I was delighted to read in the LHS "Historical Happenings," Nov.'05, that the Old Highway 80 is due to be designated the next "Historic Highway" . . . About Time!

  The picture of the car going east on the Tunnel Hill section down to Glenview looks about the same as it did in the early 1950's. I used to ride horseback along the same stretch into El Cajon to the Rock 'N' Ride horse show arena near the livestock auction yard to participate in the horse shows that were held there. I didn't have a horse trailer at the time so it was quite a ride over from San Vicente Valley (now Moreno Valley), compete in the horse show, and ride back home often with a couple of ribbons or a trophy.
  During my senior year at Grossmont High School, and the summer following, I worked up in Descanso at the Sessions Registered Hereford Cattle Ranch which meant driving back and forth on Old Highway 80; and, frequently with a truck full of the registered cattle as the ranch leased land in the San Vicente Valley for cow/calf grazing.
  The old Viejas Grade was rather twisty and narrow and the big double trailer hay trucks coming up out of Imperial Valley to the Imperial Valley Hay Growers yard in El Cajon would sometimes hit those curves a bit hard and spill a good part of their load. By law, they were obliged to clean it off of the highway but the rest of it was "free scramble" for anyone who could reach it and load it on to their own truck or trailer. Those little forays helped out on the feed bill for my own livestock.
  The west end of Old Highway 80 (El Cajon Blvd.) where it ended at Park Blvd. in San Diego, was familiar territory to me during the WWII years as we lived a few blocks off of El Cajon Blvd. on 35th Street. We went into downtown San Diego on the old street cars that ran down the Boulevard (Highway 80) because enough gas wasn't always available even with the ration stamps. I can still hear in my memory the "Clang, clang, clang went the trolley. Ding, ding, ding went the bell" [like was sung by Judy Garland].
  Main Street in El Cajon was Highway 80 with all the big agriculture rigs going through town, plus the east/west distance travelers and also the local traffic. Despite all these wheels turning, El Cajon had one traffic light located at Main Street and Magnolia Avenue. And you know what? It wasn't at all difficult to get where you were going and on time as well!