December 30, 1940: Los Angeles' 1st Freeway Opens

December 30, 1940: The Arroyo Seco Parkway opens, along the seasonal river of the same name, running 8 miles northeast from downtown Los Angeles to Pasadena. It is the 1st of many freeways in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

It became part of the historic U.S. Route 66, but is no longer designated as such. Rather, it is California Route 110. In 1954, it was renamed the Pasadena Freeway. In 2010, its original name was restored.

In the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Judge Doom (played by Christopher Lloyd) lays out his plan for such a road: "Eight lanes of shimmering cement, running from here to Pasadena. Smooth, safe, fast. Traffic jams will be a thing of the past." (Yeah, surrre! He continued.) "I see a place where people get on and off the freeway, on and off, off and on, all day, all night! Soon, where Toontown once stood will be a string of gas stations, inexpensive motels, restaurants that serve rapidly prepared food, tire salons, automobile dealerships, and wonderful, wonderful billboards, reaching as far as the eye can see! My God, it'll be beautiful!"

In other words, he foresaw freeway exits, and the shopping centers that sprang up around them, serving as the new "downtown shopping districts" in what became suburban America after World War II. Except that the film took place in 1947, when said 8 lanes were already in place in real life. (But then, that entire film requires a major suspension of disbelief.)

Those 8 lanes would be the first of many, strangling Southern California in asphalt, and choking it in smog, because all those cars would be producing carbon dioxide, drifting east until the gas smacked into the San Gabriel Mountains, which would push it back, causing it, with nowhere else to go, to settle dangerously over what had become America's 3rd-largest city after World War II, and by 1970, the 2nd-largest.

Not until 1990 would Los Angeles open its 1st subway line.

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December 30, 1940 was a Monday. TV sitcom writer, director and producer James Burrows was born.

Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. Therefore, there were no scores on this historic day.

September 22, 1953: Los Angeles' Four Level "Stack" Interchange

September 22, 1953: The Four Level Interchange opens in Los Angeles, about a mile northwest of City Hall. It becomes one of the most familiar locations in the city, nicknamed "The Stack."

The interchange was constructed as a stack interchange because surrounding buildings and terrain made construction of a cloverleaf interchange impractical. The construction of the interchange displaced over 4,000 people from their homes and cost $5.5 million, making it the most expensive half-mile of highway ever built at the time.

It is the intersection of U.S. Route 101 and California Route 110. For the 101, it serves as Exit 3; for the 110, Exit 24.

To the northwest, the 101 is the Hollywood Freeway, heading to Ventura, and eventually north, including the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco; to the southeast, it is the Santa Ana Freeway, going to Irvine. To the northeast, the 110 is the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the area's 1st freeway, going to Pasadena; to the southwest, it is the Harbor Freeway, going to San Pedro.

In 2006, the California Department of Transportation named it the Bill Keene Memorial Interchange, in memory of the famed traffic reporter at radio station KNX.   

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September 22, 1953 was a Tuesday. Richard Fairbrass, lead singer of British rock group Right Said Fred, known for their hit "I'm Too Sexy," was born on this day.

These baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Athletics, 7-2 at Yankee Stadium. Mickey Mantle went 1-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Yogi Berra went 1-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. Allie Reynolds was the winning pitcher.

* The New York Giants lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-3 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Curt Simmons went the distance for the win, while Larry Jansen didn't get out of the 1st inning. The Phils hit no home runs, but Ted Kazanski, Earl Torgeson and Del Ennis each got 3 hits. The Korean War had ended 3 months earlier, but Willie Mays would remain in the U.S. Army until the start of the next season's Spring Training.

* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-4 at Ebbets Field. Carl Erskine left due to injury after 3 innings, and Johnny Podres won it in relief. George "Shotgun" Shuba hit a home run. In an odd statline, Jackie Robinson, in a rare appearance at shortstop, went 0-for-0 with 4 walks. He also stole a base.

* A doubleheader was split at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Reds won the opener, 1-0. Fred Baczewski pitched a 6-hit shutout. The Chicago Cubs won the nightcap, 4-1. Over the 2 games, for the Cubs, veteran Ralph Kiner went 0-for-5 with 3 walks, while rookie Ernie Banks went 1-for-7 with a walk.

* The St. Louis Browns beat the Detroit Tigers, 7-3 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. Satchel Paige, 47 years old, pitched the 1st 7 innings for the win. Don Larsen, 24 years old, pitched the last 2 innings for the save. Rookie Al Kaline went 1-for-3 for the Tigers.

This was the last game the St. Louis Browns ever won. They played 3 more games, all at home against the Chicago White Sox, and lost them all. In the off-season, they were sold and moved, to become the Baltimore Orioles.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-3 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Bob Feller went the distance for the win, while Billy Pierce didn't get out of the 5th inning.

* A doubleheader was split at the first Busch Stadium in St. Louis, which had, until this season, been the last Sportsman's Park. The Milwaukee Braves won the 1st game, 4-3. Eddie Mathews and Joe Adcock hit home runs for the Braves. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 10-7. Over the 2 games, Stan Musial went 5-for-9 with a walk and 2 RBIs.

* And the Boston Red Sox and the Washington Senators were rained out at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The game was never rescheduled.