Coast Highway or PCH: Local lingo or official name?
By SARA HALL
As unique as the town itself, so are some the disputes that split Laguna Beach residents. The difference of opinion on what to call the iconic highway that passes through town alongside the ocean is almost as old as the thoroughfare itself.
Is it Pacific Coast Highway, commonly called by its acronym PCH, as it’s known elsewhere in California? Or is it simply Coast Highway, with either South or North preceding it depending on which side of Broadway Street it’s on, a name exclusive to Laguna?
When asked individually by Stu News Laguna about the name differences, a small group of citizens, comprised of both longtime locals and more recent residents, were split on what they call the famous road.
Some said it has always been Coast Highway, preceded with either north or south depending on which direction they’re referencing. Others thought it was easier to use the well-known acronym. Many have heard it – and said it – both ways.
Even the mileage is disputed. While some report the iconic highway at 655.8 miles for the full stretch, online maps calculate the distance breaking off from I-5 at Capistrano Beach in Dana Point to finally ending at the 101 in Leggett in Mendocino County as 736 miles.
According to some locals – and the signage and history backs up the claim – there is no Pacific Coast Highway in Laguna Beach until the traveler arrives in Dana Point to the south or just north of Newport Beach (Laguna’s northern neighbor of Newport is also a little different with addresses listed as East or West Coast Highway).
At the current time, it is called “North Coast Highway” north of Broadway, “South Coast Highway” from Broadway to Nyes Place, and just “Coast Highway” south of Nyes Place, according to Laguna Beach Historical Society Board Member/Volunteer (Digital Communications) Johanna Ellis.
It is not called PCH or Pacific Coast Highway anywhere in town, Ellis explained in an email to Stu News Laguna. However, there are many who continue to use the names out of habit since it’s so common outside of Laguna Beach.
“In general conversation when talking to others who live here, I almost always hear it referred to as Coast Highway,” Ellis said.
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Photo by Mary Hurlbut
A sign for South Coast Highway at Anita Street in Laguna Beach
Highway or street names unofficially “changing” comes from the cities and not Caltrans, confirmed Caltrans District 12 – Orange County Public Information Officer Darcy Birden in an email to Stu News Laguna.
“While different cities may have nicknames for this highway, in Caltrans, the road is still State Route 1 or Pacific Coast Highway,” Birden said.
Although very rare, Caltrans has used the local lingo every so often. A few references to either South Coast Highway or North Coast Highway were found in documents posted on the Caltrans website.
The city typically uses the North/South Coast Highway names on official documents and projects, including those submitted to state agencies, like the California Coastal Commission.
According to the 2019 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California catalog, each route in the state highway system is given a unique number for identification and signed with distinctive numbered Interstate, United States, or California State route shields to guide public travel.
The state Legislature designates all state highway routes and assigns route numbers, while the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials has authority over the numbering of Interstate and United States routes.
“In addition to having a route number, a route may also have a name and, in some cases, multiple names,” the catalog reads. “These names originate from four different sources: the California State Legislature, the California Highway Commission (no longer in existence and replaced by the California Transportation Commission), local jurisdictions, and through historical or common usage.”
For Coast Highway in Laguna Beach, it’s a combination of all of the above.
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Courtesy of Laguna Beach Historical Society
Construction of Pacific Coast Highway, looking south between Corona Del Mar and Laguna Beach, paved in 1932
Apparently, construction of the highway completed in sections and portions of the route had a variety of names over the years. It was officially named Pacific Coast Highway in 1959, then number SR 1 in 1964, but locally, the historic usage of North or South Coast Highway stuck.
Although the tale of Coast Highway starts even earlier than that.
Between 1875 to 1916, the area of Laguna Beach south of Broadway was secured by homesteaders. Individuals and developers named the streets that went through their properties, explained Ellis.
Coast Highway was called many names through the years including Riverside Drive, Beach, Coast Road, and Coast Boulevard, Ellis said. The process created some issues with the early names of streets, she noted; for example, there were at least three streets called Beach Street.
At the time, they weren’t imagining a long, connected highway would eventually join Laguna with the cities to the north and south.
When the modern freeway system began being constructed, routes often took the name of a local destination, the highway naming catalog explains. Freeways in Los Angeles started as spokes radiating outward from the civic center and were named after their destination place, such as Santa Ana, Santa Monica, Pasadena, Hollywood, Ventura, and San Bernardino.
Understandably, the long connecting road that ran alongside the Pacific Ocean was ultimately named Pacific Coast Highway.
California history shows SR 1 was built piecemeal in various stages, noted City Communications Manager Cassie Walder.
“As more segments opened over the years, portions of the route were referred to by different local names and numbers,” Walder explained.
The first sections opened in the 1920s and 1930s, according to records.
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Courtesy of Laguna Beach Historical Society
The October 9, 1926, Coast Highway dedication in Laguna Beach was a grand affair, with silent film stars Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Mary Pickford in attendance
Laguna Beach’s portion of Coast Highway was officially launched in 1926 with quite a bit of fanfare. A ribbon-cutting ceremony welcomed traffic between Newport and Dana Point along the highway.
The October 8, 1926, edition of the Santa Ana Daily Register reported that a caravan of cars would start in Long Beach and head to Laguna to commemorate the opening of “Coast highway.”
It was referred to as “another link of the coast highway chain” meant to connect the beach towns.
The November 1926 edition of California Highways bulletin described the October 9 dedication and opening of Coast Highway in Laguna Beach as a grand affair. Silent film stars Douglas Fairbanks Sr., dressed as a blacksmith, and Mary Pickford, as “The Spirit of Progress,” attended the event.
“Confident of what the new state highway means to the future of progress and prosperity of their respective communities, residents of the south coast cities celebrated recently the opening of the Newport-Laguna unit of the Oxnard-San Juan Capistrano highway,” the periodical reads. “An allegorical pageant over the new coast route ended at Laguna in the forging of a great symbolic chain of friendship, linking together the beach communities from Long Beach southward to Serra.”
Considered by the state commission as one of the “trunk highways” of the state system, work has gone steadily forward over several years and, while yet incomplete at the time of the 1926 dedication, the highway was already carrying “considerable traffic,” according to the transit bulletin.
“This officially connected Newport Beach to Laguna Beach,” Ellis said.
In a 1935 telephone directory, addresses are listed as “Coast Blvd. South” or “Coast Blvd. North” and nothing on the notable road with “Pacific” in its address.
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Courtesy of Laguna Beach Historical Society
Aerial looking north to Main Beach up North Coast Highway circa 1940
Around 1945, many of the names of the streets were stabilized to make it easier to map and travel in the area.
“I don’t know exactly when or how the switch was made from Boulevard to Highway,” Ellis said.
Although it appears, according to old home listings Ellis has browsed through online, addresses mostly used Coast Boulevard in the 1950s, both Boulevard and Highway were used during the transition into the 1960s, and by the end of the decade people had primarily shifted over to Highway.
The Pacific Coast Highway designation by the state occurred about 1959, Walder noted. In 1964, California renumbered its highway system and the entire route was officially designated as SR 1, and has evolved into a single major roadway spanning the state of California.
Many freeway names were made official by the Highway Commission in the 1950s, although some remain unofficially named through local usage and the fight continues over the “official” name.
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Photo by Mary Hurlbut
A sign for North Coast Highway – California SR 1 in Laguna Beach
In 2002, Caltrans posted a “Pacific Coast Highway” sign but was met with resistance and eventually it was replaced with the local terminology.
If a sign location is within Caltrans’ right of way, then Caltrans would only review and comment to ensure that the proposed sign is in compliance with the Caltrans standard sign specifications, explained Caltrans District 12 – Orange County Public Information Officer Nathan Abler in an email to Stu News Laguna.
Nearly a decade ago, Caltrans posted a “Pacific Coast Highway” sign at the new traffic signal for the entrance to the Pavilions Shopping Center at Boat Canyon. Laguna Beach Historical Society then-President Gene Felder addressed the City Council at the time and complained about the sign.
In an April 1, 2002, press release, the society noted the win for local terminology.
“The Historical Society claims that a community’s heritage can be lost in small incremental ways, and that the sign should be replaced with its proper designation North Coast Highway,” the press release reads. “One Historical Society Board Member claims that is the old phone books, the street name is Coast Boulevard. So, this battle may have been won, but war may continue.”