Santa Monica
LOOKOUT
Traditional Reporting for a Digital Age

By Lookout Staff

January 5, 2026 -- Route 66’s 100th Anniversary celebration officially began Saturday as nine classic cars that had taken the near-mythical highway over its 60-year reign departed from the final stop in Santa Monica.

A collaboration between America’s Automotive Trust and The Detroit Auto Show, "The Drive Home VII: Route 66 -- A Century of Adventure" kicked off from Mel's Diner at the corner of Lincoln and Olympic boulevards early Saturday morning.

The Drive Home will end next Monday, January 12, at 7:30 p.m. with a dinner at Pizzeria Uno in Downtown Chicago, the starting point at the other end of the 2,448-mile route across eight states.

The winter caravan will then head to the Detroit Auto Show on Wednesday where the classic cars that span the decades -- from a 1934 Buick to a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS -- will be displayed through January 25.

The road they will have taken is steeped in history, following the trails blazed by Native Americans and early European settlers that became the path of America’s first transcontinental road.

Shortly after Route 66 opened in 1926, the Great Depression struck and the new highway turned into an escape route for Dust Bowl migrants, before becoming a popular vacation destination in the 1950s.

"Route 66 revealed the local cultures of small towns to travelers, as it provided a linked route through the centers of towns -- quite literally, through America’s Main Streets," according to a 2019 Santa Monica History Museum exhibit.

"Its attractions, gas stations, motels, and diners were accessible and affordable to people at most income levels" and "the small road forced drivers to slow down and notice the places they passed."

That all ended in 1985, when Route 66 was decommissioned as a federal highway and the Interstate Highway System was created, decimating the small towns along the way.

America's Automotive Trust "works to preserve America's automotive heritage and inspire the next generation of enthusiasts and innovators by bringing together like-minded organizations that honor the past, celebrate the present, and drive the future of car culture," according to the group's website.