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Early Southern California Road Atlas by B.F. Goodrich

Excellent early automobile atlas for California, produced by B.F. Goodrich, one of the earliest road atlases of Southern California.

The first California Road Atlas was published in 1907 by J.F. Hancock. Click here to see the first California road atlas.

This 16-page route book showing the main roads along the coast and inland between Los Angeles and San Diego. The maps locate the Goodrich Road Markers along the way with small encircled "G" symbols.

In 1910 Goodrich began installing road signs throughout the U.S.  By 1917 Goodyear had installed its easily seen 10-foot signs along 110,000 miles of road. Following Michelin’s lead in Europe, Goodrich also began to issue route books for tourists, highlighting the Goodrich signs and providing specific directions.

This would appear to be the earliest example a Goodrich route guide for Southern California. The introduction indicates that subsequent editions will be more detailed. Goodrich did issue later editions in a more comprehensive format beginning in 1915 with separate Route Books for Northern, Central and Southern California. Goodrich stopped installing signs in 1920 and apparently stopped issuing its route books and maps at about the same time as map publishers and oil companies entered the market.

The rear cover contains a list of the Goodrich Route Books “now published.” Pictorial wrappers with a Goodrich Guide Post on the front cover .  The atlas consist of a key map,  3 maps of the Los Angeles area, one map of San Diego and 10 mumbered maps showing various roads and routes, including:

• Main roads between Los Angeles, Pasadena, Pomona
• Main Roads between Pomona and Redlands
• Main Roads between Corona, Elsinore and Perris
• Main Roads between Wildomar, Fallbrook and Pala
• Main Roads between Escondido, Lakeside and San Diego
• Main Roads between Warner's, Cuyamaca and Ramona
• San Diego City, Coronado, Tia Juana, Point Loma
• Main Roads between Oceanside, La Jolla and San Diego
• Main Roads between San Juan Capistrano and Oceanside
• Main Roads between Whittier, Long Beach and San Juan Capistrano

The atlas is scarce on the market, especially the first edition.