EXHIBIT OFFERS HIGHWAY HISTORY.

Byline: Patricia Hesselbach / Special to the Daily News

No simple road show, a new exhibit at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art tells a tale of life and times, and details the changing tides of land travel along our Pacific shores.

``Coast Road: 1900-1950'' opens today in the museum's Hoffman Gallery. The pictorial excursion takes visitors on a captivating journey through the decades, along the famed Pacific Coast Highway.

``Historical exhibits are only as good as the collectional material you can put into them,'' said Matthew Roth, director of historical programs for the Automobile Club of Southern California, who with museum curator Tim Schiffer selected exhibit photos from more than 20,000 images.

Rare ink-on-vellum maps and compelling AAA photographs of coast highway construction inspired the topographical road trip. Presented in panoramic fashion, the maps guide the viewers along their way on the gallery tour.

``The construction doesn't speak to the significance of the road,'' said Roth, a founding curator for the renovated Peterson Automotive Museum.

After 1950, Roth said, imagery and perception of the coastal regions became larger than the reality. ``Coast Road'' highlights the developing California consciousness of the area up to the time that the media representation began to overshadow the true culture.

Wayne Hunt and Hunt Design Associates in Pasadena have charted the graphical course for this exhibit. The walls of the Hoffman Gallery are decked with reverse silk-screened maps on acrylic and an intriguing assemblage of two-dimensional media.

Westways magazine covers, featuring scenic and recreational attractions, and a vintage poster advertising the first-ever organized Malibu surfboard race complement the displays. At designated rest stops along the way, viewers see fishing and camping artifacts; a hollowed-out mahogany paddle board from 1945; a man's one-piece wool swimsuit, circa 1930; and surfing ``booties,'' circa 1950.

Early road signs help point the way from Southern California to Eureka and points north.

``Everything in the collection had to do with what the Automobile Club did or projected and was integral to Automobile Club functions and interests,'' said Roth. ``Daily information needs of a society on wheels were worked out over a first generation of motoring,'' he added, noting that the AAA collection includes more than 400,000 road signs - some from as early as the 1920s. Before the advent of electric turn signals, the Automobile Club devised the universal hand signs used for turning and stopping.

``There's a collectible nature about things along the coast road,'' said Jennifer Bressler of Hunt Design Associates. Glass cases contain such memorabilia as touring guides from the 1920s, real estate literature and vacation postcards from along the route.

A 9-foot exhibit of stacked, giant-size postcards and an 8-foot Santa Fe Railroad brochure stand in contrast with one another and define the changing character of the coastal regions.

According to Ruth, three main themes run throughout the exhibit. First, the presentation makes it clear that the coast road has contributed to, and not detracted from, the environment. The road, in fact, has provided a vantage point from which the public en masse can appreciate nature.

On a second level, the exhibit shows how the road has enabled the populace to participate in a diversity of coastal activities. The third theme of the show relates to the toll of the coast road in metropolitan growth and development.

Developing the road proved to be a formidable challenge in itself at times. The thoroughfare saw rough beginnings when the owner of a private railroad extending along the coast from Malibu to Hueneme refused to relinquish land rights. The state of California ultimately won a 22-year legal battle with May Rindge and gained access to her Malibu Ranch coastal properties. That section of the coast highway opened in 1929.

According to Roth, the Automobile Club of Southern California regularly builds programmatic relationships with the organizations it serves. The nonprofit institution, headed by CEO Thomas McKennan, is part of the history of the coast highway. ``Coast Road'' represents a more than two-year collaborative effort between the Automobile Club of Southern California and the Ventura County Museum of History and Art. By way of the exhibit, the two organizations, together, are preserving and celebrating the past.

THE FACTS

What: ``Coast Road: 1900-1950.''

Where: Ventura County Museum of History and Art, 100 E. Main St., Ventura.

When: Opening reception 5-8 tonight; $15 per person.

Regular museum hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

Tickets: Adults $3; Auto Club members, $2; museum members and children free.

Information: [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--color) Historian Matthew Roth and graphic designer Jennifer Bressler set up Pacific Coast Highway exhibits at the Ventura County Museum.

Phil McCarten/Daily News

(2) Historic maps are on display as part of the ``Coast Road: 1900-1950'' show in Ventura.