This year marks not just an American anniversary, but the 100th birthday of national icons like Chuck Berry, Marilyn Monroe — and Route 66. Route 66 extended 2,448 miles from the skyscrapers of downtown Chicago to the seagulls of the Santa Monica pier.
Running through the heart of America, it was dubbed the Mother Road by John Steinbeck … but that name also symbolizes what was left behind as the nation grew up. Travel over smoother, speedier freeways has emptied the small towns once fueled by the motorists who stopped at their traffic lights and postcard racks.
But a big birthday is always a good reason to visit home. Slow down and take the long way — savor hearty cooking, admire old photos, pick up a tchotchke or two.
Flagstaff to Seligman
Ponderosa pines and spruce trees line the hills outside Flagstaff, the town itself sprawling outward from a downtown centered on the train station and hotels like the Monte Vista and the Weatherford, whose style is Old West and whose guest books contain names like John Wayne and Zane Grey.
As you drive out of town, drugstores and car rentals are interspersed with throwbacks such as Starlite Lanes bowling, Miz Zip’s diner, and motels with signage in various states of renovation or disrepair — watch out for the gloriously animated coach-and-horses of the Western Hills Motel. These signs are some of the route’s top attractions, says designer and historian Barkev Msrlyan of Merch Motel. “Handcrafted and custom to their location, they represent the families that worked hard to create an interesting destination for travelers.”
The roadside empties and the sky widens as you wind into Williams. Rod’s Steak House opened in 1946 and still serves prime rib, steaks, and baked potatoes. The Canyon Club and the Sultana Bar have each been open for over seven decades and embrace a neon on the outside/taxidermy on the inside aesthetic. As Williams is the “gateway to the Grand Canyon,” the Grand Canyon Railway & Hotel offers train rides to the South Rim as well as Wild West shootouts every morning.
Train and road trips allow people to slow down and create personal, lasting memories, says Jeff D'Arpa, Grand Canyon Railway general manager. While Route 66 epitomizes auto culture, it’s also a treat for train freaks, as railroad tracks loop around and along it.
The road to Seligman is dotted with replicas of old Burma-Shave signs, strings of jokes and puns to distract drivers lulled by yellow lines and ocher dunes. Seligman is a tiny town with a big personality that will please fans of both cars and Cars. It allegedly inspired the Disney film, and the two blocks of gift shops, cafes, and motels are lined with old Ford pickups and Chevy sedans painted with eyes and grins. The center of the whimsical excess is Angel & Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop and Delgadillo's Snow Cap. The latter draws a line out the door for its “dead chicken” and “cheeseburger with cheese,” as well as dozens of milkshake flavors.
Seligman to Barstow
Many of the towns that flash by are down to one or two buildings. Hackberry, Arizona, is basically the Hackberry General Store, a snack and souvenir stop in the middle of nowhere. The outside is lined with peeling stickers and fading signs, the inside wallpapered with glossies of old movie stars and the occasional costumed mannequin looming up out of a corner (not the first or last surprise mannequin you’ll encounter on Route 66).
Kingman has a high concentration of beautifully maintained motel signs, luminous trapezoids and shimmering ovals imploring travelers to pull over for a photo if not a night’s rest. Mr. D’z epitomizes Route 66 dining: adorned on the outside with maps and murals, the inside with chrome and vinyl, and an abundance of kitschy memorabilia. The menu leans into burgers, fries, and shakes, the official 66 meal.
The Mother Road does not count carbs or calories. Her plates are full of burgers with bacon, fries with cheese, and milkshakes with softball-sized dollops of whipped cream. If you’re seeking something stronger, the Sportsman Bar has served libations to thirsty travelers for 120 years.
You eventually pass Laughlin on your way to Needles and the expanse of the Mojave. The town of Amboy is home to Roy’s, perhaps the most outrageous of Route 66’s Googie gas station-motel combos. The former is operational; the latter is in an abandoned-yet-pristine state that feels surreal — especially when the occasional small plane or fleet of vintage cars suddenly manifests. Ludlow is the Ludlow Cafe and the Ludlow Motel, which share a midcentury, mock-colonial aesthetic, heavy on wood tone and gas lamp motifs.
Barstow to Santa Monica
After miles of abandoned towns and empty roads, the busy sprawl of Barstow is a shock. The Mother Road curves along the north side of town past Route 66 Motel, Route 66 Pizza Palace, Mota’s Route 66 Tires, Route 66 Vape and Smoke, and Route 66 Guns & Ammo. The Route 66 Mother Road Museum is the best of the many road museums. Located in a beautifully restored Harvey House building, it features photos, signs, artifacts, and vintage cars.
As you roll into Victorville, stop at Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Cafe. It’s a minttinted, sharp-angled building that you may recognize as serving Uma Thurman a glass of water in Kill Bill: Vol. 2, but you should order one of their juicy, high-stacked burgers (no smashing here).
After a highway merge to cross the dreaded Cajon pass, Route 66 breaks the foothills, skipping between a dozen streets and boulevards, where suburban blandness is home to quirky landmarks. The Wigwam Motel is one of a dying retro breed, a ring of concrete “teepees” around a kidney-shaped pool. The nearby Magic Lamp Inn is an exercise in perfectly preserved midcentury excess, loaded with stonework and stained glass, and a side of Elvis impersonator with your filet mignon.
In a world where everything is a franchise of a subsidy of a parent company, many of the businesses along Route 66 are unique and family-owned. As Barkev says, “We've lost so much charm due to corporate grayness, it's important to celebrate and support the whimsy and hard work of independently owned establishments.”
Cruising into Pasadena, the buildings draw closer together — Spanish Colonial storefronts, Renaissance revival apartment buildings, art deco theatres-turned-churches. If you need a break from the road, the cozy, scarlet-toned Colorado Bar has a curated jukebox and chill crowd. Afterward, step next door to Poo Bah Record Shop to peruse its thoughtfully selected assortment of vinyl.
Naturally, the road of dreams runs through Hollywood, passing by what was once the Warner Bros. Studio, as well as Paramount Studios and Hollywood Forever Cemetery, where movie heroes from Douglas Fairbanks Jr. to Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) have found their final resting places. The stars also smile down at the Formosa Cafe, a fantasy of art deco orientalism, where you can dine in a former train car or Lana Tuner’s favorite booth.
The final route marker is located on the Santa Monica pier — look for the line of tourists waiting for their photo op. As elsewhere along 66, the most and most excited travelers on Route 66 aren’t from the United States: The kitsch and history, the slow speed and small scale that would bore Americans seem to add to the trip’s appeal for foreigners. Next to the marker is Pier Burger, which fittingly bills itself as “the last burger on land,” if you need a final fix.
If you’re tired of burgers and ice cream, return to shore and the glowing neon of Chez Jay’s, a combination of peanuts-on-the-floor dive bar and checkered-tablecloth Italian restaurant. Or head for the oceanfront streamline tower of The Eden hotel and its rooftop Velvet Rose lounge, a plush velvet aerie with cocktails named after pioneers like Hedy Lamar and Nellie Bly. Opened as the Shangri-La Apartment Hotel in 1940, the Eden became a vacation spot for U.S. soldiers during World War II and has been a hotel ever since.
“This was a place of refuge, of relaxation,” says Eden General Manager Danielle Delcambre. She says the building’s history is its biggest draw. “We think about different times, and we’d kind of like to transport ourselves back to them.”
Sipping a chilled coupe while gazing out at the ocean seems miles and decades away from beer in a desert saloon or milkshake in a roadside café … and it is. A Route 66 drive is a trip not just through miles, but through years.
“The road brings people together in a special way,” Barkev says. And it’s not just the travelers currently sharing the road that you bond with, but also those who have ridden the Mother Road before you and those who will after. Here’s to another hundred years.
