“Quick! Look up! Do you see what I see?”
For most of the last 30 years, my daily commute has taken me by the Pacific Avenue exit of the 405 Freeway in Long Beach. It’s an unremarkable off-ramp, squeezed between the 710 Freeway and the L.A. River.
But I’m obsessed with it, specifically a big green sign telling drivers the exit is coming up. I point it out to anyone who drives with me. I’ve taken photos from my open sunroof going 65 mph, viewed it from nearby streets and even trespassed into the parking lot of an apartment complex for a closer look.
I keep trying to unlock its mystery once and for all, before time runs out.
Because sometime soon, Caltrans will replace my aging, slightly rusting fixation with a brand new shiny sign.
And with it, the commute will get a lot more boring.
Plans for the San Diego Freeway in Long Beach.
(Los Angeles Times)
I first noticed its abnormality back in the mid-1990s, when I drove past each morning on my way to the L.A. Times Orange County office. The sign says “Pacific Ave,” but those words covered up an earlier version of the sign, a slight portion of which is still visible. It was easy to miss — just three partial letters at the very bottom that the newer sign failed to conceal. At first, it was a puzzle, musing for a few seconds each morning what those three letters were and then trying to guess the street name it once spelled out.
How a freeway sign became my obsession
But this was a Wordle game that refused to end. It lasted through multiple job changes and shifting commuter patterns.
The one thing I knew almost for certain was that the older obscured street name included a double “p” — because all I could glean from the sign was the “descenders” of three letters. I strongly suspected the third letter was a “y.” It was at the far right end of the sign, so I thought it spelled out “Way.”
I consulted old maps of Long Beach on the Internet and could not find any street names that fit the bill. Pacific Avenue had not always run all the way up to the 405, but none of the streets around the exit included the double “p” and “Way.”
Then in 2018, I made a breakthrough.
A 1960 map of Long Beach showed the 405 under construction and a small street where the exit now stands called “Appian Way.” Some Long Beach oldtimers I quizzed about the matter swore they didn’t remember the street. But my gut told me I was right. So later that year, I shared my findings on Instagram, including several photos I marked with red lines like a true Kennedy assassination buff.
But was I right?
I didn’t know for sure, and some people were skeptical. The leading theory was that the partially hidden sign was from some other freeway and that Caltrans installed it when the 405 was completed and simply printed “Pacific Ave” over it.
The trail went cold, and some efforts to expand my signage detective agency didn’t go far.
I drove the length of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard looking for any vestiges of its old identity as Santa Barbara Avenue. No luck. I found one holdout “Brooklyn Avenue” sign on what is now (but probably not much longer) Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.
But none of these obsessions compared to Pacific Avenue.
A crowdsourcing victory
Then, a few months ago, a Facebook group devoted to the L.A.freeway system posed the same question that had haunted me: What was under that Pacific Ave sign? And the power of crowdsourcing came up with the same answer: Appian Way. These sleuths even presented a paper map as evidence that the offramp flowed right into the street, at least for a brief moment.
Vindication!
Still, the clock is ticking.
Caltrans has been slowly removing those 1960s-era signs with the letter studded with reflective dots and replacing them with newer ones. These new ones don’t need fluorescent lights to illuminate them at night, therefore no catwalks for workers to change out burned out bulbs. “This saves money, reduces risks to workers, and decreases opportunities for graffiti and copper-wire theft,” the agency boasts.
The old signs have already disappeared on the 405 in Orange County and the South Bay. How much longer can Long Beach hold out?
I hope a bit longer.
My commute offers little enjoyment, but I always smile when I pass under Pacific Avenue.
Today’s top stories
Registered nurse Praveen Biln helps patient Carter Olsen, 8, of Newport Beach, into an emergency room bed at Catalina Island Health, the only hospital on Catalina Island.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Catalina Island’s only hospital fights for its future
- As the only full-time medical provider on the island, Catalina Island Health is a vital resource for approximately 4,000 residents and 1 million annual visitors.
- It is one of several hospitals across Los Angeles County that are struggling to stay open in the face of strong financial headwinds.
November races to watch
- With three months until election day, four swing districts in California, Washington and Arizona could play key roles.
- In California, one toss-up race could determine leadership in the Central Valley.
Homelessness drops on Metro
- Homelessness on Metro’s rail and bus system has dropped by 57% since 2024, the agency announced this week.
- After a 2024 surge in violence against bus drivers and on trains coincided with a significant drop in ridership, safety became a top priority for Metro leaders.
Canceled clean energy funds
- Democratic lawmakers are asking the Justice Department to consider criminal charges against Energy Secretary Chris Wright, accusing him of lying to Congress about whether blue states were targeted in the termination of $7.6 billion in clean energy grants.
- In a California-led lawsuit, attorneys with the Energy Department acknowledged the grant terminations were “based solely” on whether projects were in Democratic-leaning states.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must-read
Other must-reads
For your downtime
A poke bowl of ahi shoyu and Papa Bid, or lemongrass, salmon at Ry’s Poke Shack in Pasadena.
(Stephanie Breijo / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: What’s the best spot for people watching in Los Angeles?
Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day
Several pastrami sandwiches set on the line at Canter’s Deli as hungry guest prepare to enjoy the signature hot pastrami sandwich.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Jason Armond at Canter’s Deli on Fairfax Avenue.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
Shi Bradley, audience intern
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