Bipartisan Bills Could Give New Kicks To Route 66

Bipartisan bills could give new kicks to Route 66
Lawmakers are seeking to preserve and promote the ‘Mother Road’ that runs through the Inland area

Source: The Press Enterprise, Steve Scauzillo
Photo: Wikipedia

The route has been dubbed the “Main Street of America.”
Cultivated by a car culture synonymous with western wanderlust. Immortalized by a 1940s rhythm and blues hit as a place where you can “get your kicks.”
Now, Route 66, the road from Chicago to Los Angeles built in 1926 before the advance of the interstate highway, may become the first road to be established by Congress as a National Historic Trail.

Under two bipartisan bills recently introduced by Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-El Monte, and two Illinois Republicans, Reps. Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood, the status of the Mother Road, as coined by John Steinbeck, would be permanently etched in the history books and would receive a steady funding stream for preservation, rehabilitation and promotion.

A second bill would begin planning the 100-year anniversary of the route that runs through the Inland area in 2026 by establishing a 19-member commission to coordinate activities, celebrations and ceremonies.

“Think of it as a national park but in a linear community,” said Scott Piotrowski, secretary of the California Historic Route 66 Association.

He also described a series of events, signage and celebrations that could happen with the new designation and funding for the 2,278-mile road passing through eight states.

In San Bernardino County, Route 66 runs from Needles to Barstow, then to Victorville and through the Cajon Pass, before entering into San Bernardino, along Cajon Boulevard and Mt. Vernon Avenue. At Foothill Boulevard (Fifth Street), Route 66 turned and continued west.

Piotrowski, who lives in Glendale, is also executive director of Highway Journeys and a board member of the Route 66 Road Ahead Initiative.

Though extremely knowledgeable about the entire Route 66, Piotrowski sees the two bills as a way to re-direct focus on the route’s forgotten California segments.

“In Southern California, we are losing out on tourism dollars on Route 66. The vast majority pretty much ignores the road from San Bernardino to Santa Monica,” he said.
The recognition would be a boon for San Bernardino, known for being name-checked in the iconic “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66” song and the Route 66-themed car show that’s brought hundreds of thousands of tourists over the years, said Judi Penman, president and CEO of the San Bernardino Area Chamber of Commerce.

The fabled road passed by such landmarks as Mitla Cafe and the Wigwam Motel, both in San Bernardino, and Bono’s Restaurant in Fontana, a landmark delicatessen and restaurant since 1936, before heading further west.
On Foothill Boulevard in Rancho Cucamonga – some of the oldest sections of Route 66 – two restaurants honor the road’s legacy: Magic Lamp Inn and the Sycamore Inn, the latter existing when Route 66 was a dirt road.

Claudia Heller, a Duarte historian and co-author with her husband, Alan, of “Life on Route 66: Personal Accounts Along the Mother Road to California,” sadly remembers all those original restaurants in her city that have disappeared. Even the Duarte Route 66 Parade, which ran from 1995 to 2015, did not take place last year.
“I’ve been pushing for restaurants to put up Route 66 signs,” she said, but many don’t understand the historical significance.

In the Inland stretch, one of the more famous landmarks is the Wigwam Motel, which straddles the city line between Rialto and San Bernardino and has cone-shaped rooms that resemble teepees. It was built in 1949.

Other famous Route 66 motels and down-home eateries are found in New Mexico, Texas and Arizona, according to the website Route 66 News.

Piotrowski believes the two bills can generate commerce and more tourism geared toward the “idiosyncratic nature of the highway” even in Southern California, where big-box stores and banal fast-food chains are wiping out kitsch and originality.

“The bills may help people find the road in Los Angeles, where mom-and-pops don’t even know their business is on the road. It would give them a better opportunity to tap into that market, create more economic impact and more dollars spent in the L.A. region,” Piotrowski said.

Ironically, a road that brought soldiers to the West Coast and back during World War II and jobs to unemployed workers during the Great Depression is more often explored by foreign tourists than Americans, he said.

“International travelers come to spend a night in a hotel that gives them a unique experience,” Piotrowski said. “They want to eat food from a restaurant cooked by a person who lives around the corner.”

Even if the two bills can’t restore Route 66’s charm, the series of byroads that connect through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois are worth preserving as a reminder of America’s growth, and in Southern California as homage to a car culture that defined freedom, Piotrowski said.

“As we look to the future of driverless vehicles, the experience on the road will change. But to be able to have that nostalgic experience that so many people are trying to find — that is something worth saving,” Piotrowski said.

Staff Writer Ryan Hagen contributed to this report.

Photo Caption: Built in 1926 and runs from Chicago to Los Angeles.

http://www.pe.com/articles/route-825647-road-piotrowski.html?utm