By Thomas Best
Well, here we are with one state left to discuss regarding my wife’s and my trip on Route 66. We have reached California. Some 314 miles were left before we splashed into the waters of the Pacific Ocean at Santa Monica Beach.
Oh my, as we landed in California, did we ever have a lot to see. Starting with Needles, right inside the California/Arizona border, we came to the Wagon Wheel Restaurant with a large Gorilla on the roof. Then it was across the desert to Barstow on the northeastern edge of greater Los Angeles and off to “Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch.” Here there are over 200 displays of colored pop and drink bottles. Next up in San Bernadino is the original McDonald’s run then by the McDonald Brothers. Dick and Mac McDonald, started out as entrepreneurs of a BBQ restaurant, but then converted their restaurant in 1948 into a place called “McDonald’s,” with its soon to be limited menu of burgers, fries and milkshakes and fountain drinks. We also stopped at the Cross-Eyed Cow Pizza Parlor (housed in a 1920s Studebaker Repair Shop) and the Wigwam Motel, where you can stay the night in 32-foot tall concrete teepees dating to the 1940s.
We worked our way along the highways (with some interstate highways possessing five lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic) until we approached our final goal of visiting Santa Monica. Of course, we first had to rest and fuel up with a treat at “Mel’s Diner,” made famous by the 1970s film by George Lucas “American Graffiti.”
After checking into our motel a few blocks from the ocean, we got our swim clothes on and headed down to the famous 1909 pier which juts out into the Pacific. We joyfully reached the end of Route 66. We got our picture taken by the famous “ending” sign, obtained our completion certificate, and finally wandered down to the Bob Waldmire memorial, which if you remember, was a famous artist and promoter of Route 66 from Springfield, Illinois.
Oh, we so loved the beach and the activities around the pier. As expected, the water along the Pacific is chilly, yet that’s what helps to keep the climate cooler along this Pacific coast. Here we also met a young film maker, Enrique, who asked me to film him splashing and diving into the water. There was also a wildly dressed singer who was making up songs about people walking along the pier.
That was it! We had made it! However, we didn’t leave Los Angeles right away. We spent an extra day going to Universal Studios where we took the tour complete with simulations of an earthquake, an attack by King Kong, an encounter with Jaws the shark, a scene from a plane crash movie, and meeting up with Hollywood starlets, actors on a New York movie set, and even one of the characters from the Simpsons.
After battling the traffic once again, we left Hollywood for a baseball game with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a lot of fun walking around the park and eyeing the statues dedicated to Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, and Tommy Lasorda. We also played around with the baseball mascots for that night’s unique Korean Heritage night, ate a “Dodger Dog” (their special hot dog, which wasn’t that great), and chatted with sailors who had just come off the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the “Carl Vinson.”
By the next day, it was time to head back home—although not without visiting Las Vegas, where we saw the musical stage show “Love” about the Beatles (that was for me) and the Lady Diana exhibit (that was for Pam, although I learned a lot about her and the royal family).
Thank you for listening. Next week, I will conclude this series on Route 66 with some follow-up observations.
Photo by: https://www.defensivedriving.org/dmv-handbook/21-essential-route-66-attractions-you-cant-miss/
