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Unsigned

Unsigned State Route 258

Click here for a key to the symbols used. An explanation of acronyms may be found at the bottom of the page.


Routing Routing

Rte 258From Route 405 near Torrance to Route 101 near Hollywood.

Post 1964 Signage History Post 1964 Signage History

In 1965, Chapter 1372 defined Route 258 as “Route 405 near Torrance to Route 101 near Hollywood.”

Pre 1964 Signage History Pre 1964 Signage History

This route was not a pre-1963 LRN.

Status Status

This routing was planned as freeway. It looks to break off US 101 near Cahuenga, then run along Normandie or Western until it reaches Route 405, when it becomes Route 213. It was never upgraded.

According to the 2013 Traversable Highways report, the route concept report recommends revised proposed alignment ~ 3.5 miles westerly and that description be : "from Route 405 near LAX, to Route 101 near Hollywood.". The nearest route is Western Avenue.

Whitnall Parkway

Whitnall ParkwaySome maps show the Route 258 freeway connecting to the Whitnall Freeway from the valley. This is due to the confusion between the proposal for the Whitnall Freeway (which was Route 64), and an earlier, 1927 proposal for a Whitnall Parkway that remained on planning maps until the 1960s. The figure to the right shows the Whitnall Parkway approach; a 2014 LA Times article used words that made this appear to be the freeway proposal from the 1960s (it clearly isn't, as the Route 64 freeway ran across Chase and Malibu Canyon, and the Route 258 freeway ran along Normandie). This approach connects to Route 258, along what is now "Whitnall Highway" in Burbank (which could be the source of the naming of this route). It does not appear substantiated in the route definitions, so this doesn't appear to be a highway at the state level. Gordon Whitnall was involved in city planning around 1916. Whitnall's vision for Los Angeles was both practical and idealistic. He believed that Los Angeles' geographical location made it predestined to be the most important city in the West. He also saw that Los Angeles was not just L.A. proper, but the numerous other satellite cities that surrounded it. These contiguous cities suffered from poor transportation and scattered administrative centers. Quickly promoted to Director of City and County Planning, he envisioned a sprawling metropolis made up of numerous organic civic districts, linked together by a series of arterial highways, and unified by a centrally located administrative and government center downtown near the historic Plaza, where it would be "accessible to all." Whitnall and the planning committee also envisioned four "highways" that would radiate from the valley into arteries leading to the city. These parkway/highways were more modest in design from the modern freeway, and often featured a landscaped center strip separating opposing lanes of traffic. They were Balboa Boulevard, San Fernando Boulevard, Remsen Boulevard (seemingly never built), and most ambitious of all -- Whitnall Highway. Whitnall Highway would stretch diagonally southeast by northwest from Newhall (now part of Santa Clarita) through the San Fernando Valley, and meet up with the entrance of a two-mile tunnel originating off Riverside Drive (which was being expanded into a major artery linking the valley to downtown) that would run under Griffith Park into Hollywood, via Bronson Avenue. Had this tunnel been built it would be the longest highway tunnel in California, and even today would rank as the third longest highway tunnel in the USA. On June 5, 1927, the first section of Whitnall Highway opened to a crowd of 300 at the intersection of Whitnall and Cahuenga Boulevard. Gordon, the guest of honor, christened the highway at the ceremony, which also celebrated the opening of 400 residential tracts owned by the Hugh Evans Corporation. Homeowners in the projected path of the highway began to protest the city's attempt to enforce its right of way through their property. The road was extended, despite further protests, to Oxnard Boulevard in 1931. Yet, after 1934, both plans for the highway and the tunnel abruptly disappeared from the news, though variations continued to appear on maps of proposed transit routes. Over the years, Burbank and North Hollywood tried to figure out what to do with the quirky wide road, and all the free public space below the giant transmission towers which loomed overhead. Portions of the land were used as makeshift playgrounds, parks, and bike trails, but by 1973 the city of Burbank was at a loss. The community seemed to have little interest in pushing for landscaping, or the creation of public parks, and the city had a hard time commercially leasing the land, since nothing permanent could be built under the structures. In 1989 a group of mentally challenged people created a garden on 21 miles under the power lines. In the '90s Burbank finally commissioned the Whitnall Highway Parks North and South.
(Source: LA Times, 10/28/2014; KCETLost Landmarks, 6/28/2013; Jayne Vidheecharoen/Slideshare, 4/18/2011)

Whitnall Parkway, 1948A late 1940s parkway plan shows the Whitnall Parkway in a bit more detail. This image, from the 1948 publication Street Traffic Management for Los Angeles, shows the freeway / parkway plan that had been in the works during the 1940s (at least from the city's perspective). It had the Whitnall Parkway following much of the rail line across the San Fernando Valley and seemingly into Simi Valley. At the Southeastern end, the Whitnall Parkway connected to the Normandie Parkway (which provides some explanation for why Route 258 was also considered part of the Whitnall Freeway).
(Source: LA Metro Primary Resources, "Past Visions of Los Angeles’ Transportation Future: 1940s", retrieved 12/23/2023)

Earlier maps show it skirting the Western edge of Griffith Park, connecting with Whitnall Highway in Burbank, and eventually connecting with Route 64, the Whitnall Freeway. According to Caltrans, the traversable route is Western Avenue, with Caltrans having no plans to assume maintenance. The freeway routing was never determined. The route concept report recommends that the alignment be moved 3.5 mi westerly, and the definition be from Route 405 near LAX to Route 101 near Hollywood.
(Map Source: LA Times, 10/28/2014. Note that this shows a different routing of Route 64 than some other maps, which have it terminating at the I-5/Route 64 junction. It could reflect different planning options over different times.)

Naming Naming

Maps based on the 1956 freeway plan identify this route as a portion of the "Whitnall" freeway (Route 64). It appears to have continued N from US 101 to loop up near Olive and Alameda in Burbank to join up with the remainder of the Whitnall Freeway near Chase.

The Whitnall Freeway was named for Gordon Whitnall, the former Los Angeles city director of planning. Part of the reason for the naming could be that the route ran along Whitnall Highway, an unusual divided street that was laid out in 1927 to be part of a parkway network envisioned to dissect the Valley. In 1913, Gordon Whitnall founded the Los Angeles City Planning Association, and in 1920, he established the Los Angeles City Planning Department. From 1920-1930, he was Director of Planning for Los Angeles, and from 1929-1930 was president of the League of California Cities. From 1932-1935 he was the coordinator of the Committee on Government Simplification for Los Angeles County. In 1941, Gordon and Brysis Whitnall established a planning and government consulting firm in Los Angeles. Gordon Whitnall was an instructor in Planning at the University of Southern California, and a member of the American Society of Planning Officials, the American Institute of Planners, the American Society of Consulting Planners, and the International Fraternity of Lambda Alpha, Los Angeles Chapter.
(Source: Gordon and Brysis Whitnall papers, 1913-1975)

Status Status

This routing is currently unsigned.

Freeway Freeway

[SHC 253.1] Entire route. Added to the Freeway and Expressway system in 1965.

Statistics Statistics

Overall statistics for Route 258:

Pre-1964 Legislative Route Pre-1964 Legislative Route

In 1959, Chapter 1062 defined LRN 258 as:

  1. [LRN 107] near Newark to [LRN 226] near San Leandro
  2. [LRN 226] near the Oakland International Airport to [LRN 5].

This route was signed as follows:

  1. From LRN 107 (Route 84) near Newark to LRN 226 (present-day proposed Route 238) near San Leandro.

    This is an unsigned portion of Route 61.

  2. From LRN 226 (present-day proposed Route 238) near the Oakland International Airport to LRN 5 (I-580).

    This is an unsigned portion of Route 13.


Acronyms and Explanations:


Back Arrow Route 257 Forward Arrow Route 259

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Maintained by: Daniel P. Faigin <webmaster@cahighways.org>.