Route 66 in California 10/18/08 (Long Post)

Tee Why

I’m not a historian but I believe Route 66 was the first road that connected all the way west to the West coast, ending by the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica. With the advent of the more modern interstate highway, much of Route 66 seems to have fallen into despair and decay. I guess most Americans have romantic visions of adventures on a road less traveled and the song “Route 66” in their mind when they think of this route as I do. I always wanted to have a nice drive down Route 66 but never seemed to get around to it.

Well, the discussion in the “Location” section here at DGrin stirred up my interest to see more of Route 66 again and since I actually live in Pasadena (which is about four blocks south of Colorado Blvd, which is a part of Route 66, I thought I’d start off from home and drive east down Route 66 to Roy’s Café in Amboy, CA which is in the middle of the Mojave desert and about 2/3 across California on the way to Arizona. Louise a fellow LAShooter , Moonie my traveling gnome, and I finally took off for to hit the road and get our kicks on Route 66.

Los Angeles Metropolitan area is a dense collection of cities that are next to each with no open land for about 100 miles or more and for the most part Route 66 is just another road that runs through a city with not much more than a “Route 66” placard or a sign. So from we took the highway to bypass Pasadena and Arcadia since I’ve driven down Route 66 there. We got off the highway at Azuza and started the drive down Route 66. Route 66 here for the most part looks just like another street with nothing special except an occasional store with Route 66 signs or logos. Most actually have another name for the route like Foothill.

Anyway, here is an old Drive in at Rialto as we head east to the edge of Metro LA.


Sorry, I took a lot of shots as I was driving as I felt some places weren't worth stopping for due to time constraints.

As we continue to drive east, you finally start to see abandoned buildings and empty plots (which I don’t recall seeing closer to LA for about 20 years or so).



I think this was in Fontana just east or Rancho Cucamonga before heading up north through the Cajon pass on the way Victorville and then Barstow. We stopped at this restaurant called “Las Playas” to grab a bite for lunch.


It looks like a regular diner but inside it’s a Mexican Seafood restaurant with neat décor with seats decorated as marine life and the ceilings painted like they sky, kinda like if you are sitting at a beach outside. What’s funny is Fontana is in the middle of a desert. Anyway, they had vinyl blue fabric for the seats that has glitters like the fiberglass on many carnival rides. The tables and the seats all have marine life drawings on them. I think it's killer whale stained glass divider behind Louise. The Salsa and the food were spectacular. Probably the best Salsa I’ve had. That’s saying a lot in Los Angeles areas.

Here's Louise

Tee Why

A little bit more east into Rialto and the first interesting thing for us is the Wigwam Motel, which consists of rooms that are built like Native American Tipi’s. They have some old cars and such in the back but this is a very tiny motel in a middle of a desert town with hard blowing desert wind. So things are becoming more interesting.








Lastly a sign showing me where I am.

Tee Why

Well, we head north up Mount Vernon Blvd and up the Cajon Rd, paralleling Highway 215. We are right next to the trains that head north then east as well. This seems to be the theme, Route 66 paralleling the railroads that connected the east and the west prior.


Mount Vernon turns into South Cajon Road. At the end of South Cajon Road is this bar. Literally and maybe figuratively, the end of the road. A somewhat scary looking biker bar.


We have to hop onto the 215 highway in Devon to get onto the North Cajon Road/Route 66. Here is a view of the 215 Fwy from Route 66 in Devon.

Tee Why

After the Cajon Road, you have to get onto Highway 15 to Victorville. We exit the highway to get back to Route 66 in Victorville, this used to be a small desert town found around 1886, but with the recent real estate bubble, Victorville has grown to a city of over 99,000 residents. It’s here that we see some more quaint roads with interesting shops and finally, the Route 66 museum.

Here is a "Jesus & Friends" 89 cent thrift store. I think it's out of business though. They have the Route 66 sign painted on the roads as well.


Here is the museum


Now inside, they have a map of Route 66. I've also included a cropped part of the CA/AZ portion as well.


Amboy is about midway between Barstow and Needles.




And now, Moonie getting some fresh air in Victorville.


OK, National Trails HWY to Barstow and then Barstow to Amboy coming up soon.

Cuong

Great series.

Cuong

Tee Why

From Victorville, we head north for 40 miles or so onto Route 66/National Trails Highway. We no longer parallel the 15 Fwy and basically are driving through a 2 lane desert Highway toward Barstow with empty fields and occasional houses, stores, and farms. Most stores are deserted and decaying while a few home look brand new. And of course, we parallel the railroad.

One of several boarded up places.


An abandoned??? Trailer in the back of the saloon.


A house by the side of the road.


And yes, more trains.

Tee Why

It’s here that we run into what I think is the most interesting of places on the trip. This is a Desert Bottle Farm in Oro Grande. It is a home chain fenced off but I read the sign and it says come in if you like, just keep the gate closed. So we go in and look around and run into Elmer who lives here and makes the trees. He used to work at the concrete factory nearby but retired about 9 years ago and tends to the farm. He uses cooling tower poles from a power plant and collects various bottles and glass ware, each tree is adorned with an antique. He lives behind in a home by the farm.

I think it would make a great fashion or a commercial location and if you are interested, you can contact him via email at desertbottle@yahoo.com and arrange for a lease for a photo shoot.

Pulling off the road after seeing the farm on the left.


View of the farm


Inside the gate.


Some shots of the "trees" and various antiques at the base of the trees.





And Moonie taking a look for himself.

Tee Why

So we continue on towards Barstow and see more “Route 66” signs painted onto the road and decide to pull over and take a pic.



And of course, more trains.



Well, we finally hit Barstow and really didn't see much to shoot, plus we wanted to get to Roy's Cafe by sunset. So we travel east through the Mojave Desert on Highway 40. Route 66 is just next to the highway but appears unpaved and we see only an occasional off road car or two.

Tee Why

We finally pull off the highway at Ludlow and travel down Route 66 through Bagdad and towards the Roy’s Café in Amboy, CA for about 28 miles.

Old decaying house as we turn back onto Route 66


And on this desolate road without any signs or lights or other cars (almost) what do we see? Yup, more trains. Even had to stop for one.



The rocks there are black and if almost looks like you are driving through a volcanic island or something. Turns out that Amboy crater was a volcano after all.

After close to 7 hours of driving and just missing the sunset, it's 6:10 PM. And finally, Roy’s Café,


Across the Cafe is a post office. It seems to be in the middle of no where as you can’t see a thing to the end of the horizon in all directions except of course the railroad and what is probably the loneliest post station in the country.


Now the sun is pretty much gone and we're at the end of the twilight. So the Roy's sign is completely black. I was hoping that their would be neon light but good thing we brought strobes, so we paint the sign with our strobes.


Well, that’s over 200 miles in about 7 hours.

After having driven Route 66 from LA to Amboy, how do I feel about the trip? Well, I've mixed feelings. Some parts are nice and it would be great to shoot them during the golden hours, but to do that for each point of interest would take a week or so as those points are far between to shoot in one day or so. If you like decay, there are a fair amount of old and abondoned places, but that's not my cup of tea.

Would I recommend it? Probably so. Would I do it again? Not sure.
I've learned by now to not make rash decisions. I'll let the experience soak in and see.

BeachBill

I'm glad you were able to meet Elmer. He is a pretty interesting guy. And it's good to see Roy's has the gas station up and running now. They were in the final stages of getting it set up when I was last there in January 2007. Perhaps I will finally finish processing my images from that trip sometime in the near future.

I know you were in a hurry, but if there is a next time, you need to take your time through Barstow and also skip I-40. It sounds like you completely missed Newberry Springs, home to the Bagdad Cafe and other oddities.

Tee Why

We didn't pull off to go by Newberry Springs. Saw Bagdad Cafe driving by but didn't stop by.

Roy's Cafe and Gas station is open. Not sure about the hotel though.

ethemoon

Louise's pictures from Route 66
Had a wonderful day with Tom on our adventure in his little sports car.. my tripod did not fit! Tom pretty much said it all in his journal of where we were. The only thing he did not mention and he was driving, was on our way back to LA at night, he put the roof down and the sky was so full of stars, that it looked like clusters!. I just looked up... while he looked up once in a while... thank god. Anyways here are my pics.
http://louisemoon.smugmug.com/gallery/6328830_QEtMk//399218584_6gmcp

Tee Why

Hey Louise, that was pretty fast processing.

ethemoon

Tee Why wrote:

Hey Louise, that was pretty fast processing.

I know i surprised you... zoo pictures coming

summerz

What a wonderful journey and great pics.

Cars is one of my fave movies.

They should have included a train.

Tee Why

There is more rumbling on the Locations section of folks going out to Route 66, but haven't seen any more pics posted.

What gives?

grimace

Great series. I really like the B&W shots!!

Bassett1976

Tee Why wrote:

Anyway, here is an old Drive in at Rialto as we head east to the edge of Metro LA.

Great shots! This will be a fun Journey to watch. I think this is an old drive-in in Azusa. You can see the new science building at Azusa Pacific University in the background.

SamirD

Wow, interesting that I ran into this. I just came south to Houston from Oklahoma City after driving from California. I've been on the road since Feb 11th and stopped or detoured a lot on Route 66. I'll have to post some pictures when I get a chance.

eL eSs Vee

Bassett1976 wrote:

Great shots! This will be a fun Journey to watch. I think this is an old drive-in in Azusa. You can see the new science building at Azusa Pacific University in the background.

Right you are. It's a few miles east of where I work (on Route 66) in Azusa. Unfortunately, it ceased being a theater a few years ago. The marquee is now used for APU announcements.

I drove most of this route with a freind a few months back. We went a bit east of Barstow, but not quite all the way to Amboy. Saw the trains (my buddy is a huge rail fan), stopped at the Route 66 Museum and the bottle farm. By the way, how did you and Louise get inside the gates? Oh, and Tom, what you called "Devon" is actually Devore.

Great pictures, Tom and Louise! Looks like you two had a fun and very productive trip. I hope this series you two have started continues: Lots of fun!

Tee Why

Hey Lee,
The gate said come on in, so we did. Met with the guy that lives there and does the artwork with the bottles. Interesting character.

Well, as for me, I'm done with Route 66, but if others want to post their Route 66 shots here, the more the merrier.

JasonL

Very Cool

Tee Why wrote:

Hey Lee,
The gate said come on in, so we did. Met with the guy that lives there and does the artwork with the bottles. Interesting character.

Well, as for me, I'm done with Route 66, but if others want to post their Route 66 shots here, the more the merrier.

I just did a rt 66 tour with Dave Wyman and Ken rockwell, great time. I have a post in there that says Tour starts today. I dont want to Hijack your thread with my pics. But feel free to talke a look. I love your bottle farm pics I did not get to go there.