Westways Magazine (Freeways—The Need is Now, Ginger Rogers Ad, & The Automobile Club of Southern California), November 1948 🛣️🚗🇺🇸

This is a top-shelf specialized periodical, serving as a primary source document of Post-War California's infrastructural revolution.

Published in November 1948 by the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC), this issue captures a pivotal moment in American history when the nation committed to the freeway system.

Its value is secured by the original reporting on the necessity of freeways and its cultural documentation of the 1940s automotive consumer landscape, providing a verified, firsthand account of the era's social and engineering priorities.

2. About the Artwork/Book/Object 📖✍️✨ The magazine, Volume 40, Number 11, is dedicated to travel, culture, and lifestyle in the American West. The editorial focus is heavily centered on the automobile and the expanding road network.

The content includes the landmark article "Freeways—The Need is Now", alongside regional travelogues like "Desert Stampede" and cultural features such as "An Artist Visits Solvang Paintings". The advertising provides explicit insight into the period's consumer market, notably an ad featuring film star Ginger Rogers endorsing Auto-Lite Sta-ful Batteries and the Union Oil Company promoting "TRITON EXTRA MARGIN OF SAFETY".

3. About the Artist/Author/Maker ✍️🏛️ Westways Magazine was the official publication of the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC). The ACSC, established in 1900, was a massive civic organization that wielded immense political power in advocating for the development of roads and highways.

The issue features editor Phil Townsend Hanna and cover designer Dillon Lauritzen, who captured the sleek, optimistic aesthetic of the late 1940s. The magazine's influence extended beyond travel, actively shaping public policy and the physical landscape of the region, ensuring this publication holds a verifiable institutional pedigree.

4. Historical/Political Era Context 🌍🕰️📜 This publication originates from November 1948, a period of intense post-war transition characterized by economic growth and a fundamental rethinking of infrastructure. The war economy had shifted entirely to domestic production, fueling a massive surge in car ownership.

The magazine's content is a direct argument for the birth of the American freeway system. The ACSC was instrumental in lobbying for the massive public works projects necessary to handle the traffic explosion, positioning this issue at the exact nexus of engineering, politics, and consumer culture that defined post-war America. The article on youthful drivers and rising insurance rates documents the early social costs and policy responses to the new reality of mass motoring.

5. The Ideal Collector 💡🧐🏛️ This historical magazine is an essential document for a curator of 20th-Century American Urban Planning, Transportation History, and Automotive Ephemera.

It is ideally suited for a collector who specializes in the political and cultural history of Southern California and the rise of the post-war middle class. The item possesses a clear institutional pedigree from the influential ACSC and is a tangible piece of the era that documents the national commitment to an auto-centric future.

6. Value & Rarity 💎✨🏛️ This periodical is 77 years old, having survived the extreme fragility and high discard rate of mass-market magazines.

Its Bibliographical Scarcity is low to moderate for a mass-produced item, but its rarity is significantly enhanced by the specific, high-value content detailing the freeway planning and policy debates of 1948. The value is secured by its Historical Context Premium as a unique primary source document for urban planning research. The original cover art and celebrity advertising maintain a strong market worth for period collectors.

7. Condition 🔎📚✨ The physical condition has been assessed directly from the provided high-resolution photography. The object is deemed to be in Fair Vintage Condition, with structural wear consistent with its age and softcover format.

• Covers: The covers show heavy shelf wear, including creases, tears, and abrasions along the edges and spine.

• Binding: The binding remains intact and the pages are bound.

• Interior Pages: The internal editorial and advertising pages are complete and legible.

• Aesthetic: The cover art by Dillon Lauritzen is visible and remains a sharp example of late 1940s illustration.

8. Fun Facts & Unique Features 🤓📜🤩

• Freeway Foresight: The article "Freeways—The Need is Now" was published before the official launch of the Interstate Highway System in 1956, demonstrating the ACSC’s prescient advocacy for large-scale road building.

• Ginger Rogers Endorsement: The advertisement for Auto-Lite batteries featuring Ginger Rogers was part of a major campaign fusing the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age with consumer goods, positioning the battery as a luxury component.

• Art Deco Design: The magazine’s nameplate and internal headers still carry the clean, streamlined aesthetics of the Art Deco period, a style that endured in automotive culture well into the 1940s.

• Local Focus: The magazine's contact listings explicitly detail offices for nearly two dozen different counties, underscoring the granular local influence and membership base of the Automobile Club of Southern California.

9. Supporting Information 🏷️📦💰

• Object Type: Historical Periodical / Magazine

• Title: Westways Magazine (Freeways—The Need is Now)

• Editor: Phil Townsend Hanna

• Year/Period: November 1948

• Publisher/Foundry: Automobile Club of Southern California

• Place of Origin: Southern California, USA

• Format/Binding: Softcover Periodical (Volume 40, Number 11)

• Price: 20 Cents

• Key Contents: Freeways—The Need is Now, Ginger Rogers Ad, Triton Oil Ad.