Route 66: A History
The Rise of Tourism
Of course [Flagstaff] depended a great deal on the tourist trade,
on this main highway across the country … Old 66.
-Elsie Pyland, Flagstaff resident
In the years of general prosperity that followed World War II, increasing numbers of Americans took to the road during summers and holidays, creating a phenomenon that would significantly impact the economy and cultural landscape of Route 66 — the family vacation. Route 66 "followed the curves of the landscape and brought motorists in direct contact with unusual roadside businesses, genuine historic structures, and famous natural monuments where they could stop at will" (Dedek 6); the flexibility of the highway appealed to tourists who favored a "custom-fit" family vacation over the strict itinerary of train travel.
Motel sign along 1952 alignment of Route 66, Yucca, AZ. 2007
A slew of popular songs, television shows, and movies featuring Route 66 added to the highway's allure in the post-war years. Songwriter Bobby Troup traveled Route 66 in 1946 with his wife Cynthia; along the way, Troup found inspiration in a song title suggested by Cynthia, and by the time the couple reached California, he had written the first part of "Get Your Kicks on Route 66." Nat King Cole made the song a hit the same year; over the next couple of decades, numerous musicians recorded "Route 66," including Chuck Berry, Perry Como, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, and The Rolling Stones.
Another popular homage to the road, CBS’s hour-long series Route 66, first aired in 1960, directly following the Nixon-Kennedy presidential debate. The show detailed the adventures of two young men, played by George Maharis and Martin Milner, traveling across America in a Corvette convertible. Only a few of the episodes actually took place on Route 66, but the show still managed to convey the symbolic importance of the highway as an “expression of going somewhere” (Krim 142).
In 1969, Peter Fonda ("Captain America") and Dennis Hopper ("Cowboy Billy") followed the road across the Southwest on motorcycles in the film Easy Rider. As in CBS's television series, Route 66 existed in Easy Rider more as a symbol than as a physical locale — although much of the filming took place along the highway, the characters never referred to Route 66 by name or passed U.S. 66 shields. Even without identification, the recognizable landmarks along the highway provided an appropriate backdrop as Fonda and Hopper traveled across the Southwest, experiencing “the real America."
Dust Bowl