Small towns have preserved the heyday of automobile travel. For nostalgia-seekers who like cruising in the past lane, this is the ultimate Southwestern road trip.
Before being by passed by an interstate highway decades ago, Route 66 was the chief thoroughfare in Northern Arizona for more than 50 years. Dubbed “Main Street of America,” the storied asphalt artery traversed thriving towns lined with roadside curiosities, friendly filling stations, and mom-and-pop motels and diners.
Many communities along the 2,448-mile diagonal corridor from Chicago to California have been reduced to backwaters, but that just adds to their charm. Happily, for nostalgia-minded tourists, some towns cling to their Route 66 heritage, and this passion for the past will be on full display in 2026 when the road celebrates its 100th anniversary.
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Today, the two-lane ribbon of roadway—a true slice of Americana—has become a destination in itself, a romanticized symbol of simpler times that captivates travelers from around the world. Many original stretches, sign posted as Old or Historic Route 66, still exist across the land, offering a look at the 1930s, ’40s, ’50sand ’60s through the rear view mirror.
A big Route 66 fan and collector of vintage signs and Coca-Cola memorabilia, I recently spent four magical days soaking up retro vibes on a bucket-list driving trip with my son. Traveling from Las Vegas, we covered the western and central portions of Arizona Route 66, starting in Kingman.
Each town we visited seemed to be more special than the one before. It’s hard to name a favorite—every stop became my new favorite. With my iPhone camera I went wild clicking away at neon signs, gas pumps and rusted cars of yesteryear prominently displayed at stores and museums, motels and restaurants. I couldn’t get enough of these relics from the heyday of automobile travel, a time when cars had style and personality.
Arizona: A Leader in Route 66 Preservation Efforts
Route 66 travels through eight states, but what is special about Arizona’s 250-plus drivable miles of the highway?
“In Arizona you’ve got stops at quirky attractions in towns that are not too far apart,” says Nikki Seegers Terlesky, director of operations, Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. “In other regions, you can drive for miles without any points of interest.
“In addition, there are the expansive Western landscapes that you don’t get in some of the other states on Route 66,” she adds. “Foreign visitors, especially, are struck by the desert and mountain scenery.”
Arizona takes pride in being the first state to form an association dedicated to preserving Route 66’s heritage, and the Seligman-Kingman stretch was the first in the country to be designated as Historic Route 66. Arizona also claims the longest uninterrupted stretch of original Route 66 (158 miles from Ash Fork in the east to the Colorado River in the west).
Looking ahead to the centennial, the association in 2025 will be offering a postcard booklet with stickers representing 26 activities and attractions, sort of a passport that encourages travelers to “collect” their stops.
Also in observance of the big anniversary, several communities will be adding signage, Terlesky says, and their annual Route 66 festivals will kick it up a notch.
The Route 66 Drive-Through Shield in Kingman is one of the best photo ops on the historic highway. (Jeremy Mink Photo)
Romancing Route 66 in Kingman and Oatman
The I-40 town of Kingman made a good starting point for us, as it is home to the Arizona Route 66 Museum. Housed in the city’s former power plant along with the Kingman Visitor Center, the museum chronicles the area’s pioneer past and the road’s history as a pathway for both tourists and folks seeking a better life out West. I liked the poignant exhibits depicting refugees from the Dust Bowl that ravaged mid-America during the Great Depression, their west bound trucks piled with furniture. In his 1939 novel The Grapes of Wrath, author John Steinbeck called Route 66 the “road of flight” for destitute families fleeing from drought and economic hardship. He coined the term “Mother Road,” a moniker used today.
The museum’s diner, gas station and barbershop mock-ups invite selfies, as does a lovingly restored 1950 Studebaker Champion. But the best photo op may be in the parking lot, where you can park your car inside the arch forming a giant Route 66 Drive-Through Shield.
Mother Road fans in Kingman also seek out Mr. D’z Route 66 Diner. Whimsically painted teal and pink, it serves up house-made root beer and comforting classics like chicken-fried steak, burgers, shakes and sundaes to the tunes of golden oldies.
After Kingman, our first big adventure was the 50-minute drive to the old gold mining town of Oatman, 30 miles to the southwest. On the way, we stopped at Cool Springs Gift Shop & Museum, built in the early 2000s on the remains of a 1920s gas station/tourist camp. Then we drove nine more miles to Oatman, and what a nine miles it was! It’s hard to believe this twisty road through the Black Mountains—full of switchbacks and sheer drop-offs—was part of a major thoroughfare, Route 66. We never exceeded 25 mph.
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Mingling with Oatman’s burros is a highlight for tourists in the historic mining town. (Randy Mink Photo)
Like every tourist in this tiny town of weathered wooden buildings and plank sidewalks, we made friends with the free-roaming resident burros, descendants of pack animals that hauled ore from the mines. Visitors have a field day petting and posing with the docile burros that seek handouts of hay cubes sold in the stores. Shops with names like Bucktooth Burro, The Classy Ass and Oatman General Store purvey cowboy hats, cow skulls, leather goods, turquoise jewelry, and burro stuffed animals. You’ll also find automotive antiques, advertising signs, rocks and minerals, and souvenirs bearing the Route 66 shield.
The Oatman Hotel is where movie stars Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon the night of March 18, 1939. Now a free museum that allows a view of their room, the two-story adobe building has a bar/restaurant papered with $1 bills.
Fun Stops at Hackberry General Store and Giganticus Headicus
The best concentration of photo opportunities on Arizona Route 66 awaits at Hackberry General Store, a half hour from Kingman. A bright red Mobilgas winged Pegasus leaps from the roof, and the grounds are strewn with old cars, antique gas pumps and rare signs. Inside the ramshackle building, a major services top from 1934 until the 1970s, you’ll find license plates plastered on the ceiling and a soda fountain set-up with Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe. Offering every imaginable type of Route 66 curio, the store has been called the “mother lode of Mother Road memorabilia.”
Between Kingman and Hackberry, make a shortstop at the Antares Point Visitor Center and snap a picture of Giganticus Headicus, a sculpture created in 2004 in the spirit of kitschy roadside attractions of old. Designed by local artist Greg Arnold, the bright green tiki-style head stands 14 feet tall.
Seligman Reflects the True Spirit of Arizona Route 66
If I had to choose one town to savor and explore, it would Seligman, population 700. Called the “Birthplace of Historic Route 66,” it is practically a pilgrimage site for Mother Road aficionados, as a group of citizens from Seligman and other communities, led by barber shop owner Angel Delgadillo, in 1987 started the movement to revive Route 66 and breathe life back into dying towns. The group’s efforts to rally business owners ultimately resulted in Route 66 being designated a historic highway and inspired similar efforts in other states.
The barber shop, opened along with a pool hall in 1950, is now a shrine where you can sit in the swivel chair and pose with a color photo cut-out of Angel standing behind. Adjacent, Angel and Vilma’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop, managed by their daughters, operates out of the former pool hall.
Now 97 and retired, Angel has received worldwide fame for saving a piece of American history. At the Arizona Route 66 Museum in Kingman, you can ask him questions and get answers via AI technology at the recently introduced exhibit “Guardian Angel of Route 66.” Pixar director John Lasseter’s interview with Angel helped shape the storyline of the 2006 computer-animated movie Cars.
Lately, Angel has been building birdhouses to raise money to install two new signs at both ends of town, recognizing Seligman’s crucial role in the highway’s rebirth.
Another Seligman must-see is Delgadillo’s Snow Cap, a drive-up eatery established in 1953 by Angel’s brother Juan, who worked there until he died at the age of 88 in 2004. It’s now run by his children. Sitting on the patio there, I chowed down on a chorizo burger and the best-ever peanut butter banana malt. The menu lists everything from burritos and corn dogs to snow cones and ice cream delights. Cluttering the restaurant’s backyard are aging vehicles painted with googly-eyed wind shields, a nod to Pixar’s Cars. We stayed across the street at the Aztec Motel, which opened in 2023 in a building that has housed a number of businesses over the years.
In Seligman, we could have walked up and down the entire length of Historic Route 66 in less than 20 minutes, but we took our time. Footloose and carefree, we had fun popping into tourist shops, taking pictures of ancient autos and admiring motels’ soaring neon signs.
One night we had dinner at the Road Kill 66 Cafe, whose motto is “you kill it, we grill it.” None of the dishes served have really been scraped off the road, but the creative titles on the menu are a hoot. Randomly named, items include Curbside Kitty, Buzzard Bait, Vulture Vittles, Roadside Revenge, Treads & Bread, Armadillo on the Half Shell and Too-Slow Doe. I had the BBQ beef sandwich and a big slice of lemon meringue pie, one of many tempting desserts. Attached to the dining room is the Western-themed OK Saloon, its walls adorned with deer, buffalo and elk heads, plus other taxidermy treasures.
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Ash Fork: An Overlooked Gem on Arizona Route 66
Ash Fork, not as publicized as other towns on Old Route 66, endeared itself to us with its backwater feel. At the free-admission Ash Fork Visitor Center & Museum, you can pose in the town jail, get behind the wheel of a 1926 Ford Model T, and don a Stetson to play cards with costumed dummies in a Western saloon setting. A diorama shows businesses that lined Route 66 in the 1950s, including the first Texaco station in Arizona. (A short walk around town revealed that some of the buildings still exist but have been converted to other uses.) Help yourself to free pieces of flagstone, a fitting memento of Ash Fork, which calls itself “The Flagstone Capital of the World” because of its stone quarries.
There’s also a scale model of the town’s fancy Hotel Escalante, which operated from 1907 to 1951 and had one of the famous Harvey House restaurants that graced railroad hotels in the Southwest. A mannequin on display is outfitted in the distinctive black dress, white apron and black bow tie of the Harvey Girls who waited on customers.
Once a warehouse for Fred Harvey restaurants and then a maintenance facility for the Arizona Department of Transportation, the cavernous museum building is tucked away next to the final paved section of Route 66 before it becomes an unmaintained stretch requiring a heavy-duty vehicle. The quiet, dead-end location provides the perfect place to kneel down—or lie flat—for a photo with the white Route 66 shield painted on the blacktop.
Aztec Motel, one of many cozy motels on Route 66 in Seligman, Arizona. (Randy Mink Photo)
Historic Williams Takes Pride in its Route 66 Heritage
Like Seligman, the town of Williams (pop. 3,000) worked its magic on us, delivering a solid dose of nostalgia in the six-block stretch of the historic downtown. Neon lights, souvenir shops, retro diners and old-school motels make it a Disneyland for Route 66 fans. Main Street, with buildings dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s, retains the spirit of a bygone era and a certain Western swagger. There are plenty of classic cars and Route 66 shield signs waiting to perform as photo backdrops. The Williams Visitor Center & Museum, in an old railroad freight depot, sheds light on local history.
We stayed at The Lodge on Route 66, a motor court where each of the 19 rooms is named after a town on Route 66. Blocks away were places like Pete’s Gas Station, a Route 66 museum/gift shop, and Cruiser’s Route 66 Cafe, a 1930s filling station turned classic diner whose patio tables are set among restored gas pumps and Coca-Cola artifacts. A mural commemorates the fact that a six-mile stretch through Williams was the final section of Route 66 to be by passed by the interstate highway system, an event that occurred on October 13, 1984.
Sitting on the edge of a Ponderosa pine forest, Williams is the closest real town to the Grand Canyon and hosts the depot of the Grand Canyon Railway, a day excursion train. It is also home to Bearizona, a drive-through wildlife park featuring black bears, bison, reindeer, arctic and tundra wolves, big horn sheep and other North American mammals.
Our four-day Route 66 odyssey was packed with adventures from morning tonight, but we only scratched the surface and yearn to return. Next time we’ll concentrate on the section from Flagstaff to the New Mexico border—for another epic road trip.
For more information, log on to the website of Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, www.historic66az.com
By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
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