The Automobile Club of Southern California is the Southern California affiliate of the American Automobile Association (AAA) federation of motor clubs. The Auto Club was founded on December 13, 1900, in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first motor clubs dedicated to improving roads, proposing traffic laws, and improvement of overall driving conditions. Today, it is the single largest member of the AAA federation, with almost 8 million members in its home territory of Southern California, more than 16 million members across all subsidiaries in 21 states, and an annual budget in excess of $2 billion. History Early years The Auto Club was an early advocate for the construction of the Ridge Route, the first highway through the Tehachapi Mountains and San Gabriel Mountains, which directly linked Los Angeles to Bakersfield and the Central Valley. The completion of the Ridge Route greatly facilitated automobile travel through this significant mountain barrier. Starting around 1910, the Auto Club sent teams of cartographers to survey the state's roads for the production of maps and to create a uniform signing system. The Auto Club posted thousands of porcelain-on-steel traffic signs throughout the state and continued to do so until the State of California took over the task in the mid-1950s. The signs were produced by a local company that manufactured porcelain-on-steel bathtubs. A few of these signs remain in service today, though they are extremely rare. In 1923, the Auto Club's main office on the corner of Figueroa Street and Adams Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles was completed. Designed by architects Sumner P. Hunt and Silas R. Burns, and built in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, the building now serves as the Los Angeles branch office. The club's headquarters are still in Los Angeles but its administrative offices are in Costa Mesa. From 1934 through 1941, the building's courtyard served as the site of the Auto Club's annual "Outing Show," which promoted motor vacations and camping. These events were halted after the start of the war and were never revived. During the course of the war, the Auto Club played a leadership role in scrap rubber and metal drives and printed numerous posters for the war effort, including the "Give Them a Lift" campaign, which encouraged motorists to give rides to hitchhiking servicemen. The Auto Club has also experienced its share of scandals. In 1970, the Auto Club incurred the wrath of Los