Do SoCal freeways have viable personalities?
LA artist Alex Israel thinks so. He's designed a line of sunglasses named after the city's key freeways, claiming his accessories merge two symbols synonymous with the Southern California landscape. His Freeway Eyewear is a widely coveted collection of styles with familiar monikers. There's the 1-Pacific Coast Highway, 10-Santa Monica Freeway, Interstate 15, 101-King's Highway (or El Camino Real), 110-Harbor Freeway, and 405-San Diego Freeway. The collection includes a sixth style called L.A. RAYS, echoing the name of a sunglasses label that flourished in Laguna Beach in the early and mid-1990s.
Appropriate for beauties bound for Bel-Air, the 405s are the most glamorous with round frames; the straight forward rays named for Interstate 15 seem the most utilitarian while the 10s sit on the face with more attitude. The 110s are the preppiest, which makes sense as their namesake roadway started life in Pasadena, and the style named for one of our oldest thoroughfares, the PCH, is the most retro.
Who knows what routes will show up in next year's collection, but industrial strength goggles with a detachable gas mask should inspire the silhouette for any style named after Interstate 5.