Before it became known as the Pacific Coast Highway, Highway 1 was part of the Roosevelt Highway in the 1920s, named for the 26th U.S. President. Before that, it was Route 60, and later it was Route 3. The Roosevelt Highway extended for 1,400 miles and was the first major artery connecting many small California coastal towns. Signs labeling the road as the PCH first appeared in 1964.

Hurricane Point on Big Sur got its name because of its exposed location that experiences frequent high winds. The scenic overlook is a popular destination for photographers, especially at sunset. It offers uninterrupted views in three directions across the Pacific Ocean and of the famous Bixby Bridge, which was built in 1932 and is still one of the world’s tallest single-span concrete bridges.

The incredible vistas at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve have attracted many artists over the years. Acclaimed photographers Ansel Adams and Edward Weston were regular visitors, and landscape painter Francis McComas once called it “the greatest meeting of land and water in the world.” The reserve’s Indigenous peoples believed Point Lobos to be a sacred place. It is home to a diverse array of flora and fauna, both on land and below water.

Highway 1 meets Highway 101 in Oxnard, and from here, the two routes merge and continue north to Santa Barbara. Oxnard bills itself as the “Strawberry Capital of the World” because of the large amounts of the fruit that are grown here. But the town has another claim to fame: the Dallas Cowboys visit each year for their annual training camp, which is open to public spectators.

Maverick’s Beach at Half Moon Bay sees some of the tallest waves on the planet, especially during the winter months. For this reason, it attracts surfers from around the world who are eager to set a new record. Waves as high as 25 feet are not uncommon, and some have even reached 80 feet. Since 1998, an annual invitation-only surfing contest has taken place at the beach.

Dana Point, located in Orange County, is one of the best locations in the world for spotting dolphins and whales. During the winter, gray whales frequently pass by on their migration to Baja California. Blue whales have also been spotted off the coast. In 2021, the city was certified by the World Cetacean Alliance as a Whale Heritage Site in recognition of its large marine population and its commitment to providing a safe habitat.

Actor Clint Eastwood took on a very different role from 1986 to 1988, when he was elected Mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a coastal town along the Pacific Coast Highway just south of Monterey. Eastwood ran with the plan to help bring together the business and residential communities. In 2016, he was the Grand Marshall at the parade for Carmel’s 100th anniversary celebrations.

Highway 1 runs through the coastal town of Morro Bay, which is sometimes called “the Gibraltar of the Pacific” thanks to Morro Rock. The plug of an extinct volcano, it rises 576 feet out of the waters in the bay and is a State Historical Landmark. The rock formation also attracts many bird watchers who are keen to catch a glimpse of the peregrine falcons that nest there.

One of composer Burt Bacharach’s lesser-known pieces of music was reportedly inspired by a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in his Corvette. It was included in his 1969 album, “Make It Easy On Yourself.” Bacharach, who passed away in early 2023, grew up in New York City and went on to write songs for many singers, most famously Dionne Warwick, as well as several Academy Award-winning film scores.

The Avenue of the Giants is a 31-mile stretch that runs parallel to Highway 101 near Eureka, California. The road’s titular giants are the redwood trees for which California is famous — some reaching as tall as 345 feet. Among the many giant trees along the avenue is the Shrine Drive-Thru Tree. While there are three redwoods here that people can drive through, this is the only one with a naturally-occurring hole through its trunk.

Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck was a native of Salinas, California, and he set his 1945 novel “Cannery Row” in nearby Monterey, located along Highway 1. The novel takes place during the Great Depression and tells the story of the people who lived and worked in the town’s sardine canning district. A stretch formerly called Ocean View Avenue was renamed Cannery Row after the novel in 1958.

From San Francisco, the Pacific Coast Highway continues north along the Point Reyes National Seashore and through scenic Bodega Bay. The town and the nearby bay were both named after the Spanish explorer Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, who landed here in 1775. Visitors might also recognize it as the filming location for Hitchcock’s classic horror-thriller “The Birds.” The movie, starring Tippi Hedren, was filmed here in 1963.

Dating to 1907, the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is California’s oldest amusement park and one of the oldest in the country. The boardwalk itself is a California Historic Landmark, while two of the park’s rides — the Looff Carousel and the Giant Dipper roller coaster — are National Historic Landmarks. The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has been featured in a number of movies, including “The Lost Boys” and “Us.”

Located near Highway 1 in the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara, Solvang bills itself as “the Danish Capital of America.” Danish immigrants founded the town in 1911, and many of the houses, schools, and churches were built to reflect Danish architecture. To further emphasize the town’s Scandinavian links, a half-size bronze replica of Copenhagen’s the Little Mermaid statue was erected in Solvang in 1976.

In 1919, publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst ordered the construction of a massive estate overlooking the San Simeon coastline off Highway 1. He named it La Cuesta Encantada, but most people today know it as Hearst Castle. Modeled after a church in Spain, Hearst Castle boasts 42 bedrooms and 61 bathrooms, plus 127 acres of gardens. The property is now managed by California State parks and is open to the public.

The Beach Boys formed in 1961 and quickly became one of the most influential bands in the U.S. and purveyors of California surf culture. In the six decades since, they have notched three dozen Top 40 hits. In 2012, the band released a song titled “Pacific Coast Highway” with lyrics that reflect on aging.

The drive south on the Pacific Coast Highway from San Francisco to Santa Cruz is bordered by dense redwood forests where a number of alleged Bigfoot sightings have occurred. A local man named Michael Rugg started the Bigfoot Discovery Project after claiming to have had several encounters with the cryptid. The museum has information and exhibits about local sightings and seeks to educate about the possibility of mystery primates around the world.

When it debuted in 1935, the Queen Mary was a marvel of modern shipbuilding. The ship embarked on her maiden voyage in 1936, sailing from Southampton to New York in just five days. In 1967, the Queen Mary was officially retired and was docked off Highway 1 in Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, and converted into a luxury hotel and tourist attraction.

Road trippers flock to Big Sur — the stretch of PCH between Carmel and San Simeon — to enjoy stunning views of the Pacific Ocean. On one side of the highway are rugged cliffs and remote beaches; to the other are mountains and redwood forests. Big Sur also attracts wildlife lovers — California condors were reintroduced to the area in 1997, and a series of cameras and viewing stations allow an up-close look without disturbing them.

There is considerable disagreement on the exact length of the Pacific Coast Highway. Some argue that it runs the entire length of the West Coast, but officially the designation was given to a segment of California’s Highway 1 in 1959. The distance and route have varied somewhat over time, but it technically remains in California, later joining with U.S. Highway 101 to become the Pacific Scenic Byway in Oregon and Washington.