Route 66 at 100: Go to the top of the highway in sunny Santa Monica, California

A century after Route 66 formally opened in 1926, the highway’s last stretch by way of Los Angeles County, from Pasadena to Santa Monica’s golden sands, stays splendidly in tact.

Long earlier than John Steinbeck dubbed Route 66 “The Mother Road” in his Nineteen Thirties dustbowl novel The Grapes of Wrath, the Indigenous Tongva and Chumash folks cast commerce routes alongside the paths Route 66 takes by way of California’s Mojave Desert and into the nonetheless genteel city panorama of Pasadena, the place it turns into Colorado Boulevard.

By the late Nineteen Twenties, to accommodate rising visitors, storefronts have been shaved off to widen components of Colorado, and have been then rebuilt in common kinds of the day, together with artwork deco, Spanish Revival, and Beaux-Arts.

Julia Long of Pasadena Walking Tours factors out that in 1930 another route over the Colorado Street Bridge augmented the unique route south on Fair Oaks Avenue and onto Los Angeles’ first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. This took Route 66 previous the historic El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park and on to downtown’s Theater District, ending at Broadway and Seventh Avenue. 

“It had many different route changes through Pasadena alone,” says Long. “That’s why it’s impossible to say definitively where 66 ran.” 

Winding westward

The greatest change got here in 1936, with a 13-mile route extension going west from downtown LA to Santa Monica, winding into Hollywood by way of Sunset Boulevard after which onto Santa Monica Boulevard. The route strikes previous the peaceable lawns of Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the ultimate resting place for legends like Rudolph Valentino, who died in the summertime of 1926, and later, Judy Garland. 

West Hollywood was integrated as a metropolis only one yr earlier than Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985. Previously, the unincorporated expanse had a lawless fame. The famend Formosa Café noticed stars like Lana Turner, James Dean, and Humphrey Bogart. Frank Sinatra parked out again, as his bungalow on the studio was instantly throughout Formosa, as soon as the legendary United Artists Studios and now The Lot at Formosa.

Deeper into WeHo, Route 66 winds by way of the Rainbow District, a pro-LGBTQ+ stretch the place bars and eating places morph from neighborhood hangouts to outré golf equipment. The rustic, Western-themed Troubadour is situated at Doheny, simply earlier than the highway enters Beverly Hills. The Troubadour is a legendary dwell music venue that opened in 1957 and noticed Elton John play his first Los Angeles gig. Everyone from Joni Mitchell to Guns N’ Roses have additionally carried out right here.

After Route 66 passes by way of Beverly Hills—previous the swanky Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills and storied Beverly Hilton, it enters Century City, the place 16 aluminum bas reduction sculptures mounted on lampposts commemorate the eight states Route 66 passes by way of. They’re laborious to identify, however lookup among the many timber for a bust of Lincoln or an armadillo: that’s them.

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The finish of the highway

Technically, Route 66’s terminus is at Santa Monica’s Lincoln and Olympic boulevards. But its religious finish is on the Santa Monica Pier, a few blocks away.

“The highway couldn’t go out onto the pier, but that’s where people went once they got to Lincoln and saw the ocean,” says Dan Rice, proprietor of the 66-to-Cali kiosk and co-founder of the pier’s “End of the Trail” signal, which stand central among the many 1909-opened pier’s seaside distractions. The pier can be house to an vintage carousel, sport arcade, and Pacific Park’s Ferris wheel and rollercoaster. Walk up the previous wooden steps to the statement deck on the finish of the pier for breathtaking coastal views.

“People want to see the magnificence of the Pacific Ocean,” says Rice, a 25-time Route 66 veteran. “There is no better ending for Route 66 than the culture of Los Angeles. It’s the city of dreams.”

Where to eat

The preserved or restored diners alongside Los Angeles’ Route 66 stretch provide veritable edible Americana. In Pasadena, the Fair Oaks Pharmacy dates to 1915 and nonetheless serves sodas and malts. In WeHo, the Formosa pairs Hollywood noir vibes with Chinese-American meals and tiki cocktails.

Barney’s Beanery opened in 1927 at Santa Monica and Holloway and rapidly constructed a fame for stiff drinks and American consolation meals. The relocated Tail O’ the Pup—a large wiener formed hotdog stand—opened close by in 1946 however now stands on Santa Monica the place The Doors created their iconic “LA Woman” album.

Next to the Troubadour, the unmissable Dan Tana’s opened in 1964 and nonetheless serves Italian American consolation meals in a blushing purple inside with gingham tablecloths, and waiters in tuxedos and bowties.

In Santa Monica, proper on the official Route 66 terminus, Mel’s Drive-In, a California diner chain relationship to the Forties, occupies a superb space-age constructing relationship to the late Fifties. 

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Where to remain

Even earlier than Route 66 was born, Pasadena and Santa Monica’s grand Gilded Age lodges had massive stakes in Los Angeles’ early tourism. The former Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, now the Langham Huntington, Pasadena, dates to 1914 and shows its historical past and well-known friends within the basic marbled foyer’s photo-filled gallery. The 23-acre resort’s terraced Japanese backyard and lanai pool, adjoining to its elegant restaurant, are straddled by the vintage coated Picture Bridge.

Shaded by a powerful big fig tree relationship to the late nineteenth century, Santa Monica’s Fairmont Miramar takes the spot the place a lodge has existed since 1921. Its open-plan luxe foyer results in richly coloured lounges.

Coincidentally, Fairmont and Langham lodges bookend Route 66, beginning in Chicago and ending in Los Angeles, and plan particular “start and finish” centennial celebrations. Anyone driving the entire route—and even a part of it—shall be in critical want of the Fairmont Miramar or Langham Huntington’s spas to unlock knotted highway muscle tissues. Go deep tissue or soothing Swedish earlier than having fun with Los Angeles’ Route 66 kicks.

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