THE INAUGURAL ROUTE 66 CROSS-COUNTRY ROAD TRIP KICKS OFF SATURDAY, JANUARY 3RD, IN CELEBRATION OF 100 YEARS OF ROUTE 66.
TOMORROW, WE PRE-FUNK.
NINE METICULOUSLY CARED FOR CARS FROM THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST HAVE MADE THE VOYAGE SOUTH TO SANTA MONICA, THEN DRIVE EAST AND NORTH TO CHICAGO.
ROADTRIPS ARE ONCE AGAIN IN FASHION, AND THESE NINE ADVENTUROUS CARS ARE SET FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY.
THIS TRADITION IS ROOTED IN HISTORY. THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIZED AUTO USE IN 1916 WITH THE $75 MILLION FEDERAL ROAD ACT, WHICH IMPROVED POST ROADS AND ENCOURAGED THE STATES TO ORGANIZE THEIR OWN HIGHWAY DEPARTMENTS BY PROVIDING FUNDING. A SECOND FEDERAL ROAD ACT IN 1921 SOUGHT TO IMPROVE 200,000 MILES OF STATE HIGHWAYS, AIMING TO LINK THEM INTO A NATIONAL NETWORK.
BUILDING ON THESE EARLY EFFORTS, THE INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM BECAME THE LARGEST PUBLIC WORKS PROJECT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
ROUTE 66 CAME TO SYMBOLIZE FREEDOM AND MOBILITY, OFFERING AMERICANS NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND UNITING REGIONS.
FOR EXAMPLE, HUMAN BEINGS LOVE FOCAL POINTS. GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE EMERGED IN THE LATE 1940S AS A WAY TO ATTRACT DRIVERS’ ATTENTION AND GET THEM TO STOP ON THE ROADWAYS.
A SIGNIFICANT ASPECT OF GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE IS THE INCORPORATION OF A BUILDING’S BRANDING INTO ITS STRUCTURE.
GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE - THE MID-CENTURY, SPACE-AGE ROADSIDE STYLE. THE BUILDING AT LINCOLN & OLYMPIC OPENED IN 1959 AS THE PENGUIN COFFEE SHOP, DESIGNED BY THE FIRM ARMET & DAVIS, AND WAS LATER RESTORED AND REOPENED AS MEL’S DRIVE-IN.
MEL’S IS THE LAST GOOGIE ON ROUTE 66.
IF CARS AND/OR COMMUNITY ARE YOUR THING, YOU SHOULD STOP BY THE ICE RINK TOMORROW. THERE WILL BE CLASSIC CARS. THERE WILL BE A LIVE KARAOKE DJ, ROUTE 66 THEMED MOCKTAILS, AND THE FIRST 100 GET A SKATE FREE CODE.
MOST OF ALL, IT WILL BE FUN.
