Route 66

Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports
1

You missed Albuquerque NM in your list of cities that the old Route 66 passed through. The only place where Rt 66 crosses itself.

For political reasons, the original path of Rt 66 took it to Sante Fe, the South through Albuquerque on what is now 4th street. Later, the highway was rerouted so that it passed through Albuquerque on what is now Central Ave. This kept people from having to drive through the high mountains around Sante Fe. Cars just weren’t what they are today.

Anyway, at the intersection of 4th St. and Central Ave, the two paths of Rt 66 cross. Just a little trivia that only Rt 66 fans would care about.

2

I was in St. Louis, MO a couple of years ago on a work trip and had the luck of a rental car and a few spare days, so I decided to see what I could of the remains of Route 66. I looked up a map to see where I think I drove (it has been a few years!) There is a “carriage road” along I-64 (I think, though it could be I-44) west of St Louis that used to be Route 66. There are still some old fashioned type tourist traps along the route, including a fireworks shop. Meremac Caverns is also nearby, which was a big attraction in its day, and still a very interesting place to see.

3

Route 66 had several alignments through St. Louis (it crossed the Mississippi River on no less than FIVE different bridges during its existance!). West of St. Louis, it originally took Manchester Road (currently Missouri Highway 100) to Gray’s Summit where it joins the later alignment of Watson Road (now Missouri Highway 366 and Interstate 44).

4

Actually, no I did not. The song did.

That list is from the song “Route 66” by Bobby Troup. I know the road passed through Albuquerque.

Minor nitpick.

Oh yes, and welcome to the boards! It’s customary in this forum to include a link to the column in question. Here’s the link to the Route 66 column.

No biggie. Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for the additional trivia point! I did not know that!

Rico

5

I work along Route 66 (Huntington) in the ‘Inland Empire’ and often drive on it to get home (avoid the overcrowded 210.)

Glendora recently officially renamed a stretch of road ‘Route 66’ and it can, in fact, be seen on Google Maps:

The street signs are changed and everything, though there are no ‘highway marker’ type signs that I’ve noticed.
-mattyj2001

6

Great report, Rico.

One thing I noticed was the eaglerider.com link doesn’t work. I think the “…” in the middle replaced some of the URL.

7

I took my wife & kids on a Route 66 vacation in 1999. We drove the entire length of it. As Pjdevitt said, there still are some old fashioned type tourist traps along the route. But nothing like I’ve seen in books & on television. Pity. Americana is dying a sad death.

8

Beautiful summary of Route 66, Rico <sniff>. I grew up within spitting distance of the Mother Road. If I have any nit to pick, it’s that it does go through LA, even if it ends in Santa Monica.

BTW, if you ever motor east of Foothill Boulevard, the stretch of 66 between Victorville and Barstow is quite interesting.

9

I was just in Albuquerque last week. They have a little monument there at that corner, with mileage to Chicago and Los Angeles on it. The city is trying to preserve some of the vintage diners, motels, etc. along the Central Avenue route.

10

Great SR, RICO!
as i told you elsewhwere, my new home is 933 ft from Route 66 as it passes thru NW OKC on towards Bethany. Street signs mark it as part of the Historic Route 66, and quite a few businesses cash in on that old magic. (NW 39th Expressway is the current name of the stretch of road, btw) NE of town are some other state sign markers and a few other businesses and historic sites, including the Old Round Barn.

Keep up the good work!

Don’t I owe you something for the fantasy league championship? I guess I’ll e-mail you about that.

11

Hand-picked Route 66 links can be viewed at Road Trip Attractions

12

Thank you, everyone! It was fun researching and writing that report.

NCB, isn’t that Kathy you owe the football prize to? I’ll tell her you remembered.

And as for the Eaglerider link, try this:

Sorry for the unfortunate truncation of that link.

13

Depends on the version. Probably about half of the versions I’ve heard include the Albuquerque verse. There are of course hundreds if not thousands of recordings of some version of the tune.

14

The new Pixar movie Cars is a buddy/road movie along Route 66.

15

When I get rich, I want to ride a Harley all the way from Chicago to LA on the old Route 66. Who’s coming with me?

16

You got a sidecar?

17

Yes, my imaginary Harley has a huge sidecar, the size of a bus, with a drinks cabinet, TV, jaccuzzi and babes too.

18

Unfortunately, a lot of the old neon-lit motels have become cockroach infested ratholes with drug and prostitution issues. I think three were taken over by the city and torn down last year.

19

Yeah. One evening I strolled along Nob Hill, and some of the motels were just wallpapered with “No loitering; No visitors in rooms” signs. A few of them still looked quite sharp though - they must have got some money for exterior work at least.

20

Traveling west, from about Carlisle Blvd, you pass through Nob Hill, the university area, and then downtown. This is all the cool part of town. East of Carlisle and west of downtown it starts getting iffy.

Point of interest: I was downtown one night with my girlfriend and a friend of hers. They were window shopping. We walked past the Goodwill store on Central and (5th?). It’s all old storefronts here. Brick facade two stories high, all the buildings up against each other. There’s a crack between two buildings here. We happened to be there right at dusk. Hundreds and hundreds of bats started pouring out of this crack between the buildings. It was way cool. People drove by and thought I was on acid. Just standing there looking up into the sky with an amazed look on my face.