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How much of the US 66 lore was bullshit?

Started by bugo, July 12, 2012, 08:06:22 PM

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wphiii

Quote from: Special K on August 17, 2012, 02:50:28 PM
Quote from: deathtopumpkins on August 17, 2012, 02:11:24 PM
Quote from: wphiii on August 17, 2012, 02:00:08 PM
Quote from: deathtopumpkins on August 16, 2012, 10:07:53 AM

US 66 isn't famous because it was the first of anything - it's just been made famous by pop culture references and the fact that it was heavily-traveled, as it connected Chicago and L.A.

I also think that there's a certain romance in the fact that the route simply no longer exists. Its decommissioning was the poster child in a way for the death of the Great American Road Trip that was brought on by the advent of the Interstate Highway system. This makes it a shining beacon of nostalgia, and people love nostalgia.

If it's simply the fact that the route was decommissioned, why aren't all the other decommissioned US routes famous like 66?

Because it's not simply the fact that it was decommissioned.

Right, it's just part of the whole package that people find alluring. Didn't mean to indicate that it's the only reason, rather was just adding that to the list of reasons that have been mentioned in the thread.


flowmotion

Some other factors:

In the 1980s, architects started taking "roadside architecture" seriously, and there were a number of academic dissertations on that topic. At that time, US 66 still had many of the original neon signs, motels, and roadside attractions in operation (especially in AZ, MN, and TX).

There was also a bit of a 1960s-ish revival going on, and part of that was the hippie ideal of taking a roadtrip to see the "real America". The Cadillac Ranch art installation was built. Depeche Mode had a hit covering the largely forgotten "Route 66" pop song.

Just at that time, the government decided to decommission the remnants of US 66. The timing was perfect, because it was just old enough to be useless, but not old enough to have disappeared and been forgotten. This created a national outcry which lead to the Historic 66 movement.

A lot of things just happened to add up so that US 66 became Route 66. That's why the highway has the cultural aura that many other historic route do not.



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