Photos are generally NB, with exceptions noted.


Just outside San Diego, Carmel Valley Rd. merges in and I come to 13th St. in Del Mar.


Leaving Del Mar, CR S21 splits from Jimmy Durante Blvd. (toward Fairgrounds) and heads over a 1927 railroad bridge widened in 1936.


Button copy makes its entrance at CR S6, Via de la Valle.


I mean, I'm totally happy to bring US 101 back south of Los Angeles, but I'm not convinced Solana Beach can do it all by themselves, especially with made up "HWY" shields. These are at CR S8, Lomas Santa Fe Dr.


NB, SB, and EB at an intersection with button copy street signs.


I ventured off the highway for a block in Cardiff and found the strange-font I-5 shield on Chesterfield Dr. EB and the old CR shield on San Elijo Ave. NB at their intersection.


Every time I see this sign, my first thought is a gymnast doing an upside-down split. It's definitely not MUTCD-compliant.


Try reading the parking restriction before you leave your car. Monday... something... and you've got a ticket.


A lot to unpack in one photo: historic lamp, strange signs. The shield is a faded California Scenic Route trailblazer, not a CR S21.


In Encinita's bizarro world, these signs are normal. I'm now in the country of Hwy, in the state of Coast. The scenic route pentagon involves a flower and a mountain, neither of which really define old US 101. The surfer gymnast was a better match.


Mercifully leaving Encinitas and finding original US 101 concrete in Carlsbad. I like this city better already.


Tell me this isn't all beautiful. The railroad bridge dates to 1925, widened in 1935, even older than the one in Del Mar and predating the US Highway system.

Vista Way is north of Carlsbad and you can tell the difference.


Oceanside still has cool stuff, like the CR shield atop the page and the top of this traffic signal at Seagaze Dr.


CA 76 begins at CR S21 just shy of its north end and heads east through I-5 to become an expressway. The ugly sign includes a squat rendition of the standard El Camino Real bell marker.

See more of former US 101
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