Automobile Club of Southern California facts for kids

The Automobile Club of Southern California (often called the Auto Club) is a big part of the American Automobile Association (AAA). It's like a helpful club for drivers in Southern California. It started way back on December 13, 1900, in Los Angeles. Its first goal was to make roads better, suggest good traffic rules, and improve driving for everyone. Today, it's the largest club within the AAA family, with almost 8 million members just in Southern California. It has over 16 million members across 21 states through its other branches.

History of the Auto Club

How it Started

Counties covered by the Automobile Club of Southern California (red) and California State Automobile Association (blue)

The Auto Club was one of the first groups to push for building the Ridge Route. This was the first major highway through the Tehachapi Mountains and San Gabriel Mountains. It connected Los Angeles directly to Bakersfield and California's Central Valley. Finishing the Ridge Route made car travel much easier through these big mountains.

Around 1910, the Auto Club sent special teams called cartographers (mapmakers) to explore the state's roads. They did this to create accurate maps and set up a standard system for road signs. The Auto Club put up thousands of strong, metal road signs all over California. They kept doing this until the state government took over the job in the mid-1950s. These signs were made by a local company that also made bathtubs! A few of these old signs are still around today, but they are very rare.

Automobile Club of Southern California, 2022

In 1923, the Auto Club's main office building was finished. It was located on the corner of Figueroa Street and Adams Boulevard in West Adams, Los Angeles. Architects Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns designed it to look like an "attractive Spanish design." This building became a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1971. Today, it serves as the Los Angeles branch office. The club's main headquarters are still in Los Angeles, but its main business offices are in Costa Mesa.

From 1934 to 1941, the building's outdoor area hosted the Auto Club's yearly "Outing Show." This show encouraged people to take car trips and go camping. These events stopped when World War II began and never started again. During the war, the Auto Club helped collect old rubber and metal for the war effort. They also printed many posters, like the "Give Them a Lift" campaign. This campaign asked drivers to give rides to soldiers who were hitchhiking.

The Auto Club has also faced challenges. In 1970, a city councilman named Marvin Braude was upset with the Auto Club. They opposed a plan to use state fuel tax money for reducing smog and improving public transportation. Braude later took the Auto Club to court over how they ran their elections. After many years, he won. This led the Auto Club to change its election rules to be fairer. It also caused California to update its laws for non-profit organizations in 1978.

Recent Years

Today, the Auto Club has an insurance company called the Interinsurance Exchange of the Auto Club. It's one of the biggest insurance providers in California. It offers insurance for cars, homes, RVs, motorcycles, and boats. It also provides extra liability insurance.

The Auto Club is the biggest club in the AAA family. It still offers many benefits to its members. These include maps, help with planning trips, emergency roadside assistance, and even some services usually done at the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Members also get a magazine called Westways, which is about travel and cars. The Auto Club has offices all over, from Chula Vista near the Mexico border to Bishop in California's eastern mountains.

AAA Expansion

In 1996, the Auto Club started to grow by joining with or buying other AAA clubs across the country. They added AAA Hawaii, AAA New Mexico, and AAA Texas. Later, they joined with AAA Northern New England (which serves New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine) in 2003. In 2006, they joined with AAA Missouri (serving Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Missouri, and parts of Illinois and Indiana). AAA Alabama joined in 2007. The Auto Club also partnered with AAA East Central (serving parts of Kentucky, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) and AAA Tidewater in 2012.

Other Programs

If Auto Club members travel north of Central California, the California State Automobile Association (now called AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah) helps them. Both the AAA Northern California and the Auto Club are part of the larger AAA group. While you can't use your membership interchangeably at all AAA clubs, they do help each other out. For example, all AAA clubs offer roadside assistance to any AAA member.

In recent years, the Auto Club has gone back to its roots by getting involved in car racing. They sponsor the yearly Auto Club 400 NASCAR Cup Series race in Fontana. They also sponsor the NHRA Auto Club Finals in Pomona. The race tracks where these events are held (Auto Club Speedway and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona), along with a drag strip in Bakersfield (Auto Club Famoso Raceway), used to have their names sponsored by the Auto Club.

The Auto Club also sponsors Team Penske driver Joey Logano's No. 22 Ford car in the NASCAR Cup Series race in Fontana. They also sponsor the NHRA funny car team John Force Racing and its driver Robert Hight. When the IndyCar Series raced at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, driver Hélio Castroneves raced with an Auto Club design on his car from 2012 to 2015. Castroneves is also a Team Penske driver.

See also

• John W. Baumgartner, Los Angeles City Council member, 1933–35, opposed Auto Club signs on city streets