Old hub caps some broken and chipped some almost as new on a rack in the corner of an abandoned filling station out on Route 66;
Cars and trucks pass by at night with blinking lights and honking horns and watch the moon and stars descend over the horizon dreaming of their homes in the valley and their mansions in the sky they may never reach.
At one time, California was known as the Gold Coast, probably a reference to the Gold Rush days of the 19th century. When I was growing up, we often heard, half seriously, half jokingly, Go West Young Man! At that time New York was still the largest state, the largest population, the largest economy.
Route 66 was the legendary road that took you from the Midwest to Southern California. I hitchhiked the entire route with a friend of mine from Canada (our entire trip started from Montreal) and it was quite a trip! We met quite a few interesting characters, discovered a lot of historic lore, and experienced crossing a gigantic desert! (Mojave Desert) I remember the fellow who picked us up at the start of the desert had to stop his car every 100 miles or so and put water in the radiator! Which of course we helped with. And we never had more than a few hundred dollars between us at any given time, if we were lucky!
I wouldn’t change that trip for anything!
There was also a very popular TV show at the time called Route 66 which was about the travels of two young guys spending their life, traveling down Route 66, in a Corvette, kind of like hoboing around without being hoboes.
Taken altogether that is the basis and backstory for these graphic works and the poem.
The iconic Edsel, which did not last very long, and the historic Route 66, which is still around. A post to introduce my new Posters page, where I will be putting together another Ebook.
My illustration for a vintage television show called Route 66, which aired between 1960-1964. It inspired a whole generation and in fact served as a bridge between the beat generation and the sixties. It was the only program my older brother and I ever watched together. Years later, when I turned 18, and spent a summer hitch-hiking across the US and Canada with a friend, we made sure we went along the iconic Route 66 highway!