Wilshire and the Non-Grids

Over at KCET (which always has the best historical dirt), Nathan Masters traces Wilshire Blvd. ("L.A.'s first highway, likely blazed by mammoths and other Pleistocene mammals in search of food and water on the cienegas of the L.A. flood plain") across the many different street grids between Downtown and Santa Monica. After it leaves the slanted Laws of the Indies streets and crosses Hoover, Wilshire joins the US survey grid: "In Southern California, each survey line within the national system is measured from the summit of San Bernardino Mountain, where the San Bernardino Meridian and the San Bernardino Base Line intersect." [KCET, image via]