One hundred years ago, this was the first paved road to connect Los Angeles and Bakersfield over the Tejon Pass, according to Bonnie Ketterl Kane, curator for the Ridge Route Communities Museum & Historical Society. It was also the state’s first mountain road, and cost $1.5 million — more than $35 million in today’s dollars.

“It’s a wonderful drive. It’s just beautiful,” said Kane, whose favorite part is its only major segment still open: a roughly sixmile stretch south of Quail Lake. Another stretch south of Templin Highway is open but part of its vintage concrete has been covered in asphalt.

See more photos and read the story by Theo Douglas on Bakersfield.com

September 2015