El Camino Real (California)

Spanish and Mexican era

In Spanish colonial times, a camino real was any road directly overseen by the Spanish crown or its viceroys. These roads usually had their own specific names, separate from the term "camino real." Religious missions were already established in Las Californias for decades before any appeared in what is now the U.S. state of California, with Spanish missions in present-day Baja California beginning in 1697. The Portolá expedition of 1769 included Franciscan missionaries led by Junípero Serra.

Starting from Loreto, Serra founded the first of 21 missions at San Diego. Serra remained in San Diego while Juan Crespí continued northward with Gaspar de Portolá. Portolá followed the coastline, now known as California State Route 1, except when coastal cliffs forced him inland. The expedition could not proceed farther north because of the entrance to San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate.

Crespí noted several future mission locations that were not established until later. On the return trip to San Diego, Portolá discovered a shorter route around a stretch of coastal cliffs through Conejo Valley. In 1770, Portolá traveled again from San Diego to Monterey, where Junípero Serra, who came by ship, founded the second mission, later relocated a short distance south to Carmel. Carmel became Serra's headquarters for the Alta California missions.

The Juan Bautista de Anza expedition of 1775–76 entered Alta California from the southeast, crossing the Colorado River near present-day Yuma, Arizona, and connected with Portolá's route at Mission San Gabriel. De Anza's scouts found easier travel through several inland valleys instead of the rugged coast. On his northward journey, de Anza passed through the San Fernando Valley and Salinas Valley. After a detour to the coast to visit the Presidio of Monterey, he went inland again, following the Santa Clara Valley to the southern end of San Francisco Bay and then up the east side of the San Francisco Peninsula.

Between 1683 and 1835, Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries built a series of religious outposts from today's Baja California and Baja California Sur into present-day California. For heavy freight and long-distance passengers, travel was only practical by ships using a coastal water route.

American era

By the time California became a state in the mid-1800s, the old road had been upgraded here and there, but it still couldn't handle big stagecoaches or heavy freight wagons. Then, in 1892, a woman named Anna Pitcher from Pasadena started pushing for a commemorative route, and the California Federation of Women's Clubs officially backed the idea in 1902. As the early 1900s rolled around, various groups and government bodies grew keen on marking historic roads, but since standard highway signs didn't exist yet, they settled on hanging special bells along the path.

These bells were mounted on supports shaped like an 11-foot-tall shepherd's crook, sometimes called a Franciscan walking stick. Mrs. A. S. C. Forbes designed them, and her own California Bell Company cast the metal. The very first of 450 bells went up on August 15, 1906, at the Plaza Church in the Pueblo near Olvera Street in Los Angeles. In 1915, the Automobile Club of Southern California printed a map showing the route linking the missions, making it easy for drivers to follow.

That club and other groups looked after the bells from the mid-1920s until 1931, after the original organization that put them up fell apart. When the United States Numbered Highway System was adopted in 1926, special route markers were added to U.S. Route 101 and other national auto trails. A 1959 law officially designated the state highways forming El Camino Real as Highway 1, U.S. Route 101, and Highway 82 on the San Francisco Peninsula. Over time, most of the bells vanished due to vandalism, theft, or simply getting lost when roads were moved or rerouted.

The state took over bell maintenance in 1933. After the count dropped to around 80, the state started replacing them, first with concrete and later with iron. Justin Kramer began producing the bells in 1959. In 1996, the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, launched a restoration project.

Modern highway and street routes

The commemorative route is partly incorporated into modern highways, but much of it runs along city streets, especially between San Jose and San Francisco. The official route, as set out in California law, includes an East Bay segment. Some older local roads that run near these highways also carry the name. Mission Street in San Francisco follows the commemorative path.

Near Mission San Juan Bautista, a preserved unpaved section of the old road runs alongside the San Andreas Fault, where the ground visibly drops several feet. Many streets across California are named El Camino Real, often with little connection to the original road.

In San Miguel, a portion of the old mission road passes in front of the Rios-Caledonia Adobe; it was once used by stagecoaches and later paved as part of the original US 101. Through San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, the route is designated State Route 82, with some stretches called El Camino Real. The old road is also part of the de Anza route, lying a few miles west of Route 101.