BARSTOW — The Mother Road has attracted travelers for decades, and many local small businesses along Route 66 cling to it like devoted children. The road's rich history and the nostalgia it engenders continue to draw tourists to the High Desert.
Route 66 was one of the first highways in the nation, and its 2,448 miles ran from Chicago through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California, ending in Santa Monica.
The Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce is well aware of the Mother Road’s popularity and is working on ways to boost its marketing of Route 66. Executive Director Elena Rivera says the chamber is dedicated to using the road to attract tourists. Rivera said she hopes to capitalize on the Baby Boomers who have recently retired and yearn to travel.
Former Barstow resident and Route 66 enthusiast Dolores Sedillo said he feels Route 66 attracts so many visitors, many of them foreign, because it represents a bygone era of American life.
“It’s funny because Europeans are into it because they’ve seen all the movies we’ve seen, and their roots are tied to ancient cultures that Americans are fascinated with,” he said. “But Europeans and Asians are so interested in our culture. Route 66 is so special because it represents a time before we had all these interstates and before things were just cookie-cut. It signifies the individualism that America was built on, and you don’t really have that anymore.”
In 1988, German director Percy Adlon made a film depicting a woman stranded at a small motel and cafe in the Mojave Desert town of Bagdad. The movie, "Bagdad Cafe," was actually filmed at the Sidewinder Cafe in Newberry Springs. "Bagdad Cafe" was a cult hit, and to this day thousands of Europeans visit the Newberry Springs location (which was later renamed the Bagdad Cafe) while traveling on Route 66.
Sedillo himself is tapping into the film's popularity and is working on launching his own clothing firm, Bagdad Jeans Co.
Bill Cadenhead has volunteered at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville for over 15 years and says he sometimes sees scores of foreign visitors at the museum.
“Of course there are days where we will get four people who come, but there are days that we
could see over 40 people in a couple hours,” Cadenhead said. “I can’t really say what draws Europeans to Route 66. I have a brother who lives in France and we just really think Hollywood has a huge worldwide impact. Everyone knows who Nat King Cole is, he sang about Route 66. Europeans are really fascinated with Indians and cowboys. It’s a strange phenomenon.”
The museum will celebrate its 20th anniversary in October, Cadenhead said.
Tour buses stop daily in Barstow, and some tourists just can’t get enough of Route 66. Carl Hunt, owner of the Uptowner Barbershop in Barstow, said he sees tourists from all over the world posing for photos next to a Route 66 sign painted on Main Street in the downtown Barstow area.
Eddie Dean of the nonprofit Victorville Old Towne Route 66 Historic Society said he hopes to restore the nostalgic Route 66 feel in the downtown Victorville area, which used to be the hub of travel between San Bernardino and Barstow.
“I would like to see the economy come back and see some life with all the small shops on Seventh Street,” Dean said. “There was so much life in downtown Victorville before Interstate 15 and we need to come together as a community to make this possible. I’m hopeful that the historical values will come back and it will become a destination again. We probably won't restore the luster of the 1950s or 1960s, but we can come pretty close if all the right powers come together.”
Sedillo also has a plan to renovate and rejuvenate the entire downtown Barstow section of East Main Street. He wants to finalize a proposal for the City of Barstow by the end of June.
"It sounds like I'm crazy but this will really work if the higher-ups of Barstow actually look into this," Sedillo said. "The whole stretch of Main Street, from First Street to Barstow Road. It would look like a movie set and it would serve locals because it would be a social gathering hangout and also attract tourists who are into the nostalgia."
If the downtown Victorville and Barstow stretches of Route 66 don’t see any revamping in the near future, at least a 150-mile stretch of the roadway will.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Historic Route 66 Association recently released the Route 66 Draft Corridor Management Plan in an effort to enhance the stretch of road from Needles to Barstow. The plan includes an interpretive, tourism and marketing strategy to promote heritage tourism. Once the plan is complete, it will look to get the stretch of Route 66 designated as a National Scenic Byway by the United States Department of Transportation.
A copy of the plan is available locally at the BLM field office in Barstow, 2601 Barstow Road; the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce, 681 North Ave.; and the Barstow Public Library, 304 E. Buena Vista St.
A limited number of copies can be requested by sending an email to cahistoricrt66@aol.com and including “CMP Hard Copy Request” in the subject line.