Talk about a head of state. Once upon a time, Ol’ Abe stood watch at Sherman Summit, the highest point on his namesake coast-to-coast highway, Lincoln Highway.
Built by Hugh Davis in the 70s as a surprise (?!) anniversary gift for his wife Zelda, who collected whale figurines. It is one of the best known landmarks on Route 66. The big whale speaks to a simpler time, when a swimming hole didn’t need all kinds of fancy wave machines and gadgetry.
This house once owned by a serial killer madam, Ma Staffleback, she and 3 accomplices robbed and killed dozens of clients (mostly miners) during the 1890s. She died in prison in 1909.
Not exactly road food in the meal sense – hey – sirup is still food! Starting in 1824, the Funk family-owned business has been producing maple “sirup” for over 180 years.
I love this place! It is a crazy tourist trap near the Badlands, with a big jackalope and great cowboy boots. The small town drugstore made its first step towards fame when it was purchased by Ted Hustead in 1931.
In 1920, when Bert Vaughn started work on his Desert View Tower, people motoring across the mountains that jut up out here near the Mexican border inevitably needed a place to stop and cool down.
Okay, it’s concrete, but Albert is gigantic … complete with huge eyelashes … and hey, it lights up! In Audubon, Iowa, Albert the Bull “steaks” his claim to “world’s largest.”
Eddie Owens Martin led what was perhaps one of the strangest lives we’ve come across on our journeys. In the 1930s, after years of living on the streets of New York, he came down with a severe case of pneumonia.
Despite being a California State Landmark, this folk art environment was dismantled. Luckily, some of the pieces were saved and can be seen in the California Route 66 Museum: “Hula Ville – Twentieth Century Folk Art”.
Located on Pier 45 at the Fisherman’s Wharf, there are over 300 vintage and novel coin operated machines, collected by the late Edward Galland Zelinsky, who started his collection at the ripe old age of 11.