Route 66 Eastbound
Apr 26th, 2010, 06:39 AM
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Route 66 Eastbound
Planning to drive the whole length of Route 66 starting from Santa Monica Pier and ending in Chicago Il,
I would like to know if there are places along the way, where the old route turned to slums or other reasons why we should avoid it.
Also would like to match my choices with other MUST SEE places along the route.
I would like to know if there are places along the way, where the old route turned to slums or other reasons why we should avoid it.
Also would like to match my choices with other MUST SEE places along the route.
Apr 26th, 2010, 07:46 AM
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Apr 26th, 2010, 07:56 AM
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A couple of suggestions:
Maybe you've already done this. Get a detailed guide to the route. Here's an interesting web site that provides instructions for taking the route and references some guide books.
http://www.historic66.com/
Tag your post to appear in each State through which the old road passed.
Dictionary definition of a slum:
"a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people."
Not necessarily a reason to avoid driving through. I doubt there are very many such areas along the old road. There are places, such as in Winslow AZ, (remember "Standin on the corner") where the freeway bypassed the rt. 66 downtown shopping area, and it has gone to seed. But it's not a slum. More like a ghost town. Not a reason to avoid it. Just the opposite.
Although the term is used frequently on these boards, there is no such thing as a "must see". One person's must see is another's ho hum. What are the "my choices" you mention?
Maybe you've already done this. Get a detailed guide to the route. Here's an interesting web site that provides instructions for taking the route and references some guide books.
http://www.historic66.com/
Tag your post to appear in each State through which the old road passed.
Dictionary definition of a slum:
"a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people."
Not necessarily a reason to avoid driving through. I doubt there are very many such areas along the old road. There are places, such as in Winslow AZ, (remember "Standin on the corner") where the freeway bypassed the rt. 66 downtown shopping area, and it has gone to seed. But it's not a slum. More like a ghost town. Not a reason to avoid it. Just the opposite.
Although the term is used frequently on these boards, there is no such thing as a "must see". One person's must see is another's ho hum. What are the "my choices" you mention?
Apr 26th, 2010, 09:16 AM
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Personally, I would spend a night at the El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, NM. I just did it a week ago. It is a historic old hotel built in the 30's for the movie personnel who were filming westerns in the area. The rooms aren't large nor was our bathroom but it is something to experience. And it was clean. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. A fun stop and reservations aren't necessary. Have fun! CJ
Apr 26th, 2010, 10:27 AM
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I was a little hard on Winslow AZ. I was there over 10 years ago and since then, according to their web site, they've been sprucing up their old downtown with the creation of a Standin On The Corner Park, and maybe a few other things.
Apr 26th, 2010, 10:31 AM
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Aug 6th, 2014, 10:14 AM
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Update info on Rte. 66. Today's Wall St. Journal (8/6/2014) has an article on Memories of the Mother Road. Seems there is an exhibit at Autry Nat'l Center of the American West in LA's Griffith Pk. It's historic fame is related to Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath and Woody Gutherie's Tom Joad ballad and that Bobby Troup '46 hit Get Your Kicks on Route 66. There are paintings of Dust Bowl era by Thomas Hart Benton and others and a '38 photo of a refugee family on 66 in Oklahoma.
Probably won't see this exhibit living out in Boston. Over the years living in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, etc. I know we found only small traces of Rte. 66, mostly out west, as we have traveled. Actually not much road left since it was long ago replaced by I-44. You can find bits and pieces here: http://www.historic66.com. I do remember however learning to drive in the '40s on what was then a 3 lane 66 north of Springfield IL.
Article mentions a nostalgia for the Rte. 66 days recalling the motor courts, cafes, quirky museums, Pontiacs and Studebakers, one pump gas stations along the route. Anyone else read Kerouac's On the Road?
Probably won't see this exhibit living out in Boston. Over the years living in Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma, etc. I know we found only small traces of Rte. 66, mostly out west, as we have traveled. Actually not much road left since it was long ago replaced by I-44. You can find bits and pieces here: http://www.historic66.com. I do remember however learning to drive in the '40s on what was then a 3 lane 66 north of Springfield IL.
Article mentions a nostalgia for the Rte. 66 days recalling the motor courts, cafes, quirky museums, Pontiacs and Studebakers, one pump gas stations along the route. Anyone else read Kerouac's On the Road?
