Did you know that Sepulveda Boulevard is Los Angeles’ longest street? The famous route began as a footpath used by the Tongva people for thousands of years, and today it’s used as a main corridor for more than 1 million vehicles every day. Although Sepulveda is not entirely continuous and has had a few name changes in certain sections, it’s the longest street by total mileage at 42.8 miles long, and runs parallel to the 405 freeway. Keep reading to learn more about what makes Sepulveda Boulevard stand out.
Origins and history of Sepulveda Boulevard
California’s indigenous Tongva people (also known as Gabrielino) are native to the L.A. Basin and Southern Channel Islands, and they were the first to establish today’s Sepulveda Pass route through the Santa Monica Mountains. Eventually, with the Portola expedition of 1769, Spanish colonizers also used the path to arrive in the San Fernando Valley.
The street developed into a wagon road in the 19th century, although the “Sepulveda” name didn’t come into play until 1925. This name comes from Francisco Xavier Sepúlveda (1742-1788), a Mexican-born soldier in the Spanish Army and patriarch of the prominent Californio Sepúlveda family. Today’s 405 freeway was built in the 1960s along the same ancient footpath through the canyon.
Sepulveda Boulevard route and features
Most L.A. commuters will know that Sepulveda Boulevard and the 405 are somewhat intertwined, often running side by side and sometimes separated by only a few blocks. Drivers often use the boulevard as an alternative to the 405 at rush hour to navigate between West L.A. and the San Fernando Valley.
Sepulveda Boulevard is split into four segments due to name changes and construction over the decades. It begins in the South Bay as Willow Street in Long Beach, running up as El Camino Real through Torrance, and retaking the “Sepulveda” name in Manhattan Beach. It then runs north to El Segundo, but this section was renamed Pacific Coast Highway in 2018, breaking the street’s continuity. Eventually, the boulevard crosses up through LAX, ascends the Sepulveda Pass through the Santa Monica Mountains, and descends into the San Fernando Valley. There is a final, separate segment up through Sylmar, which was separated from the main boulevard by freeway construction.
While Sepulveda Boulevard is historically the city’s longest street when you disregard the name changes and continuity breaks, its lack of continuity is noticeable. Western Boulevard is L.A.’s longest continuous street at 28 miles in length—it runs between Griffith Park and San Pedro with no interruptions.