Articles

The Arroyo bridge under construction building west from Pasadena. (Huntington Library)

The bridge roadway facilitated both auto and pedestrian traffic. The original low railings presented a sad temptation to the suicidal. (ERVHS)

The floods of 1914 destroyed the Scoville Bridge. The destructive power of the stream in flood is shown in this photograph (Photo by Charles Lummis-Ebay)

The Scoville Bridge across the Arroyo Seco Stream was the first built to carry cars across the water. It was a reused section of a railway trestle. The dam impounded water to irrigate the orange orchards in the arroyo. (ERVHS)

This map shows the route taken by Colorado Boulevard to Pasadena and the location of Huntington’s Eagle Rock Park; the bridge crossed the stream on the northwest edge of the park below the Rock. The current route follows the then El Modena Avenue. This route was problematic due to a substantial hill where “Pillerhenge” is now and an oft flooded area where Colorado Boulevard meets La Loma Road. The area still floods today in heavy rain. (ERVHS)

The 134 Freeway, 2 Freeway, and the Eagle Rock Plaza with double-decker parking lot surrounding it– a monument to the automobile-centric freeway era of Eagle Rock. (Photo by Severin Martinez)

The brand new freeway proceeds under the existing off-ramp, past the monopoles carrying Edison’s high voltage lines, through the once wild hills above town. (Photo by Joe Friezer-Occidental college Library Special Collections Friezer Collection)

An overall view of the 134/2 intersection shows the huge footprint of freeways, the 1950’s answer to the need for mass transit. (ERVHS)

This map, from an informational brochure published in 1969, shows the final route. Twenty years of lobbying by Eagle Rockers resulted in a much less destructive path. Still, over 200 houses were lost to the construction of routes 2 and 134 through Eagle Rock. (Caltrans brochure map)

The provisions for the route 2 interchange, which would be completed later, hovered over the construction site for several years. (Photo by Joe Friezer-Occidental college Library Special Collections Friezer Collection)