The Preservation of History: Route 66

The Preservation of History: Route 66 Route 66 1

Amanda Thayer

Global Media Literacy

Professor Deborah James

26, September 2016

Route 66 2

Route 66 3 Two towns that are located about an hour south of Chicago have one thing in common; the historical Route 66 connects them. Wilmington and Braidwood Illinois take their Route 66 pride seriously. Route 66 was a highway that went back and forth from Chicago to Los Angeles. Many travelers took that route for whatever reasons they had whether it was for business or pleasure. Today however, the preservation of this historical route is slowly declining. The new generation class of people, especially in these small, middle-class towns, are making way for more modern buildings and taking down the unique structures that defined the history of Route 66. A good example of this would be the ol’ Polka-Dots drive in located in

Figures 2 and 3: This Marilyn Monroe statue and traffic light looks like they need fixed up.

Route 66 4 Braidwood, Illinois. Over the years, it has slowly started to lose its historical touch.

The statues, the tables, and the outdoor dĂŠcor are fading, paint chipping, and slowly deteriorating. Inside, the place is clean, but it is not in pristine shape like it used to be. The new class of folks in that area, especially young adults that are mostly of middle class in that area, do not realize the old drive-in needs some fixing up. In recent years, the effects of the economy has hit everyone, especially those in the middle and lower class, which is generally what Wilmington, Braidwood, and the smaller towns down south are. People just cannot come up with the money for things like this. In an article by Neal Gabler (2016), he states “71 percent were concerned about having enough money to cover everyday expensesâ€? (par. 7). When there is no public support, these kinds of things take a back seat.

For every history buff out there, Route 66 is probably high up on the list for them to see and experience. The communities old Route 66 runs through have structures, restaurants, and signs that commemorate it. These sightsees and the preservation of the old businesses are kept alive by the community and it is mostly up to the people to keep it running. Small businesses are made up of Route 66 gifts, maps, etc. and there is no doubt one will see a smiling face of an enthusiastic fan working behind the counter and talking to people passing through. Sadly, some of these landmarks are slowly going away. Adults and young adults today have seemed to be forgetting the importance of the history Route 66 made on the country.

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As stated above, Route 66 was a route for people to travel from the Midwest to the West coast. It was built in 1926 and has been an “experience of a lifetime for travelers, adventurers, desperados and dreamers” (Franzten, 1993, par. 1). In that time period, cars were being heavily manufactured, people were trying to escape the so-called Dust Bowl, and popular music artists promoted the route with songs of their own. According to Christina Crapanzano of TIME magazine (2010), “by the mid-1980s, the road was deemed obsolete” (par. 1). Highways were planned and later on built under President Dwight D Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act. “Route 66's last stretch in Arizona was decommissioned when I-40 was completed in 1984” (Crapanzano, 2010, par. 5).

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Figures 5 and 6 represent the items Route 66 was associated with; Vintage Cadillac cars and old tabletop jukeboxes.

When those think of Route 66, they see old Cadillac convertibles, vintage gas stations, table jukeboxes, and pop culture icons like Elvis. There are many people, especially history enthusiasts that collect memorabilia during their travels on the old Route 66 journey. The whole stretch from Chicago to Los Angeles has tons of monuments, like the infamous lined up Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, and many different little museums and welcome centers that are brightly colored. That is really what people today think of Route 66; bright colors, vintage cars, Elvis, and the song

by Bobby Troupe called “Route 66”. Over the years, especially after the Great Depression and the auto industry was booming, “families headed west on Route 66 to the Grand Canyon, Disneyland, and the beaches of Southern California” (U.S. National Park Service par. 6). One can only imagine people back then making the best of their travels and having fun along the way. The National Park Service website also states “the vast migration of destitute people fleeing their former homes actually increased traffic along the highway, providing commercial opportunities to a multitude of low capital, mom-and-pop businesses” (U.S. National Park Service par.

Route 66 7 4). In short, almost every encounter from someone who lived at the time of Route 66 or has traveled on it always has positive things to say about it and one can just picture that vintage vibe.

Figures 7 and 8: Many visitors pass through the Welcome Centers, however, the car on the right is missing an eye.

As generations are changing, they do not really realize Route 66’s important

place in history, and people fail to see the importance of an old gas station, or

Route 66 8 Figures 9 and 10: Wigwam Motel in Holbrook, AZ and Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, NM.

restaurant, and neglect those places. As the result, these pieces of history are falling apart and withering away. Although, movies like Disney-Pixar’s Cars do a great job at bringing this historic route to life and giving kids of all ages a taste of what it was all about. As the years go by, people will still visit and hopefully continue to support the history behind Route 66, but more and more people will, to put it loosely, not really care. Between here in Chicago and California, there are bigger towns that do a fantastic job at keeping things up to par, but other places; they have abandoned the significant areas. Two places to point out that have really kept up maintaining tourist sites for visitors are the Wigwam Hotel in Holbrook, Arizona and the Blue Swallow Hotel in Tucumcari, New Mexico as seen above. Upper-class folks now invest their money in technology and other latest things that some of them look past small historical places like these. Both of these places are excellent to stay in, but people today, instead of these small, fun places of history, prefer to stay at Hiltons or Best Westerns found in bigger cities for better amenities. According to the United States National Park Services, “the ‘World Monuments Fund’ listed Route 66 as on the watch list of 100 most endangered sites” (U.S. National Parks Service par. 12).

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Figure 11.

The above picture (Figure 11) is an old fast food restaurant that is located on

Route 53 in Wilmington, Illinois. It was locally popular, especially because its parking lot houses the infamous Route 66 “Gemini Giant”. The restaurant opened in 1960 under the name “Dairy Delite” and was later renamed the Launching Pad in 1965. “The Gemini Giant landed there in 1965 after John Korelc saw a Muffler Man during a restaurant convention” (Warnick, 2016, par. 6). Over the years, it was a very popular place that sold amazing burgers, chicken tenders, fries, and other fast food items. Tourists also always took pictures with the Gemini Giant. Sadly, in 2010, Warnick explains in his article “Morey Szczecin bought the property in 2007 after longtime owners Jerry and Sharon Gatties retired. But the restaurant

Route 66 10 struggled, closed in 2010 and was put up for sale for $650,000, with no takers�

(Warnick, 2016, par. 7). As of right now, the place is sitting there frozen in time. It is quite eerie to look inside and see the leather on the booths, the brick walls, and the roadmap tables still vibrant in their color. The register, the front counter, and even the menu with the prices on it are all still as they were on the last day it was open.

There are posters, flyers from local sports teams, and Route 66 paraphernalia still hanging up untouched. This place now resembles some of the other ignored places further south, although some of them are worse than this.

Figure 12: Gemini Giant.

Figure 13 on right: The chipping away paint.

Nobody cared to buy this and restore it, and quite frankly, young people will not see the importance of this piece of history. Most people around at that time period are all retired and moved on and have fond memories of it, but seem to have no ambitions to help because they are too busy with whatever life has presented to them currently. Also, like Wilmington and Braidwood, the same towns in the south are more or less in the middle class category. The economy has changed and people, especially those of middle and lower class, have their focus with where and how to

Route 66 11 spend their money in order to get by and pay the bills, which is 100% understandable. Because of this, places like Launching Pad get pretty much overlooked. The Gemini Giant still stands, but there is a sense of quietness as it is slowly chipping and fading away.

Left: Launching Pad sits quietly and untouched.

To conclude, there are a number of artifacts and places in our United States History that are run down and neglected. Route 66 is definitely something that folks have treasured for years and people of today should feel the importance of this exciting route that gave people so much joy, hope, and chances. It is truly exciting the way Route 66 changed history with its exciting route from LA to Chicago, the flashy appearance of stores and the way the media presented it, and how much it meant to so many people.

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References:

Crapanzano, Christina. "Route 66." Time. Time Inc., 28 June 2010. Web. 10 Sept.

2016.

Dines, G., & Humez, J. M. (2015). Gender, race, and class in media: A critical reader (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Franzten, Swa, and Nadine Pelicaen. "Historic Route 66." Historic Route 66.

N.p., 1994. Web. 10 Sept. 2016.

Gabler, N. (2016, May). The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans.

Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2016/05/my-secretshame/476415/

United States. National Park Service. "Route 66 Overview--Route 66: A Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2016.

Warnick, Ron. "Gemini Giant, Launching Pad Restaurant to Be Auctioned - Route 66 News." Route 66 News. N.p., 27 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Sept. 2016.

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