Along its winding path from Chicago to Santa Monica, Route 66 connected many remote, sleepy towns to big, bustling cities. These tiny towns began flourishing in their own right, offering weary travelers places to eat, sleep, fill up the gas tank, and load up the trunk with kitschy souvenirs. The Mother Road was their business, and business was good. Soon, however, major interstates bypassed the smaller cities and left many outposts effectively marooned, gazing out over the interstate and watching their customers zip by.
With the loss of their income stream, many towns along Route 66 simply faded away. Remnants of some of these still stand out from the landscape in the form of dilapidated filling stations or abandoned motels. Other towns, however, refused to disappear. Their hospitality and amenities still existed; the only thing missing was the customers. If travelers were no longer directed through town, they would find a way to attract them off the interstate. While each of these tenacious towns found different ways of accomplishing this, they all found ways of preserving not only their town but also the Mother Road’s place in America’s history.
One such town is Williams, Arizona. Williams was the last Route 66 town to be bypassed when Interstate 40 was completed around the town in 1984. Despite this setback, the town has become a very popular spot for tourists, particularly in the summer and winter seasons. While the town does have the unique distinction of being home to the Grand Canyon Railway, a passenger railroad that takes guests to and from the Grand Canyon, its association with Route 66 is also a major tourism draw.
Restoring old, surviving buildings of the Route 66 era can be a significant tourism draw for bypassed towns. The vintage, and in some cases quirky, architecture is often unseen in modern cities, making these outposts time capsules. Bypassed towns today often capitalize on these architectural attractions, welcoming tourists who want to get a feel for what the scenery was like in Route 66’s heyday. Williams, in particular, takes advantage of its hometown history. Many of the diners, motels, and souvenir shops that flourished when Williams’ main streets were part of the Main Street of America are still attracting dusty travelers off the interstate. The town has a rare number of streets with all their buildings effectively intact, giving a rare view of what the road looked like during its heyday. Each of these is restored and themed in ways that harken back to the Route 66 experience. Though the exteriors seem like a flashback, each offers all the modern amenities one would expect in a new hotel or restaurant.
Rod’s Steak House, complete with a neon steer on the roof, has been operating on Route 66 since August 23, 1946, and continues to offer the same delicious meals 70 years later. Cruiser’s Route 66 Café started life as a filling station in the 1930s, though instead of automobiles, today it fills up people will delectable eats and treats. Start the day at Café 326, originally a hot spot along Route 66 in the 1930s under the name Mill’s Café, which continues to offer coffee and pastries to its patrons. If that is not enough of an up-close-and-personal experience for aficionados, Williams also has a visitor center with unique memorabilia for tourists to see and experience.
Events are also key to bypassed towns drawing in tourists. Towns host multi-day celebrations filled with activities to keep attendees in town for the full duration. Sometimes these events are seasonal, like the Fourth of July, but other times, they simply celebrate the town’s role along the Mother Road. Williams holds such events, like its Cool Country Cruise Route 66 Car Show. Classic car shows line the streets with the kind of beautiful automobiles one might have seen cruising the pavement back in the Mother Road’s heyday, and parades call out the entire town to celebrate its history. When the sun goes down, the festivities really get into gear as all the classic neon sparks to life, and visitors can meander up and down the streets under its glow. The Best Western Plus Inn of Williams is a great place to stay to take in all the local history and fun events like these, but there are also plenty of Best Western hotels along the historic route as it passes through Arizona.
Like Williams, so many cities along the old alignments of Route 66 have found ways to capture that optimism, Americana, and freedom the Mother Road embodied for so many years. Through restored neon, refurbished architecture, and joyous traditions, that spirit lives on. Each town preserves this unique time in the country’s history for future generations. Go out and experience some of these plucky little towns. They are the Mother Road’s living history.
Start planning your road trip along Route 66 by visiting bestwesternroute66.com to book today! Hit the road and we’ll see you soon.
