Historic US 66 East, US 99 South - Foothill Blvd, The Mother Road - Azusa to Glendora, CA

In Azusa, I personally believe there were at least two routings of LRN 9 and US 66/99: the original on Foothill Blvd to the north of Azusa Pacific and the later Alsota Ave/Historic Route 66 alignment. This is due to exiting roads that were in place when the highways were first laid out. Alsota did not exist according to maps, leading me to theorize that US 66 continued east to Citrus where it turned north, then east on Foothill into Glendora before dropping south on Amelia to meet the modern Route 66/Foothill alignment on the east side of Glendora.

I cannot confirm the validity of this routing, however, so I made a last second decision to split it from the part 4 video just in case.

US 66 is the road that needs no introduction. In 1926, as the first US Highways were being laid out across the country, a route was to be established running from Los Angeles, CA to Chicago, IL. This rather trivial route was given the number of Route 60 until proprietors in the southern part of the country raised issue with it's route numbering. Highways divisible by 5 were to be major routes, either border to border or ocean to ocean. This first incarnation of US 60 did not meet these qualifications and these people were able to successfully argue for the change in numbering. This led to the birth of US 66, which was chosen for the route as it was deemed 'catchy' and easy to remember.

US 66 would later go on to become the most traveled highway during the dust bowl, leading those in the midwest to travel the road seeking the promised prosperity in California, as in the Grapes of Wrath. It was that book that lent the name 'The Mother Road' to the highway, a term that has stuck to this day and become synonymous with the highway.

Towards the end of the Dust Bowl era and the Great Depression, California wanted to reinvent 66's image to being a 'Vacation Route', that is a route that leads to a vacation spot. Up until 1936, US 66 had entered Los Angeles on Broadway, arbitrarily ending at 7th St. When the change was approved by AASHTO, California moved US 66's western terminus from Los Angeles to Santa Monica. This replaced historic Signed State Route 2 from Olympic Blvd to Myra Ave, then used the remainder of Santa Monica Blvd to reach US 101 at Sunset Blvd. From there, US 66 turned left onto Figueroa, following it to Eagle Rock, ultimately heading across Colorado Blvd and re-joining it's original alignment at Fair Oaks Ave in historic Pasadena.

As newer superhighways were being built, Route 66 originally made use of them. The first limited access highway in the western United States - The Arroyo Seco Parkway - replaced most of Figueroa and led 66 straight into Pasadena. Plans were in place to build multiple of these superhighways - modern day freeways - in southern California. Some, like the original Santa Monica Freeway replacing Santa Monica Blvd and to be signed as part of US 66, never came to be. Those newfangled freeways turned out to be the death of the US highways however.

In 1956, the Interstate System was adopted by the federal government, leading to states becoming flush with cash to build new freeways. Three new Interstate Highways that were proposed in California threatened Route 66 itself: I-10, I-15, and I-40, all major, principal, routes. This, in addition to the Great Renumbering of 1964 in California, led to the removal of US 66.

In 1964, US 66 was truncated back to Pasadena having been replaced by SR 11 and SR 2. From then on, Route 66 only remained until it's replacements were completed. It's old routings were even officially numbered by the state as it's successors (i.e: US 66 through Amboy was signed as US 66 but was Route 40 according to Caltrans). The only exception was for the portion from SR 30 in La Verne to I-15 (modern I-215) in San Bernardino. This remained Route 66, and is still legally part of SR 66 to this day (minus cities who have requested relinquishments).

US 66 had been pushed back all the way to Needles in 1972. The only reason it was still in Needles was because I-40's bypass of the city had not been completed yet. In 1977, US 66 from Chicago to Scotland, MO - just outside Joplin - was removed after I-55 and I-44 had been completed. This was followed in 1979 with another western truncation from Needles, CA to Sanders, AZ at the Jct of US 666, before the ultimate deletion of US 66 in 1985.

Since 1985, many historical groups across the country have begun taking interest in Route 66. This has led to a 'rebirth' of sorts, with many town and cities renaming their segments to honor the highway. San Bernardino County, for example, renumbered the portion in unincorporated areas as "County Route 66".

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