From Barstow, Route 66 transitions from desert to the San Bernadino and San Gabriel Mountains and then to the busy roads of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.
From Barstow, we drove west on Route 66 (CA 66) about 22 miles to Helendale. Just past the intersection with Vista Road is a restored sign for Polly Gas. Polly was once a southern California gas station chain. The prices from the 1950s.
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| Polly Gas sign in Helendale |
About a mile further on the left is the former Watson’s Richfield Station, built in the 1940s. An outhouse is still in the rear.
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| Former Watson's Richfield Station in Helendale |
About 2 miles past the Richfield Station, on the right (north), is a Route 66 icon: Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch.
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| Elmer's Bottle Ranch in Helendale |
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| Another view of Elmer's Bottle Ranch |
About 5 miles past Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch, we reached Oro Grande. At the intersection with Mill Street is the former Mohawk Service Station.
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| Former Mohawk Service Station in Oro Grande |
About 2 miles past Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch, Route 66 crosses the Mojave River Bridge, built in 1930 with beautiful guard rails.
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| Mojave River Bridge in Oro Grande |
After the Mojave River Bridge, Oro Grande transitions into Victorville. Less than a mile past the bridge, on the outskirts of Victorville, is a Route 66 icon: Emma Jean’s Holland Burger.
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| Emma Jean's Holland Burger in Victorville |
Guy Fieri of the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives calls Emma Jean’s one of the top three roadside cafes in the United States. A scene in the movie Kill Bill 2 was filmed here. A plaque out front tells Emma Jean’s story.
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| Plaque outside Emma Jean's Holland Burger |
Route 66 becomes D Street as it approaches downtown Victorville. At 16825 D Street is the California Route 66 Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed when we visited.
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| California Route 66 Museum in Victorville (from hulalandblog.com) |
Route 66 turns right (west) on 7th Street (Business I-40). A Route 66 gateway arch welcomed us to “Old Town” Victorville.
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| Route 66 gateway sign in Victorville |
Half a block off Route 66, at 16937 C Street, is the Green Spot Motel. Herman Mankiewicz and John Houseman wrote first drafts of the movie Citizen Kane here.
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| Green Spot Motel in Victorville |
South of Victorville, 7th Street intersects with I-15. Between here and Oak Hills, Route 66 is gone, replaced by I-15. Rather than take the interstate, just before the I-15 intersection we turned left (south) on Mariposa Road. It’s a frontage road that runs along the southeast side of I-15. It’s not Route 66, but we found it a bit more pleasant than the interstate.
In about 12 miles, we reached Oak Hills. We turned right (northwest) on Joshua Street to cross I-15. Here is another Route 66 institution: the Outpost Café in Oak Hills, California.
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| Outpost Cafe in Oak Hills |
Joshua Street deadends a block past the Outpost Café. We turned left (south) on Caliente Road. We were once again on Route 66. We stayed on Caliente Road until it ended in about 3 or 4 miles. Here we had to get back on I-15 south to head toward the Cajon Pass between the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains.
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| Approaching the Cajon Pass on I-15 |
In about 7½ miles, we exited at Cleghorn Road (Exit 129). We turned right (south) on Cajon Boulevard—and we were back on Route 66, with great scenery. Route 66 once again runs alongside a railroad.
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| Route 66 through the Cajon Pass |
In about 2½ miles, Route 66 crosses the San Andreas Fault. The surface of this part of the planet rests on two enormous plates. Their edges meet at the San Andreas Fault, which runs the length of California. The North American plate is slowly moving south, while the Pacific plate is slowly moving north. The edges of the two plates aren’t smooth. So when they rub against each other, earthquakes can result.
If you want to stop at the San Andreas Fault (we didn’t), there’s a pullover here for a marker identifying the Blue Cut Trail, which eventually became Route 66 through this region.
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| Route 66 crossing the San Andreas Fault |
The scenery continued to be beautiful as we descended toward San Bernardino, with the railroad still on our right.
Like Springfield, Missouri, San Bernardino once had two Route 66s. From 1928 until the 1950s, “City US 66” went south on Mount Vernon Avenue, then turned right (west) on 5th Street. “Alternate US 66” tried to bypass downtown San Bernardino by going south about a mile east of City US 66 on North E Street, then right on 5th Street.
We took the City US 66 option. On the north edge of San Bernardino, Route 66 (Cajon Boulevard) bends a bit to the right (south) and becomes Mount Vernon Avenue—City US 66. There are some vintage motels and signs along here.
Instead of turning right (west) on 5th Street, we stayed on Mount Vernon Avenue one more block. Here is the Santa Fe Depot, another Harvey House, built in 1918.
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| Santa Fe Depot in San Bernardino |
(See my post on Winslow, Arizona, for more information on the Harvey Houses built along the Santa Fe Railroad.) Today the depot houses the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum.
We drove back to 5th Street and turned left (west) to stay on Route 66. In about a mile, 5th Street becomes Foothills Boulevard. In another mile, we reached one more Route 66 gem: Wigwam Village #7 at 2728 Foothills Boulevard. It was built in 1949.
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| Wigwam Village #7 in San Bernardino |
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| Another view of Wigwam Village #7 |
Our Route 66 adventure ended in San Bernardino. Between here and Santa Monica, there’s more to see, but we decided we didn’t want to spend what would likely be four hours in heavy traffic to see it all. (We made a similar choice at the beginning of our trip, bypassing Chicago to start our Route 66 experience near Cicero.) We turned south and spent the end of our Route 66 experience in Palm Springs. We stayed at the Inn at Little Paradise, a beautifully restored mid-century motel.
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| Inn at Little Paradise in Palm Springs |
With its wealth of mid-century modern architecture, Palm Springs was an unorthodox but great end to a wonderful series of trips experiencing Route 66.
If you want to experience Route 66 all the way to Santa Monica, I have one last blog post on Route 66 in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area.
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