Dodge, just a truck-driving man back in 1928, has always considered the Ridge Route Road a national treasure, let alone a jewel of the Golden State. It just took a Torrance man, the U.S. National Forest Service and six long years of unwavering devotion to get the federal government last September to realize the same about at least a portion of the route. For all its charm, danger, uniqueness and historic value that have endured far longer than Sandberg's or the Tumble Inn or the dozens of other inns, cafes and service stations that once marked its path, a 17.6-mile unmaintained portion of the old Ridge Route Road through the Angeles National Forest is today on the National Registry of Historic Places. They had hoped to preserve a larger section, but objections from landowners along the route ultimately focused their attention on the 17.6-mile segment on U.S. Forest property south of Gorman.
Buildings earn degrees of perpetuity, roads almost never do.
But the National Park Service, the keeper of the National Registry, was convinced of the Ridge Route's exceptional historic value as the first major link between California's north and south. Now on the Registry, the road is eligible to receive federal funds to help aid its preservation. Historians note that it may have actually saved California from splitting into two states. Crews operating primitive, mule-powered graders began clearing the Ridge Route's path in 1914. Because of extremely rugged terrain and no funds to use for blasting, the route from Castaic to Gorman took 697 turns.