Route 66 turns 100 this year, and communities across California are marking the milestone with festivals, food and road trips throughout the spring and summer.
For travelers looking to celebrate, the best way to experience the centennial is simple. Get in your car and hit the Mother Road. SoCal’s Route 66 centennial party kicks off April 25 in Glendora with the Vibechella Music Festival, before rolling into Santa Monica on April 30 for the official Centennial Kick-Off at Mel’s Drive-In and heading deep into the desert May 2 for the Big Birthday Bash in Newberry Springs packed with cars, music and wild Americana vibes. And the celebration doesn’t stop there, on June 27, San Bernardino hosts “The Great Race,” bringing a parade of vintage cars down the Mother Road for one of the most iconic stops of the entire 100th anniversary. For more visit the official Route 66 events page. And if you want to strike out on your own, the road offers plenty of attractions to fill a week or just a quick weekend getaway. The journey starts where the road ends — at the Santa Monica Pier, where Route 66 meets the Pacific Ocean, before heading east into a string of classic and sometimes delightfully weird stops that define the American road trip.
In Santa Monica, grab a “Gringo” espresso at Dogtown Coffee, a surf and skate hangout that feels like Venice Beach energy bottled into a cafe.
In Hollywood, Blackwood Coffee Bar keeps things polished with artful drinks like its vanilla bean latte.
In Pasadena, Andy’s Coffee Shop is a time capsule, serving hot coffee the same way it has for more than 80 years.
Before you even leave Los Angeles County, the route turns into a full food crawl. Grand Central Market in downtown LA delivers a ‘choose your own adventure’ lineup under a historic Beaux Arts ceiling.
Pink’s Hot Dogs, open since 1939, still pulls crowds for chili dogs and Hollywood nostalgia.
Stretch your legs at Runyon Canyon Park, where locals hike for views of the Hollywood Sign and the illusion of working off last night’s tacos.
Then comes the heart of the Route 66 checklist, the icons.
Top Route 66 Stops in California:
- Tail o’ the Pup in West Hollywood, the legendary hot dog stand shaped like a giant frankfurter and now a retro photo magnet.
- The Donut Man in Glendora, a cult favorite known for massive jam stuffed donuts that travelers swear are worth the stop.
- Magic Lamp Inn in Rancho Cucamonga, old school steakhouse energy with glowing neon roadside charm.
- Wigwam Motel in San Bernardino, where you can sleep in a concrete teepee because yes, that still exists.
- Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Oro Grande, a surreal desert forest made of glass bottles and scrap metal art.
- Roy’s Motel and Cafe in Amboy, a neon soaked ghost town icon rising out of the Mojave like a mirage that refuses to die.
- Bagdad Cafe in Newberry Springs, the cult film famous roadside stop that feels frozen in time.
- EddieWorld in Yermo, part gas station, part neon mega stop, part desert fever dream.
- Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Needles, a classic border town diner where California runs out of road.
- Santa Monica Pier, where it all begins and ends depending on your direction and your stamina.
Eastbound, the highway leans harder into diner Americana and desert survival mode.
Rancho Cucamonga’s Richie’s Real American Diner serves big booths and a kids menu with a coloring contest.
Ontario’s Vince’s Spaghetti has been doing one thing since 1945, giant plates of pasta in booths worn down by decades of regulars.
For car lovers, Route 66 is basically a rolling museum.
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles shows off Hollywood famous cars and a Vault full of rare automotive history.
Pomona’s Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum celebrates drag racing history in a converted Art Deco expo hall.
In Cucamonga, a 1915 service station stands as a roadside relic packed with memorabilia. Victorville’s California Route 66 Museum and Barstow’s Mother Road Museum turn the highway itself into an exhibit.
Barstow’s Skyline Drive-In keeps the tradition alive under desert skies.
Beyond the checklist, the road gets surreal.
Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch looks like desert art madness.
Roy’s Motel glows neon against an empty highway.
Amboy Crater rises from lava fields like the planet briefly remembered it was volcanic.
The Mojave National Preserve stretches into silence with Joshua trees, sand dunes that sing and skies that feel endless.
Farther east, the road finishes its California run with the Bagdad Cafe, EddieWorld’s neon overload and the Wagon Wheel Restaurant in Needles, where California quietly gives way to Arizona. Often called the Mother Road, Route 66 carried Dust Bowl migrants west, powered wartime America and became the ultimate symbol of the American road trip. John Steinbeck immortalized it in The Grapes of Wrath. A century later, it still does the same thing it always has. It turns a drive into a story worth telling twice.
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