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On This Day in Automotive History: December 30
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On This Day in Automotive History
December 30
Return to the "On This Day..." calendar
December 29 « Go to »
December 31
Birthdays: Clifford McKeague (1882), Walt Brown (1911), Bud Erb (1918), Chuck Prickett (1927), Roger de Lageneste (1929), Scooter Patrick (1932),
Fred Lorenzen (1934), Mike Spence (1936), Aubrey O'Connor (1938), L.D. Ottinger (1938),
Bob Bilby (1941), Guy Edwards (1942), Barry Jones (1947), Michel Degoumois (1949), Bob Frost (1957), Tony George (1959), Chris Diamond (1963), Emanuele Clerico (1969), Donnie Mergard (1969), Shane Huffman (1973), Burt Myers (1975), Laila Ali (1977), Diego Romanini (1978), James Gue (1981), Ryan Hemphill (1981), Alfredo Cardoso (1983), D.J. Weltmeyer (1992), Myatt Snider (1994), Loris Spinelli (1995), Chase Burda (2004)
1940: 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.
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