Cruising the history of the El Camino Real

El Camino Real, Spanish for The King's Highway, had originally been cleared as Friar Junipero Serra began establishing the Spanish Franciscan missions in Alta California, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Eventually, the highway connected 21 Spanish missions from San Diego to Sonoma, erected between 1769 and 1823. The entire route of El Camino Real in California encompassed what are now parts of highways US-101, I-280, and CA-72 as well as CA-82.

As the King's Highway lengthened, the friars established markers to identify the trail. As many as 400 markers reportedly once lined the El Camino Real. By 1906, most of the markers - distinctive green cast iron posts, curled with a mission-style bell dangling from the end - had disappeared. Since then, there have been several campaigns to restore the bell markers.

The latest effort is the El Camino Real Bell Restoration Project, launched by the California Federation of Women's Clubs and the California State Automobile Association in 1997. Through this project, more than 215 markers have been replaced. Between Millbrae and San Carlos, 14 of these markers can be found along the El Camino Real. Three other bell markers, erected independently by local merchants, also line the highway.

The County Road

By the mid 19th century, El Camino Real became known simply as the County Road. This two-lane, unpaved country road, served as the transportation link between San Francisco and San Jose.

In 1870 Scottish landscaper John McLaren, who served for a time as superintendent of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, planted eucalyptus and elm trees along the County Road. He had been recruited by Burlingame area land owners - particularly John Donnelly - to cultivate the trees, beautifying the newly settled, mostly still agrarian area. Many of the trees which McLaren planted - particularly between Bayswater Avenue and Ray Drive in Burlingame - remain standing today.

In Belmont, there is a road which parallels El Camino Real to the east called Old County Road. It is thought to be the old vestige of the original County Road, when it stretched by Angelo's House in the 1850s. Angelo's House, owned by Charles Aubrey Angelo, became the first inn located in what is now Belmont. The "Four Corners," at the intersection of County Road and Ralston Avenue, emerged as the early center of commerce in the Belmont area.

Highway 82

The County Road remained a rural dirt passageway subject to mammoth potholes and divots until 1911, when it became the first state highway designated by the new Bureau of Highways. So precarious had the road become that safe speeds for the newly emerging automobile rarely exceeded 10 mph. The Bureau first paved the road in August 1912, reportedly in anticipation of the crowds which would travel north for the Panama-Pacific International Expedition, scheduled for San Francisco in 1915. According to Greg Bayol of Caltrans, paving also began in response to the lobbying efforts of the local bicyclist contingency.

By 1925, the Bureau of Highways started using a number system to identify highways, to alleviate the confusion created from trying to label each roadway with a proper name. Under the new system, El Camino Real became the first Highway 101. At the same time, traffic congestion on the El Camino had become intolerable, suggesting the need for a sleek new highway along the bayshore. Over the years the developing Bayshore Freeway began sharing the number 101 with El Camino Real, which became known as the Highway 101 Bypass. Finally in 1964, the freeway gained the sole designation of Highway 101, while El Camino Real became Highway 82.

Cruising

By the 1960s and 1970s, San Mateo had became the Friday night cruising capital of the Peninsula. Hundred of young drivers would jam El Camino Real, particularly on a 1.4-mile section from 31st Avenue and the Hillsdale Mall, to 17th Avenue. The cruising would begin near 7 p.m., sometimes lasting until 2 a.m. These cruisers would gather in San Mateo from all over the Peninsula, until increasing traffic enforcement curtailed the cruising in the early 1980s.

Sgt. Mac Laner of the San Mateo police remembers how labor intensive monitoring Friday night cruising could be for the department. Laner says motorcycle officers would direct vehicles with mechanical violations to a check point set up at the Hillsdale Mall. There, officers could check driver's licenses, vehicles registrations, and levels of sobriety. By 1980, the police department held a pretty tight rein on cruising nights.

"A favorite hangout on Friday nights used to be the corner of 20th Avenue," Laner said. "At that time there was a dark parking lot (for the QFI market), where they would park and hang out with their friends."

Laner said by the time he joined the force in 1980, cruising night had already begun to fade as a popular activity. Several neighboring cities had passed ordinances against cruising, partially due to the high cost of traffic enforcement. Laner also cites the spike in gasoline prices, which discouraged the frivolous use of fuel-guzzling hot rods.

While cruising hot rods have become a thing of the past, El Camino Real remains the primary business route for central San Mateo County. The bell markers still stand at the curbside, however, to remind motorists of the highway's crucial link to the region's history.