East of Pasadena, though effectively swallowed up in Southern California’s never-ending sprawl, the San Gabriel Valley used to be the westbound traveler’s first taste of Southern California. After crossing the Mojave Desert and the high mountains, Route 66 dropped down into what might have seemed like paradise: Orange groves as far as the eye could see, a few tidy towns linked by streetcars, and houses draped in climbing roses and bougainvillea. The San Gabriel Valley embodied this suburban ideal until the mid-1950s, when Route 66 gave way to high-speed freeways, and the orange groves were replaced by endless grids of tract houses.
If you’re willing to search and to close your eyes to mini-mall sprawl, Route 66 still offers a window onto this golden age. Winding between Pasadena and San Bernardino, along the foothills of the sometimes-snowcapped San Gabriel Mountains, the old road links a number of once-distinct communities.
From Pasadena, old Route 66 runs along Colorado Boulevard and then Huntington Drive, turning into Foothill Boulevard around the landmark racetrack at Santa Anita, designed by Hoover Dam stylist Gordon Kaufmann. (The Marx Brothers filmed A Day at the Races here, but the art deco facades are threatened by the track’s ongoing “improvement” into a Las Vegas–style Wild West theme park.) Foothill Boulevard, which is signed as Historic Route 66, jogs along the foothills through Azusa, home of the classic Foothill Drive-In, whose marquee was saved when the land was recently developed, then on through collegiate Claremont. In Upland, where the old road features a number of recently installed retro–Route 66 streetlamps, there’s a grass median strip graced by a statue of the pioneer “Madonna of the Trail” that officially marked the western end of the National Old Trails Highway, the immediate precursor to Route 66. The next town, Rancho Cucamonga (pop. 125,000), is now best-known as the home of the Epicenter, where the very popular Cucamonga Quakes (909/481-5000) play Class A baseball, and a statue of Jack Benny welcomes you through the turnstiles. (If you ever heard his radio show, which featured the tag line “Anaheim, Azusa, and CU-CA-MON-GA,” you’ll know why he’s there.)
At Rancho Cucamonga, Foothill Boulevard crosses the I-15 freeway, which is the quickest route over Cajon Pass; just east of the freeway, Route 66 is remembered by a long-closed “Giant Orange” roadside orange juice stand. The old Route 66 alignment continued east for another 15 miles, passing through Fontana, birthplace of the Hell’s Angels’ Motorcycle Club (and L.A. culture critic Mike Davis), before bending north at San Bernardino to join I-15 at the summit.
