to the Coachella Valley area, it parallels Carrizo Creek before entering the city limits of Palm Desert, where SR 74 meets its current legal eastern terminus. The SR 74 designation continued into Palm Desert as a city arterial to its eastern terminus at SR 111, which has also had its state highway designation removed through Palm Desert. Route 74 passes through many parks and National Forests along its route. Some of these places include the San Bernardino National Forest, the Cleveland National Forest, the Ronald W. Caspers Wilderness Park, Lake Elsinore State Recreation Park, the Soboba Indian Reservation, Lake Hemet, Santa Rosa Indian Reservation, and Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument. SR 74 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System, and for a portion near I-15 as well as from I-215 to the eastern Hemet city limits is part of the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration. SR 74 is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System; however, it is only a scenic highway as designated by Caltrans from the western boundary of the San Bernardino National Forest to its junction with SR 111. State Route 74 is called the California Wildland Firefighters Memorial Highway (from Lake Elsinore to San Juan Capistrano), as designated by various state laws. The Palms to Pines Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway. History The route has been signed as Route 74 since the establishment of state routes in 1934. Its original corridor between then CA 71 Corona Freeway (later I-15W) and present-day I-215 (then, I-15E and U.S. Route 395) was numbered as U.S. 395, through downtown Perris. East of the CA 74/U.S. 395 junction, from Romoland-east, was CA 740 (Florida Avenue). The western portion of Route 74 in Orange County follows San Juan Creek and is named the Ortega Highway, after the Spanish explorer Sgt. José Francisco Ortega who led the scouts of the 1769 Portola expedition, first non-natives to ever see the area. A segment of Route 74 named "Seven Level Hill," just south of Palm Desert, California, appears in the 1963 American comedy film It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World during the opening minutes of the film, when the major characters of the film meet for the first time following a car accident. Route 74 between San Juan