Good tribute, sloppy publicity

Today, I found this news release about a parade and tribute to the late actor Steve McQueen today in Los Angeles:

The Jules Verne Festival and the City of Los Angeles are proud to announce the Kick-Off to the Steve McQueen 30th Anniversary Celebration. On Sunday November 7th, four days before the Official Tribute event, the Steve McQueen Motor Parade will be led by Chad McQueen, son of Steve McQueen, on the commemorative anniversary of his father’s passing. The Parade, co-organized by the Jules Verne Festival with the City of Los Angeles will benefit the Jules Verne Educational Program, which serves the children of Los Angeles. It will start at 11am, with an impressive procession of Mustangs, Jaguars, Porsches (some of McQueen’s favorite cars), run through Hollywood Blvd, stop at the Steve McQueen’s Star on the Walk of Fame and will end at the intersection of Highland and Santa Monica Blvd., where Route 66 ends and where the Steve McQueen Square will be inaugurated by Steve McQueen’s family, Councilmember Tom Labonge, District 4, and the founder of the Jules Verne Founder Jean-Christophe Jeauffre and Frédéric Dieudonné.

The part of the Steve McQueen Square being dedicated at the intersection of Highland and Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles caught my eye. The Jules Verne Festival organizers proclaim it to be “where Route 66 ends.”

This is incorrect. Consulting California Route 66 expert Scott Piotrowski‘s book, there are two historic western endpoints of Route 66. One is in downtown Los Angeles, from which boasted the end of Route 66 from 1926 to 1935. The second is at Lincoln and Olympic in Santa Monica, where U.S. 66 ended until 1964.

An unofficial third endpoint can be found at Ocean Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard, or at the nearby Santa Monica Pier. The pier, or the nearby Will Rogers Highway monument at Palisades Park, has essentially become the traditional end of a Route 66 journey for thousands of travelers, namely because the official endpoint less than a mile away is so uninspiring.

Regardless of which endpoint you prefer, the Highland and Santa Monica Boulevard intersection isn’t remotely close. The endpoint at downtown L.A. lies more than seven miles away, and either Santa Monica endpoint sits more than 10 miles away. We’re talking 20 minutes of drive time, minimum.

I called attention to this discrepancy to the Jules Verne Festival and noted the intersection is more than 10 miles from the Route 66 endpoint in Santa Monica. This is the e-mailed reply I received from Dieudonné:

10 miles is very few compared to 2,448 miles, isn’t it? We never said it was the endpoint. But it’s definitely the end of Route 66 …

This sort of glib and ignorant response infuriates.

I’m not a purist by a long shot. I see no harm with Santa Monica Pier boosters proclaiming their turf as the traditional, mythical, or spiritual end of Route 66. At least it’s less than a mile from the actual endpoint. And it is a great place to cap a long trip.

But when you proclaim a spot “where Route 66 ends” that never did, miles from whatever actual terminus you choose, that’s where I have to draw the line. And I don’t think I’m alone in that opinion.

8 thoughts on “Good tribute, sloppy publicity

  1. Perhaps they should have just left all references to Route 66 out of it, and just called it a tribute to the late, great Steve McQueen.

    Will Sheryl Crowe be there to sing her song about Steve McQueen?

  2. I don’t think I need to say very much on this topic. Ron covered it expertly for me already.

    (By the way, Ron, point of clarification. Not discussed in the book are the two additional western termini as 66 began to be shortened. Effective 1/1/1964, the western terminus was at Colorado Boulevard and Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena, and effective 1/1/1975 the western terminus was actually at the Arizona-California border.)

  3. Hear, hear! Scott Piotrowski’s book settled all arguments on this for those needing or wanting to know. However, when a respected entity like Google Maps has Interstate 10 listed as Historic Route 66 until earlier this year, it sure doesn’t help. Google has changed that now…now they have it mistakenly ending at Santa Monica & Ocean (the first unofficial end), rather than hanging a left at Lincoln and ending properly at Lincoln & Olympic (it’s second end point). At “66-to-Cali” on the pier, we keep hoping and waiting for someone from Google to come by so we can fix their error for so many others who trust them.

  4. You are right on Ron- in he literal sense the parade folks blew it, and they need to amend their claim, and thanks for calling them on it.

    That said, I am reminded of what one recent California author stated in a conversation that Disneyland was part of Route 66 to a semi-stunned group of roadie-scholars- who were quick to challenge that assertion. In clarifying his statement, he said “look, most of the the country came to Disneyland by car, and more than half came by Route 66. No one has set the legal boundies of the road whether it is the roads’ edge, the adjacent city blocks, or the ultimate destinations of Route 66 travelers.” In that regards he is probably right- look at what various guidebooks place along 66: National Parks, Indian Reservations, towns and cities, some 90 or a hundred miles away from 66. Again while technically incorrect, I think part of what we must learn and digest about 66 is the effect it had things as a whole. 66’s scope and limit extended way beyond just being a road, and it’s importance to America (and indeed the world), suggests that the Route 66 environment is far greater than we may contemplate even now.
    It is almost as if we need two (or more) sets of Route 66-related information and scholarship- the factoids, and technical data that documents the routes, dates of modifications, alignments, contractors, etc., and then the sort of sociological crossovers that chronicle the cultural impacts of Route 66 as a transformative element to towns and cities on the route and to the people who travelled the road in vehicles- or even in spirit, (and all the potentially real or unreal relationships with folks like McQueen, et al).

    1. Good points. And I’ve certainly been one who’s been supportive of Route 66 side trips, which includes the Grand Canyon as a prominent example.

      I think some people — including the California author you cited — were simply being imprecise in their comments and not sloppy. But the Jules Verne Festival guy seemed almost proudly ignorant and glib.

    2. I cringe at the Disneyland connection. Yet find the Grand Canyon connection acceptable. And I find the Meramac Caverns acceptable. I just find in Southern California’s road system that 66 is not directly connected enough.

      Now, that being said, I have to admit freely and readily, that I can understand a liberal interpretation of “cultural corridor,” and that’s what is important to me in discussing the landmarks of 66. I find, however, that Disneyland would be the attraction that brought people along 66, rather than it being a sidetrip FROM 66, and that, to me, is the distinction. (People traveling 66 to SoCal may say, “Hey, we’re going to be passing THIS close to the Grand Canyon. We can’t miss it. But they are not likely to be tourists coming to SoCal on 66 and say, “Oh, while we are in Los Angeles, let’s go 30 miles and 2 hours out of way for Disneyland.” It’s just not the same, in my opinion.)

  5. Excellent point, Scott. It may also be to some extent the number of places and things to go and see. Here in northern AZ., virtually any activity, state and national park, or tourist local was accessed from 66- there weren’t a lot of options. This means the 66 trip became part of the fabric of the story of visiting the Grand Canyon, running the Coloado, or seeing the “ghost town” of Jerome, etc. Certainly different cases can be made for a tourist target rich environment like L.A. where there were other travel routes and means.

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