Los Angeles Public Library
Governor Culbert Olson dedicates
California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway (renamed the Pasadena
Freeway in 1954), built with funding from the Works Progress Administration,
the Public Works Administration, and over $500,000 from the PRA, as well as
State and local agencies.
"It is proper and timely," he says,
"for us to pause a few moments to ceremonialize and celebrate an
achievement so extraordinary as the completion of this, the Arroyo Seco Parkway
. . . . Now that we have it, and it all looks so rather simple, so obviously
necessary, so wholly practical, some will ask, 'What is there so wonderful, or
so bold about it?' Oh yes--but it takes courage to do a thing the FIRST time,
no matter how simple and obvious it may appear AFTER it is done. And this,
fellow citizens, is the first Freeway in the West. It is ONLY the first. And
THAT is its great promise to the future--the promise of many more freeways to
come."
The ceremony concludes with the cutting of a "Chain of
Roses" by Governor Olson, assisted by the Queen of the 1941 Tournament of
Roses, her six Maids of Honor, and State and local officials. The official
dedicatory booklet includes thanks to many local, State, and Federal officials,
including PRA's Dr. L. I. Hewes and C. H. Sweetzer, who "joined hands to
make a dream come true. These men today present to the public this 'Highway of
Tomorrow.'" Dr. Hewes contributes remarks to the ceremony on PRA's behalf.
Official party at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Arroyo Seco Parkway. From left to right: Amerigo Bozzani, Highway Commissioner and Chairman or the Celebration Committee; Director of Public Works Frank W. Clark; Sally Stanton, Queen of the 1941 Rose Festival; Governor Culvert L. Olson; Larry Barrett, Chairman, Highway Commission; and Ray Cato, Chief, State Highway Patrol.
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