Santa Monica Pier to be anointed as Route 66 terminus

Although Route 66 -- the Chicago-to-Los Angeles highway that John Steinbeck labeled the "Mother Road" -- never fully extended to the beach in Santa Monica, civic boosters aren't letting that fact spoil a good celebration.

At 9 a.m. Wednesday, when the nation marks the 83rd anniversary of the numbered highway system, locals will designate the Santa Monica Pier as the historic road's official western tip.

To commemorate the event, Santa Monica tourism officials and representatives of Route 66 organizations will unveil a replica of the "End of the Trail" sign, with 66 vintage cars and motorbikes providing the noise.

The highway's original end point in 1926 was at 7th Street and Broadway in downtown Los Angeles, according to Glen Duncan, president of the California Route 66 Preservation Foundation. A decade later, the road was extended to Olympic and Lincoln boulevards in Santa Monica.

But the beach, Duncan said, "was the major tourist attraction" for travelers on what Will Rogers called "America's Main Street." 

Duncan said he supports the notion of the pier as the "spiritual end of Route 66." But calling it the "official terminus," he said, "confuses people about what is historic and what isn't."

-- Martha Groves

Comments

[Jim Conkle]

We agree with Glen that it might be confusing but it already is for most folks. What is happening tomorrow is taking advantage of the fact that the Santa Monica Pier is already the accepted Western location, call it terminus (ending) or embarkation (starting). Come out and join us for the celebration and meet some great 'roadies'

[ken6000]

Highways are dynamic things... they do change and they often have their terminus extended or relocated. To say that Route 66 once ended at 7th & Broadway means that it should still end there is ridiculous. Using that reasoning, one could say that any highway at any one time ended where the construction stopped for a particular segment, or even at the end of a particular workday. I love the idea of "extending" Route 66 to the pier... the beach is absolutely the "real" end of the road!

[L. Fleming]

"Life's a Beach"...As a seasoned traveler, I seek the sun & fun and the unknown that awaits in the culmination of the journey. The enchantment of the Pacific Ocean ushers a fitting homage to Route 66. May the spirit of the Mother Road be cast along the shores of Santa Monica beach in this honorary celebration of her new "trails end".

From shore to shore, "Lest we Forget"...

[Mike]

It might be of interest to note that 3 local people own the largest attraction left on route 66, on what is the longest remaining stretch left between Kingmand AZ and Seligman. The Grand Canyon Caverns and Inn. Close to 800 acres of the old style motel with stores, restarants, horseback riding RV park etc and the Cavern tours via elevator 22 stories below the surface in the largest dry caverns in the United States. Yup three local chaps own the place, a fun stop when someone is driving thru AZ! They are opening the oldest, deepest, darkest largest motel room in the world next year in one of the caverns... very cool, but lonely and quiet.

[Gordon Potik]

The heck with history tourism is the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.