Franklin Avenue

Obsessed with PL8TS
As much as we drive in Southern California, you can't help but start wondering about the license plates you encounter on the road.

Or at least, I can't. But I'm odd that way. For years it's been bugging me: Which came first, the blue California plates, the "Golden State" plates, the plain red/blue on white plates, or the now-standard script-based plates (with "California" written on top in a hurried cursive design).

That's where one of my latest web finds, California License Plates - CALPL8S comes in (thank you, Google!). It's an extensive history of the California license plate from 1953 and on.

The site tells you everything you ever wanted know (and plenty of info you never thought you wanted to know) about the California license plate. The still ubiquitous blue plate, for example, was in service from 1969 to 1987 -- which is why you still see so many on the road, even though they haven't been issued in 15 years.

And the famous "Golden State" plate, the one with the sun (and immortalized in the opening of "L.A. Law"), was the official state plate for just nine months in 1987. Prior to that, it had been a special plate since 1982, meaning you could order it for a small additional charge (similar to today's Lake Tahoe, kids and other special plates).

Apparently the state decided it was too expensive to produce that plate, however, which is why it was quickly replaced by the simple, utilitarian red/blue on white "embossed" plate. The current script plate, also known as the "lipstick plate" (for the way "California" is scrawled in red ink), came into use in 1993.

Webmaster David Haber, who runs this site is... how should I put this delicately... obsessed with collecting the history of California's license plates. Which is why I love this site.

It's even continually updated, as Haber spots new license number combinations on the road (his highest spotted plate yet, seen on August 19, began with the number/letter combo "5DES"). One last bit o' trivia: California plates recently began starting with "5," now that they've exhausted plates beginning with the number "4."

There. Go amaze your friends with your vast California license plate knowledge.