If you've strolled along Route 66 in Williams, Arizona, or cruised the neons along Albuquerque's Central Avenue, don't expect to find anything comparable in California.

Steinbeck called it the Mother Road and the name stuck. The highway was the backdrop for John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, the topic of a song by Bobby Troup and the backdrop for a 1960s television show. In 1985, Route 66 was removed from the United States highway system, replaced by wider, more modern Interstate Highway, but in those six decades, it gained a status few strips of asphalt enjoy, passing into the fabric of our culture. After World War II and the beginning of America's new car culture, it carried vacationers who wanted to tour The West, visit a new-fangled attraction called Disneyland, or see the Pacific Ocean. After its creation in 1926, it was the way west for migrants escaping the Dust Bowl, hoping to find work in California's fields and factories. For much of the early twentieth century, Route 66 was the way most people got to California.

Route 66 casino events