Route 66 in the News
Route 66 More Than a Road
2006-06-03 10:10:55
You won't really find it on a map.
Route 66 is more than a particular strip of federal highway that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. It's shorthand for the great theme of American life -- mobility -- and its manifestations in mid-20th century art, literature, movies and music.
Although the meandering highway eventually was superseded by straight-line interstates, the continuing fascination is not merely a nostalgia trip.
"There's much more to Route 66 than poodle skirts, cheeseburgers, James Dean and '57 Chevys," said Michael Wallis. "It's a road of today."
Wallis is a native of St. Louis, whose 1990 best-seller, Route 66: The Mother Road, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. He also was a technical adviser for the production of Cars, a Pixar-animated ode to the roadside that opens Friday nationwide.
The idea for the movie originated with John Lasseter, chief animator for Pixar. His father was an auto-parts distributor in Southern California who often took the family on Route 66 vacations. After directing Toy Story, the animator and his own family revisited the old highway, which is still largely accessible as a frontage road or business loop adjacent to Interstates 44, 55 and 40. [Robert] Waldmire, [a Route 66 activist,] declined to let his name be used in the movie, Wallis said, because he's a strict vegetarian and didn't want to be associated with the Cars merchandise that McDonald's will distribute.
"Standing up for your principles is part of what Route 66 is about," Wallis said.
Another beloved figure the movie salutes is Angel Delgadillo, a soft-spoken barber in Seligman, Ariz. One of his memories is the inspiration for the movie's most poignant scene. When Interstate 40 was completed in northern Arizona in the early 1980s, the people of Seligman thought it would be an even bigger boon for the town than Route 66, which had functioned as their Main Street since the 1920s.
But the day the interstate opened, as the shopkeepers waited behind their decorated storefronts, it was like a curtain dropped. Businesses quickly closed, and the population dwindled.
Delgadillo then dedicated his life to reviving interest in Route 66, the road that had channeled the American dream westward for more than 50 years. Largely because of his efforts, Arizona became the first state to sponsor a Route 66 association and to post historic markers along the old roadway.
Take the off-ramp
The synthesis of geography and history makes Route 66 an enduring and globally recognized symbol of the American dream. The highway was inaugurated in 1926 and patched together from the best available paved roads.
In 1939, John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath immortalized Route 66 as the pathway to a presumably better life in California for victims of the Great Depression. The mid-20th century heyday of the road coincided with the rise of middle-class tourism -- and the Nat "King" Cole recording of the Bobby Troup tune "Route 66."
The billboards, neon signs and fanciful architecture that vied for the attention of drivers (and their kids) were mirrored in mainstream advertising and industrial design. Jack Kerouac's novel On The Road equated driving cross-country to a spiritual quest. It inspired a TV series, Route 66, about two seekers who cruise the highway in a '62 Corvette, and the movie Easy Rider explored the open road for its political implications.
Now, cities along the route hope that Cars delivers a new influx of tourists. But Wallis warns against peddling an image of Route 66 that's overly sentimental.
"A lot of those good old days were not very good, especially if you were black or an American Indian," he said. "Nat 'King' Cole wouldn't have been able to stay at some of the hotels in those towns that he listed in the song."
And, Wallis said, the message of Route 66 extends far beyond that particular road.
"There are scenic byways all over the country, like the Great River Road in Illinois and the Tamiami Trail in Florida, where you can still find the authentic America," he said. "If we want this culture to survive, we have to seek out the people and places that are preserving it. Life begins at the off ramp."
~Joe Williams, St Louis Post-Dispatch
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