000 vehicles per day at Olympic Bl in 1965 now carries more than 300,000 vehicles each workday, making it one of the busiest freeways in the United States.

It is a long history.
The main portion of Mulholland Dr-westward from the Cahuenga Pass in Hollywood past the Sepulveda Pass-opened in 1924 under a different name: the Mulholland Highway. It was built by a consortium of Hollywood Hills landowners. Their goal was to bring development to the Hollywood Hills and make a few dollars for themselves.

Even the road's name evokes Southern California history. Mulholland Drive (and Mulholland Highway) are named after engineer William Mulholland, a giant in Southern California history for his role in bringing distant water to chronically thirsty Los Angeles in 1913.

With Mulholland's aquaducts feeding Los Angeles, its population exploded. Consequently, in May, 1958, the State Division of Highways-this preceded the creation of Caltrans-called for bids on a $10-million highway construction project.

Besides closing a 4.1-mile gap in US-101 and funding other work on the San Diego Freeway, the 1958 contract required the relocation of 1.1 miles of Mulholland Dr south. The Los Angeles Times called it "a mammoth project." Once moved, Mulholland Dr would cross a new 579-foot-long bridge: Mulholland Dr Bridge.

When completed, relocating Mulholland Dr and building Mulholland Dr Bridge cost $1,824,000.

In June 1960, bids were opened for a $14-million contract to extend the San Diego Freeway 7.4 miles from Brentwood to Valley Vista Bl in the San Fernando Valley. Mulholland Dr Bridge would finally span a freeway.

[Jeff Hail]

Familiar view? Deep Canyon before any homes. Photo appears taken right off Java.

[Jeff Hail]

A little San Fernando Valley racing history. How many of you had ever heard of the Owensmouth Road Race? Due to a date with fate, a dam and a guy named Bill everything changed in a flash flood wall of water.






San Fernando Valley Relics

Two and one-half minutes before midnight on March 12th of 1928, a catastrophic event marked the beginning of the end for a town that is no longer.
Once referred to as the new mouth of the Owens river, Owensmouth was aptly named by H.G. Otis, the owner of the Los Angeles Times. The city could be found at the western edge of the San Fernando Valley.

Founded in 1912, by the Janss Investment Company, Owensmouth was an agricultural community with well-planned access to the Pacific Electric streetcars and an all-purpose highway, by the name of Sherman Way. However, it would take more than farms to draw the potential buyers that the Janns company were in search of. The Owensmouth Road Race was staged. It was the first and only road race ever held in the San Fernando Valley.

The race was a massive event. It was said to eclipse any event prior on the Pacific Coast. Countless entries were tallied and attendance was high, but Oldfield and “Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff were the names that made the headlines.

The tickets to the race, now a part of the Valley Relics collection, sparked my interest. Like many of our adventures, the research was done on the road, driving through the valley. The signs were all around me and I mean that quite literally. How many of us have driven down Vanowen without considering anything other than the number of red lights that we would no doubt be made to suffer? This street was the bridge between Van Nuys and Owensmouth, which spawned the name of the road “Van-Owen.” So, I find myself back at the beginning of this story. Two and one-half minutes from midnight. It is March 12th of 1928 and the river that named this town is about to serve as the force that undoes it.

In the San Francisquito Canyon, Mulholland’s dam was about to give way. Just that morning, Mulholland had deemed that new leaks in the dam were no cause for concern. Hours later, twelve billion gallons of water surged down the canyon. Traveling upwards of 18 miles per hour and reaching nearly two miles across, the water raced all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

The catastrophe destroyed so much and took the lives of so many. Just three years later, to part with the memory of this catastrophe, Owensmouth officially changed their name to Canoga Park.

Today, the only remains of the St.Francis Dam are chunks of concrete and rusted handrails, but the history of the forgotten valley-town of Owensmouth still surrounds us.

[Jeff Hail]

I remember my Mom telling me trains used to run down the middle of the Hollywood Fwy up and down the Cahuenga Pass.

Oddly Los Angeles had a great and advanced public transportation system for a long time. I would surmise the cheap cost of gas, oil companies, car companies and a host of politics was the eventual nail in the coffin for those clean running electric trains.

Then:




Now:




Then:

[Jeff Hail]

Circa 1975 Mulholland Drive

Lets see how good some of you are in geography? These are all familiar locations.

[Jeff Hail]

Circa 1975 Mulholland Drive

Lets see how good some of you are in geography? This is a very familiar location.

[Jeff Hail]

See.. they still race on Mulholland ! Man is this guy quick !

[Jeff Hail]

While clandestine activies were going on below the radio tower on the race course there was another kind of clandestine activity going on close by. Off Skyline Drive clandestine skate boarders were tearing up the drainage system. There was the Skyline bowl and the Toilet bowls.

Yup more Mulholland Racing at its best.

[Jeff Hail]

... and once in a while they return to the Hill. Something about Mulholland brings us back. Nice restoration on the MGB my friend. It was worth it!

[Retrorick]

Nice pic of Slider Van Tress's MGB!!!

[Jeff Hail]

Looking back Los Angeles had such a glorious and infamous racing history.

Beverly Hills Speedway. Playa, LAX, Westchester, Baldwin Hills, Culver City, a little to the east of L.A was Ontario. They even had a board track in the LA Coloseum.

[Jeff Hail]

Motordromes or as the press labelled them "Murderdromes".