Took 66 from Duarte (Hunington Dr. at the north end of the 605 freeway) to San Bernadino today. We saw a lot more of what cities are doing to draw attention to the Route: in Duarte, as well as a few other cities, 66 road signs are painted onto the asphalt of the road! In many places, we also saw more of the signs for Route 66, both the Historic Route signs and the California signs. Glendora - "pride of the foothills" - has even gone as far as changing Alosta Ave officially back to Route 66. It's clearly in a state of transition there... one place, where we talked to a mechanic, has changed its name from Firestone Tires to Route 66 tires (with a slight increase in business)... just down the road a ways still sits Alosta Auto - right across the intersection from the "formerly Alosta Ave" signs on Route 66. So not everyone has yet taken advantage of the renewed interest in the road, although I'm sure if we return in another year (Assuming that the popularity of 66 continues to increase) some of the names that currently still reference Alosta will have changed.

And the renewed interest clearly hasn't helped everyone. In Rialto, along the road, many of the businesses look as if they've seen much better days. On one stretch, three motels in a row were very run down (though still in operation) - their "lawns overrun with weeds, exterior paint chipping and even some missing windows. As I was taking pictures, a woman who I think lives semi-permanently in one of the motel roomts came out and asked what the hell I was doing - it seems there travelers aren't a normal sight, and an establishment that once probably welcomed tired visitors now houses tenants that would scare many away.

Less than a block from there we found more evidence of this section's continued decay. An Italian diner, proudly boasting the #1 endorsement for lunch from the California Route 66 Association, also displays a "for lease" sign. Apparently, the Association's praise wasn't even enough to keep this place (complete with a "Historic Orange" - an orange-shaped building where I guess juice was once sold - out front) alive... if nobody drives by, you're dead no matter who recommends that people eat at your diner.

It was interesting to see what kind of places display 66 signs. An "Old 66 Barber Shop" had California Route 66 Association member stickers displayed in the front window, but they're closed Sundays so we couldn't talk to anyone. The 66 Tires place I mention had large signs atop the building; the mechanic was very friendly and willing to talk about Route 66. Of course, the next place we stopped that had Route 66 signs - the "66 Quick Stop Liquor" - had a worker with nothing to say about Route 66 (and who was very rude about telling us he didn't want to talk to us). So not everyone is "into the spirit". Other random things displaying 66 signs: an "adult" video and book store, a restaurant open since 1948, and the California version of the Wigwam Motel (also in a very bad state of disrepair... another example of a part of 66, at the outskirts of San Bernadino, that isn't doing too well).

One of the cars that we saw at a show along Route 66 in Southern California.

As we were driving along the road, we saw a bunch of classic cars parked on the side of the road, so we stopped to see what was happening. While there, we found - in addition to a bunch of great cars - a couple of people wearing Route 66 T-shirts, so we talked to them. One guy had the typical story - came out to CA on 66 with his parents, and later took his kids back along the road (somewhat recently). Like the other interviews we've done, this one went really well - I think the people may end up being the most interesting thing we find on 66. We've been told that in some of the phone interviews... but you don't realize how interesting the people really are until you start talking to them. At the very end of today, we saw the first really desolate stretch of 66 - desert outside of San Bernadino, with very few structures (all of those that do exist seeminly abandoned). The road follows some train tracks there - even those seem abandoned, with empty boxcars sitting on half of the tracks. Overhead, the sky was dark and overcast, and the whole atmosphere - landscape and sky - seemed grim, almost post-apocolyptic. It will be interesting to see how much of the road is like this... and how it affects Shekar. That section, as well as the really run-down sections we saw today, seemed to put a real damper on her spirits - I didn't feel any effect, so maybe that's just another difference between a Los Angelino and someone from the suburbs; then again, maybe her eye caught things that were disturbing that I missed, concentrating on the road.

So that takes care of about half of California 66 for us - and if I had to pick any one thing that is typical of its establishments, I'd say it's the drive-thru. So I need to make sure I get a couple more pictures of that - as Prof. Leslie suggested, I don't want to ignore the "normal" things and just document the out-of-the-ordinary... so different kinds of drive-thrus will be my focus on the ordinary for here I think.

Another thing we saw the first instance of today - a historic building's shell being used to house normal businesses - a coffee shop and a barbeque, in this case, at the site of an old winery. There was supposed to be a Route 66 Museum there as well, but it doesn't seem to exist any more - we couldn't find it, and the number we had was disconnected. Again, not everything's doing well.