Route 66 Grunge

by Robert ONeil

Title

Route 66 Grunge

Artist

Robert ONeil

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Capture of a vintage Route 66 sign.
The romance of Route 66 continues to captivate people around the world. Running between Chicago and Los Angeles, �over two thousand miles all the way� in the words of the popular R&B anthem, this legendary old road passes through the heart of the United States on a diagonal trip that takes in some of the country�s most archetypal roadside scenes. If you�re looking for great displays of neon signs, rusty middle-of-nowhere truck stops, or kitschy Americana, do as the song says and �get your kicks on Route 66.�

But perhaps the most compelling reason to follow Route 66 is to experience the road�s ingrained time line of contemporary America. Before it was called Route 66, and long before it was even paved in 1926, this corridor was traversed by the National Old Trails Highway, one of the country�s first transcontinental highways. For three decades before and after World War II, Route 66 earned the title �Main Street of America� because it wound through small towns across the Midwest and Southwest, lined by hundreds of caf�s, motels, gas stations, and tourist attractions. During the Great Depression, hundreds of thousands of farm families, displaced from the Dust Bowl, made their way west along Route 66 to California, following what John Steinbeck called �The Mother Road� in his vivid portrait, The Grapes of Wrath. After World War II, many thousands more expressed their upward mobility by leaving the industrial East, bound for good jobs in the suburban idyll of Southern California�again following Route 66.

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April 29th, 2015

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