Kicks: A History of Route 66

When Route 66 opened in 1926 it was the United States’s first paved highway from Chicago to Los Angeles. To this day Route 66 still captures the imagination of scores of motorists, a two-lane road of dreams realized and dreams abandoned. Figures associated with “America’s Main Street” – Al Capone, Will Rogers, Maya Angelou, John Steinbeck, Woody Guthrie, Nat King Cole, Rudolfo Anaya, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keefe, and Dolores Huerta – will be featured in the lecture. Route 66, in the end, is where the Americana culture of today – neon signs, barbeque, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, RVs, motels and Corvettes – were first popularized.