Why Route 66 became America’s most famous road
Vložit
- čas přidán 15. 08. 2019
- Route 66 is iconic. Why?
Help us make more ambitious videos by joining the Vox Video Lab. It brings you closer to our work and gets you exclusive perks, like livestream Q&As with all the Vox creators, a badge that levels up over time, and video extras bringing you closer to our work! Learn more at bit.ly/video-lab
Route 66 has gained a reputation as the United States of America’s most famous road. How did that happen, and why does it still matter?
In this episode of Vox Almanac, Vox’s Phil Edwards explores the history of the road and the textures of its present, from the road itself to the roadside attractions along the way, to the people who enjoy its diversions and those who help maintain them. It reveals a road that’s changed a lot over the decades but remains vital in unexpected ways.
When Cyrus Avery helped found Route 66 in the 1920s, he strived to create a road that would connect the Midwest to the West, and he resorted to promotional tricks and wheeling and dealing to get it done. The road quickly became a key route for migrants escaping the dust bowl and depression, forming its early reputation as “the Mother Road.”
That’s because it’s a road that’s more than a strip of concrete (or gravel, or dirt). It’s a historical document of everyone who’s traveled on it - as the many contributions from Vox’s CZcams subscribers show, that keeps it going even as the interstates run alongside it.
The number of Route 66 resources out there is huge, but we found these particularly helpful.
Check out Ron's site!
www.route66news.com/
The Curt Teich Archives
www.newberry.org/curt-teich-p...
You won't find essays here, but you will find a treasure trove of postcards that we used in this piece, including tons of Route 66 arcana.
Route 66: The Highway and Its People
www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...
I got to speak with Quinta Scott about her gorgeous photographs of Route 66, as well as the interviews she recorded with coauthor Susan Kelly. This book is a pleasure to look at and is packed full of information and interviews that you just can’t get any more.
The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership
route66roadahead.com/
If you’re curious about Route 66 preservation and revitalization, this group is one of the strongest interstate partnerships searching for new ways to promote and improve the road.
Our video about the Green Book, a critical resource for black Americans wanting to travel across the country on Route 66 and beyond in the mid-1900s. • The real story of the ...
Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO
Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out www.vox.com.
Watch our full video catalog: goo.gl/IZONyE
Follow Vox on Facebook: goo.gl/U2g06o
Or Twitter: goo.gl/XFrZ5H
Don't forget the impact made by Cars movie on reviving route 66
Been to Holbrook twice now. I saw the Wigwam motel there and heard how it became the inspiration for the Car's road cone motel.
Cars 2
That movie is the only reason I know about the road
Even after watching Cars for the first time (when it launched), I had no idea it was a real road. It was a few years after that that I found out that it was.
@@heyitsmezzie841 That Rascal Flatts song is a cover of a Tom Cochrane song from the early 1990s.
Now don’t forget the most important town on Route 66...
Radiator springs
Kachow my man
Lightning McQueen in radiator springs 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
that’s literally the only reason anyone in europe knows route 66
Lightning McQueen my man
People born in the twentieth century: the reasons in this video
2000s kids: *_KACHOW_*
For me is ghost stories & horror movies!
Truth
I am both 20th century and 2000s kid
💀💀💀
Supernatural for me
In my opinion, route 66 reminds people of the spontaneity and freedom of the american road trip. The fact that you can tour this massive country literally any time you want to, meet people along the way, and make memories of your travels is something wonderful. And from what I see, everyone seems to love this kind of experience.
This reminds me so much of the first Cars movie tbh
Shubham Garg the little town in cars is supposed to be off their worlds version of Route 66
I wish I was born all the way back then like I feel like life was so chill in the 70s I’m only 16 I wanna drive there tbh it seems just like a view worth wild
I think that town in Cars is based on Oatman, Arizona or towns like it that got bypassed.
I think a lot of us late millenials/zoomers (Gen Z) do when we hear "Route 66".
Re-discover a new "old America", off the beaten path...
That could be a good slogan to bring life back to so many places, with a lot of history, that have a lot to offer, but have been affected by the "tariff war crisis" on america's farmlands...
JUST AN IDEA
Lightning McQueen makes it famous.
Kachow
Kachiga
I am speed
I was typing that but i didnt know how to word it
Made*
french guy: there was dessert as far as the eye can see
me: yum, where?
Man I loooove puns!!
@@bandav_lohengrin watch nigahiga he has puns
Badum tiss
I was actually texting and listening to this at the same time and when he said that i was like what !? Where! Haha
To me as a younger generation who thinks about Route 66, this quote first came to my mind.
"It's not the destination, It's the journey.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Im disappointed that you guys did not play "life is a highway" in this video.
You guys have no respect for the origin of the OG song.
If Nat King Cole isn't singing it than it isn't doing the road justice
Copyright
Copyright
@@anonymousandy5574 ya sure.
I think it would have been an enormous disappointment if they had played that song.
*urge to watch CARS intensifies*
Kachow!
Ok Thomas
T Pain no.
Heehee why
Route
Sixty
Six
so true I know this cause of Lightning Mcqueen
11:28 “i backpacked for 10 months throughout southeast asia...”
shows a pic of the kinkaku-ji temple in *japan*
Okay...
Right!!!? I was so confused lol
I'm glad it wasn't just me haha
lol, Vox must think people wouldn’t know what southeast looks looks like
Perhaps, his maps is not updated yet
Well Japan is in Asia....
Y'all ever feel nostalgia for somewhere/somewhen you never were?
That warning at 1:00 is basically
TL/DR, hey tourist, wild donkeys kick.
Just don't stand behind them and touch them :^)
No its ‘wild bad fight bite kick over nosh or when they go Corn hub
I mean it's weird, I'm from Mexico, spent a lot of time on rural areas where donkeys are common as a child and no one ever warned me donkeys kicked. I would constantly walk up to them and get up on them like a horse as a child and no donkey ever tried to kick me.
Maybe just personal experience but that message took me off guard. (sorry for the bad English)
Surprised no mention of the song called Route 66 made popular by Chuck Berry... get your kicks...
The King ❤️
Wasn't the John Mayer cover in Cars?
The stones version is great too
@@dennis_johnson I agree
Nat king cole^
"Get your kicks, on Route 66"
Only a culturally significant road could get a song written about it.
is this the spot near joliet ?
I lived in Phoenix and went to college in Indiana and essentially drove Route 66 in order to get to and from school each year, though we took I40 and I35 for the most part, but there was always something magical about it. Brings back fond memories.
Brings back memories 😊😊👍👍👍👍😊😊😊😊👍👍😊😊😊
We went down Route 66 for our honeymoon. As Swedes, it was a great opportunity to indulge some love of Americana and we had an amazing time.
y'all come back now ya hear. seriously the deep south is the best place to visit in the US.
ricky coker .......if you are white.
@@paintballfloridaman1997 maby
If you ever come back to the US, come visit Washington State in the Pacific Northwest. Its beautiful over here
@@blackparadoxx9656 I'm African American and I've never really had racial issues here, so idk what you're talking about. There's racism everywhere in the world, not just the US.
This video left me with a feeling that I can't fully explain, but I want to keep it
Bernadette Mullins :)
@@cylaisawesome or freedom
@@bernadettemullins7668 road 66 is a meme.
Anemoia.
@@defdac
Thanks
The song "Route 66" was a hit record in 1946. So... it was pretty famous before the Pixar movie "Cars", which came out 60 years later.
This piece turned out great... beautifully shot and very informative. Thanks for including the Safari, and for doing the story in the first place! To the credit of a lot of dedicated enthusiasts, Route 66 is alive and well, so come out and explore the Mother Road!
When I think of Route 66, I think of 2 things:
The first cars movie and LIFE IS A HIGHWAY, I WANNA RIDE IT ALL NIGHT LONG.
If your goin' my way (I wanna ride it all night long) yea, yea, yea... Yeah!!!🎵🎤🎸 I love this song! ❤️
A song written by a Canadian about a trip to West Africa lol
I wanna ride it all night long. 😉
SAAAAME
Cars!!!!
Young people today would know Route 66 from the Cars movie.
Older Americans would know it possibly because they travelled parts of it during their childhood.
International visitors know it because it's now an icon.
I am an Australian who has traveled Route 66, we first traveled part of it btwn LA and Vegas on a holiday to the USA. We then thought this stuff is pretty cool, one day we might come back and do the whole road from Chicago to LA
We done that for the first time a few years back and have since spent some more time doing smaller more concentrated trips with the focus on smaller areas... doing it more completely rather then just driving thru and snapping a few pics. The beauty of Route 66 is there is always something new to discover - just when u think u have seen it all u find something else u didnt know was there and its right in front of you... a renovated motel or cafe something that wasn't there last time.
I don't even think Americans realised the value of Route 66 until about 30 years ago. When all the small towns once they were bypassed started becoming ghost towns, that's when they realised how valuable the road was to those small towns.
When they started putting back the signs and re-establishing the businesses that had died off, that's when it took on a life of its own, and that's when it became an icon.
I know it because of the song "Route 66"
Southern Californians just driving parts of it like it’s just another road. I grew up in San Bernardino County.
Interesting...Interstate 95 from Maine to Florida did the same to Hwy 301. But many of the towns have never recovered from being bypassed. Still it's fun to travel area stuck in time. Thanks for the comment Davina.
It makes think of an old Chevy Corvette.
@Shannon Jowey Really? How old are you? Like 17?
I WILL drive this entire road one day, something strong is pulling me to it. I can’t describe it but the nostalgia hits hard, I need to experience this in person. I need to do this.
Isn’t it impossible as a lot of it is unreachable / destroyed
This was really such a wonderful homage to Route 66. I lived right off the old route for years in Albuquerque, and there truly is magic in that road. You can feel the history and love that wound through the country on Route 66, and seeing this video really made me miss those days.
This is a tremendous video; thank you for letting me be a part of it.
Thanks for your input on this video! It was great! From Canyon, Texas, about an 1/8th of a mile for the huge Big Tex by the road!
@@krishook1003 I stopped and saw the big guy while he was being repainted; my photos have him looking like a ghost! I need to come back by now that he's looking better.
Lol why vox not love any of the comments about the movie cars no way they didn’t see them
Within the last two years or so, Tulsa's newest culinary, arts, and cultural districts are really springing up along Route 66. It's fascinating seeing all the new fixtures here
Tulsa really is an underrated city. The amount of history is amazing.
America is the best country to go road tripping. Memories that last forever
As long as you ignore the people. But that’s pretty hard.
@@rogerszmodis
The people are the best part! There are so many weirdos, misfits, crackpots, screwballs and nutcases in this grand nation of ours. I bet they festoon Route 66. ;)
Nostalgia is what drives everything, we like to visit old times, and think about our future and the legacies we leave behind, hence when you meet old school mates you end up talking about what happened in the hallway that one time, because memories and nostalgia are what makes us human
Do one for the E40 road in Europe. That thing goes from France to Kazachstan!
jeez
That sounds really cool
@@xcp4518 they need a cool song about the road first
That sounds amazing
asdsdjf asdjxajiosdqw I am from Kazakhstan , and I promote it too , it's a good idea.
“Yeah I wouldn’t drink the coffee. Always tasted like boiled dirt.”
Its high noon
What do you expect? It was just Ground this morning.
Ent nothing wrong with a little boiled dirt now boy
Jack Moore back in my day you was-a-lucky to get a glug of that boiled dirt
Overwatch reference for the win. 💥🔫🤠
Vox does it again. Giving me answers to questions I didn’t know I had. Brilliant.
I live in Weatherford, Ok, right on Route 66 and never have I been more proud of this spot. Thank you Vox!
Im in Tulsa. I was just out longboarding the other day and the path I was on goes right under the bridge for Route 66 the guy was talking about.
It's because of Lightning Mcqueen
*_KACHOW_*
11:28 Southeast Asia but showing East Asian Japanese Building 👏
Kinkakuji ---I thought so too...
As usual, another american media that shows any stereotypical asian thing
As a Southeast Asian myself we do still have quite a lot of those pagodas, plus the fact that East Asian (especially Chinese) culture has been present here for centuries...
Also the peninsular mainland part of Southeast Asia (including Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand etc.) is also called "Indochina", and being just south of China, they have had quite the influence there (The Vietnamese language even used to be written in Chinese characters). Sure that pagoda may also be taken in Japan but it's not like pagodas don't also exist down south...
Adi Abdillah and outside of America people show stereotypical american things. That’s how it works.
Live in Chicago and there is a Route 66 sign right outside my school in downtown. Pretty cool.
Honestly while watching this, the song “life is a highway” popped in my head
It became very famous, as it became the first fully organized tourism campaign in the US...
The backbone of modern tourism promotion methods.
I hitchiked 66 about 10years ago and it was an amazing experience beautiful places and great people for the most part
@@anonymousandy5574 not all small towns are equally hospitable some places were just not welcoming to travelers or people with native names like myself
@@anonymousandy5574 it wasn't the Indians it was white people who hate Indians mostly in the Oklahoma area
Wondering whether you can cycling safely from Chicago to L.A. through historic Route 66.
OMG! I'm not alone with this idea
Nip that in the bud. You can't go to Chicago safely...
I once got to drive the old 66 back in 2013 because I needed to avoid a scale west of Oklahoma City. I was able to take the entire Route 66 from OKC to Amarillo, passing through two abandoned cities along the way. It was a surreal experience.
•If you ever plan to motor west
Travel my way, take the highway that is best
Get your kicks on Route 66•
well it winds from chicago to LA
I am loving this Almanac series!!! Thanks for working so hard to make it!
I grew up on Route 66. When I was younger, my family and I would go on road trips and just drive it. It was amazing to see all the history and life that blossomed around the stretch of road. It is beautiful.
John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath is so important our 9th grade teacher read it out load. It is was my favorite class
same here...I read all of his novels because of Grapes of Wrath..
This is what I love about Americans: they take care of the history of their little towns which creates a strong bond with the community and future generations.
@@rylencason4420 yep
@@rylencason4420 this is politics. Y'all always wanna blame people. Conservative are smt else tbh
I travelled Route 66 in an RV about 6 years ago. It’s a pretty amazing road trip to take.
You are peak Mercia’
Route 66 is such an interesting piece of Americana. It’s something so large and unifying in even our Polarised times. Though many countries, including mine (England/Britain/UK) have fascinating things/people/history, we do lack what makes Route 66 so special.
there's a pretty commonly cited paper on Route 66 that found nostalgia is actually not a real reason for why people pursue visiting it. at least, not real nostalgia since most people today would not have it. what it found was typically more a yearning for authenticity and also attachment to the communal (both with family but seeing other people out on the road) idea of road trips.
I remember seeing it in a movie. I really wanted to visit the road
Cars?
@@abandoned956 Yup that's how I found it
*its just a road.. but vox make me wanna know more about it*
There was a series called route 66 sftarred martin milner
I am heading out on a road trip from TEXAS TO CALIFORNIA this Friday. Will def. take videos and put it on youtube :)
a long forgotton section of the road lies outside of my town, it sees very little travel due to how roads went around it and still have a few miles of original road left falling apart. Sometimes travelers show up in town looking for how to get to it.
where is radiator springs town?
Not based on a specific town but the cool looking filling station is in Shamrock, tx. I think they took iconic places and put them into radiator springs.
Seligman AZ has lots of influence
@@rylencason4420 its a joke.
Added to my "American bucket list" 😀
Honestly there are better uses of your time if u are time strapped to see in America...
@@akhilp3559 When you go the US from another place in the world you shouldn't strap yourself to a certain time frame.
On top is Area 51 right?
@@henk-3098 yea ideally.... But realistically ppl get 1-2 weeks off
Rea Kariz thats so cool! Where are you from?
I also like how I can get to say, as a non-American, "I walked all the way to the end of route 66" which means that I did walk all the way to the end of the Santa Monica pier which is the end of route 66 and I never specified where I started.
The steak ranch makes me think of a Simpsons episode when homer eats a giant steak
I've had a big poster of route 66 in my room for three or four years. Today, after a long time, I stared at it thinking about it. Just a few seconds later, silence broke sound of notification for this clip...
I don't know...
It's called destiny, dude.
I actually watched this while driving on I-55 in the Chicago suburbs, which actually follows Historic US 66’s alignment
having been to parts of it... this video puts it in a more positive light than maybe it deserves. the steakhouse being moved closed to 40 is pretty much what you can expect out there: the places that are doing well are either already in larger towns where newer highways happen to connect to, or the businesses are not really on 66 anymore. go to actual 66, in places that aren't near the highway or large towns, and it's a handful of tiny towns, in slow decay prolonged by tourist traps.
I was born in Pennsylvania and currently live California. I am nothing without my car and drive the distance from Illinois to California at least 4 times a year. Some of the most amazing and magical nights of my life happened along Route 66. Meeting people I still keep in contact with and meet up when I’m in town. Since then, I always make it point to spend a little longer in Amarillo. While I mainly keep to I-40 to keep a schedule, I am never disappointed when I drive the old route
This video is so wholesome in ways I didn't expect
I grew up in a small, dying town along 66, near Amarillo. Thank you for making this video 🤘
At 11:28, a guy talks of backpacking for ten months through “Southeast Asia and Europe”. To illustrate those two, we’re treated to an image of the coliseum in Rome for “Europe”, and for “Southeast Asia”, a picture of beautiful Kinkaku-ji temple, which is a famous tourist site in Kyoto, Japan. Which is a bit like showing the CN Tower in Toronto to illustrate someone talking about backpacking in Mexico. Haha! Apart from that, great video!
It's an important piece of history. Neon signs, diners, drive-ins, motels, roadside attractions, the many streetcars and interurbans that followed it, etc
Don’t care if I’m first, why is VOX posting at 5am 😭
It's 3pm where I live.
8pm where i live
It 8:02 where I live at
It’s 10pm where I live
It’s 1pm where I live. (UK)
Can I just say, this might be my favorite video Vox has put out to date. This and maybe the one explaining filthy Frank 😃.
I took a road trip on Route 66 during a thunderstorm with rain and lightening and we played an audio cassette of ghost stories I had in my cassette collection. I can see the image in my head , like it was yesterday . Fond memory.
the music for this doc was legandary. thanks for the great watch guys!
The shot at 13:59 is absolutely stunning omg my Lord.
I love the nostalgia of Route 66!
One of the best videos of the last months; it was emotional, historical and fun. Lots of. It makes me more interested about 66. Congrats for the channel and to you all!
Very cool video. I'm a DJ playing music for a birthday party that will celebrate the 66th birthday of three friends of mine, so I decided to download a few Route 66 songs (9 on top of the 6 I already had), and read up on the Route, which the friends are highlighting with decorations. This video helped me understand a tiny bit of the significance of the Route--there was a great quote from a lady who said Route 66 is not just a road going from one place to another (paraphrasing), but a road that runs through peoples' lives, peoples' histories. This video also makes that significant point. Thanks for your work in putting together a historical perspective of America's most famous road.
These videos are so well done, thank you for these amazing experiences!
Phil, Thank you so much for letting us be apart of this video/series! On this series you have been a bit of a time traveling Kerouac. I have enjoyed it very much for sure!
the cinematography in this was beautiful
Much of the road & charm still there . A blast from the past. Keeps the drive interesting.
I live in chicago and in the suburban area theres always signs about route 66 and i always wondered what it was and this video answered my question
Beautiful editing and filming in this video!
thank you for the mood peolple at Vox, this video was so beautiful.... the mood was there and you're making knowledge and wisdom so fun !
thanks again
I am on this exact road trip right now with my dog, as I type this. I'm stopped in a small motel outside Alberquerce for the night and I am stunned that this popped into my recommended videos. People have been asking me why I chose to do this solo road trip down Route 66. I haven't had much of an answer for them besides, "It seemed like an adventure." In 17 minutes you were able to put into words what has been in my head since the beginning. Thanks for creating such thoughtful and intriguing content! From now on when people ask me why, I am going to respond becasue.
Nice video, it's unique because all the other route 66 vids I see are just random videogames.
Another classic Vox! Please, make more videos like this one.
Thank you for the video! We just spent a few days touring Rte 66 primarily in Arizona and Oklahoma. I think we could easily spend 3 months and it wouldn’t be enough to explore from beginning to end. Other than the route itself the beautiful people we met are amazing, full of stories, history and a sense of pride. We can’t wait to spend more time on the “Mother Road”!
I grew up in Berwyn Illinois, just down the street from route 66. There’s a small Route 66 museum I would visit with my dad and siblings almost every summer, on Ogden Ave.
One of the most beautiful videos I’ve ever seen
I watched the whole video, but all I could think of was....
KA-CHOW!!!!🚗
I an speed
It's amazing how journey's help people discover and learn a lot about the world and about themselves. I'm glad Vox covered this story, route 66 is on my bucket list.
As someone who has lived like than 500FT from the mother road in a small town just located west of OKC, ive never really thought about the sentimental value the road has to The world. My town even has a little roadside attraction, two flour mills one on each side with a large glowing sign reading "Yukons Best Flour" and it litterally is a state landmark. Ive been as far west on 66 as new Mexico visting The Cadillac Ranch, Big Texan Steak House. And as Far east as Uranus to visit the fudge packing plant. There are so many more hidden jems that I havent been to, when I get done with my contract and head home I'll probably drive the Mother Road.
it's even mentioned in john steinbeck's "grapes of wrath" when the protagonist's family's moving to california
edit: you mentioned it lol
Good to see us youngsters still love picking up a book and opening it: a literal dream in your hand
I live along route 66 in flagstaff Az!
As a foreigner, I might able to explains the reptuation behind it (even though I never visited US before). It kind of represent the culture of America itself. The past culture and the beauty of the country that you don't really see much these days. Some people might feel like travelling back in time to simpler times (i guess)
But again, I don't know America too much so take my words as a pinch of salt
Those b-roll photos looked amazing, 100% put that car with a pink sunset as a wallpaper
I only know it from cars
Not much mention of Springfield MO and we still have a Rt 66 festival. So if you have a follow up include Springfield MO
Nice! I never been on Route 66 yet, but I'll keep that festival in mind when I do.
Gotta stop at Grizzly Tools & Bass Pro...! 👍😎 Maybe Steak & Shake too...? 🤔
@8:12 My hometown and my old boss! What memories!
Fantastic!!! Became a Route 66 lover in 2020! Was my first time, was Magic!
I found about route 66 because of Cars.
What I see: the beauty of Route 66
What 2000s kids see: KACHOW!
I was raised on Rt. 66 between Joplin and Galena, KS, What a growing experience!!! BTW in Galena...On State line rd, its the truck that was used in the "Cars" or trucks movie/cartoon...I MISS HOME!
As mentioned in another comment there was a hit song, "Get Your Kicks on Route 66." This was a hit for Nat King Cole in the late 40s. Nat King Cole later became the first black with a national TV program. The song was also a hit for Chuck Berry, one of the chief founders of Rock and Roll.
In the early sixties, there was a TV program that lasted four seasons called Route 66. Two young men traveled around in Corvette sports car. I do not know if this was mentioned. I believe the theme song from this TV show may have been something of a hit too.
Popular culture played a big roll in making route 66 famous.