Bayshore Dawn: 101 Opens 1929

This 1929 silent newsreel, California State Highway 101 Opening, captures the Bayshore Highway’s debut in San Francisco on October 20, drawing 50,000 spectators. A parade of automobiles rolls from the Civic Center, led by Mayor James “Sunny Jim” Rolph and joined by San Mateo’s Mayor Taylor, county supervisors, and Queen Clara Carli, crowned for the occasion. Grainy aerial shots—filmed from a plane, window visible—show the new road stretching south, with supervisors aloft in a second craft. A milestone in 1920s transit, it marks San Francisco’s first freeway, linking city to peninsula amid roaring celebration.