Old stage road through Arch Rock on Santa Monica Beach, looking north, ca.1895

Photograph of the old stage road to San Francisco (later Pacific Coast Highway) passing under Arch Rock (a stone formation) on Santa Monica Beach, looking north, ca.1895. A horse-drawn carriage is about to drive under it toward the foreground. The Ringe family destroyed the arch in 1906 so they could move heavy equipment through the area.; "The road through the rock was in such bad shape that when the Ringe people were building their Railroad about early 1900 the contractor who had to bring supplies over the road dynamited it and built the road higher up above the tide. At the time I photographed the road in 1895, high tides rushed through the arch. M.D. Darlington was contractor for building the railroad and was given permission to reconstruct the road by the County Supervisors who were much criticized by people who did not want the Arch destroyed.