A Drive Back in Time

My wife and I have lived in Diamond Bar for over 30 years. Diamond Bar is located 30 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. It is on the southern edge of LA County just north of Orange County. It was a cattle ranch for many decades. In the 1960’s Diamond Bar began to emerge as a beautiful suburb of Los Angeles.

There are two ways to get from Diamond Bar to Orange County. The eight-lane 57 Freeway or the two-lane Brea Canyon Road. We prefer the two-lane road that winds through Brea Canyon.  It feels like you go back in time as you drive down this shade covered road.

There is a small marker on the side of the road which records that the Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola camped in Brea Canyon on July 31, 1769. That was before the American Revolution began. There are also majestic oil derricks lining the slopes of the canyon. These are remnants of one of the earliest oil fields in California. Oil was discovered in the 1880’s and some wells are still in production today.

I love to imagine what life might have been like when the Spanish explorers came through in the 1760’s. I suspect they interacted with Native Americans living in the area. There are many springs and creeks that would have been attractive to indigenous groups and explorers too.

Life was probably very different a century later when oil was found in Brea Canyon. The town of Brea grew quickly as workers and families flooded into the oil boomtown in the 1880’s. Brea Canyon Road was part of that expansion.

Another century later, in the early 1970’s, the 57 Freeway was extended north from Orange County through the hills of Brea Canyon and Tonner Canyon to the 60 Freeway. The volume of traffic was a stark contrast to the limited number of cars and trucks that still use Brea Canyon Road.   

Today we still prefer the small country road to the major freeway. Let me encourage you to find a quiet alternative to the fast-paced freeway. Take a moment to imagine what life might have been like years ago on that smaller two-lane road. You will be glad you did and I will too!

You can read 365 more stories and articles (one for every day of the year) in the author’s book Let Me Encourage You by Mark Hopper. You can purchase a book for only $20 plus postage ($5). Order your books at markh@efreedb.org.