Before the Ridge Route, roads between Los Angeles and the San Joaquin Valley were less direct. El Camino Real (Spanish, "the King's road"), the first major road in California, connected Los Angeles and the missions, presidios and settlements with San Francisco and Sonoma. The San Joaquin Valley route split from the El Camino Real at present-day Universal City, the western leg running along the Pacific Coast and coastal valleys and the eastern El Camino Viejo, (Spanish, "the old road") via the San Joaquin Valley to San Antonio, now East Oakland.