Telegraph Road

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Oct. 31, 2009

Haunted houses often feature doors that open up to brick walls and secret compartments that reveal hidden rooms. The idea is to throw off your sense of direction. That also happens along a tried-and-true route between Los Angeles and San Diego. KPCC’s Kitty Felde says it’s another Street Story.

Kitty Felde: Before the San Diego Freeway was built, the fastest way to drive to San Diego was Telegraph Road. Matt Roth, historian at the Auto Club, says that may seem counterintuitive because Telegraph doesn’t run due south.

Matt Roth: You kinda have to get your east and west and your north and south reoriented. Because you have to go – from the LA basin you have to go east in order to go south. Because if you go straight south, you end up in the water.

Felde: Telegraph’s original name was the Los Angeles and Anaheim Road. It changed to Telegraph in the 1800’s when crews strung telegraph wires along its route. After 1920, it acquired a new name: Highway 101.

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