Route 66 Turns 100 This Year and Los Angeles Is the Finish Line
There is a sign bolted to a post at the edge of the Santa Monica Pier that reads "End of the Trail." It marks the western terminus of Route 66, the 2,448-mile highway that stretches from Chicago, Illinois to this exact spot above the Pacific Ocean. In 2026, that sign carries more weight than usual. The Mother Road turns 100 years old this year, and the stretch of Route 66 that runs through Los Angeles County is one of the most historically layered, visually compelling, and genuinely driveable day trips the city has to offer.
Route 66 was officially commissioned on November 11, 1926, connecting the American Midwest to the California coast at a moment when car culture was just beginning to define the country. Over the next several decades, it became the road that Dust Bowl migrants drove west in search of a new life, the highway that powered a golden era of roadside American culture, and eventually the inspiration for a television show, a song, and a national mythology. In 2026, California is marking the centennial with retro-inspired motel revivals, new cultural installations, and a fresh visitor center celebrating the road's legacy from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific shore.
For Angelenos, the final miles of Route 66 through LA County are not just a history lesson. They are a genuinely fun drive through neighborhoods that carry the physical memory of mid-century America, full of surviving diners, motor courts, neon signs, and stretches of old alignment road that predate the freeway era entirely. Here is how to drive them properly.
Why Route 66 Ends in Santa Monica
Most people assume Route 66 ends somewhere vaguely "out west," but the actual terminus is specific: the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard and Olympic Boulevard in Santa Monica, with the ceremonial finish at the Santa Monica Pier just a few blocks away. The pier's location on the edge of the continent made it the natural conclusion to a road that functioned as a promise. You drove west until you ran out of land. California was the destination, and Los Angeles, with its ocean and its sunshine and its relentless sense of possibility, was the reward.
The highway entered Los Angeles County from San Bernardino County along what is now Foothill Boulevard, threading through Pasadena before cutting through Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, and Azusa. From there, it traveled through Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona before entering the city proper via East Los Angeles and making its way west through downtown, along Sunset Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard, and finally to the pier.
That entire corridor, much of it still driveable on surface streets, is a layered archive of American roadside culture. The key is knowing where to stop.
Where to Start: The San Bernardino County Line to Pasadena
If you are doing the full LA County section in a single day, the logical starting point is Cajon Pass, where Route 66 historically descended from the high desert into the San Gabriel Valley. The drive down the pass on the old Cajon Boulevard alignment, parallel to the I-15, gives you an immediate sense of why this road mattered. The valley spreads out below you, ringed by mountains, and on a clear morning, the view stretches all the way to the Pacific.
From the bottom of the pass, the original alignment runs through Victorville and then picks up Foothill Boulevard, which is the primary Route 66 corridor through the San Gabriel Valley. Foothill Boulevard is an education in roadside Americana. Drive it slowly, and you will pass motor courts built in the 1930s and 1940s that are still operating, old gas stations repurposed as shops, and the kind of vernacular American architecture that urban planners spent decades trying to tear down and are now trying to preserve.
The Summit Inn at Cajon Pass
Before you drop into the valley, the Summit Inn at the top of Cajon Pass deserves its own mention. This roadside diner opened in 1952 and has been serving Route 66 travelers for over 70 years. The original location was destroyed in the Blue Cut Fire of 2016, but the Summit Inn was rebuilt and reopened, preserving the name and the tradition. Stopping here for breakfast before the drive into LA County is the right way to begin.
Pasadena: Route 66's Most Photogenic Stretch in LA County
Pasadena is where Route 66 really comes into its own in terms of visual character. The road enters Pasadena along Colorado Boulevard, which most Angelenos know as the route of the Rose Parade every New Year's Day. During the highway's golden era, Colorado Boulevard through Old Town Pasadena was lined with the full range of mid-century motor culture: drive-ins, motels, gas stations, and roadside restaurants competing for the attention of westbound travelers.
Much of that original commercial architecture survives, though many of the buildings have been converted to new uses. Walking Old Town Pasadena with Route 66 on your mind changes how you see the streetscape. The proportions of the buildings, their setbacks, and the way they were designed to catch the eye of someone driving at 40 miles per hour rather than walking past—all of it reflects a specific era in American commercial design.
Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain (Pasadena)
On the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Mission Street in South Pasadena, just south of the main Colorado Boulevard corridor, Fair Oaks Pharmacy is one of the most intact old-school soda fountains in Southern California. It opened in 1915 and still operates as a working pharmacy with a full vintage soda fountain counter serving phosphates, ice cream sodas, and malts made the old way. The decor has barely changed. Stopping here on any Route 66 drive through this part of LA County is essentially mandatory.
The Colorado Street Bridge
A short detour off the main alignment takes you to the Colorado Street Bridge, completed in 1913 and a genuine landmark of early California infrastructure. The arched concrete bridge spans the Arroyo Seco and offers views of the canyon below that feel completely removed from the urban environment surrounding it. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has been beautifully maintained. It is the kind of stop that rewards anyone who takes five minutes to get out of the car.
Through the San Gabriel Valley: Diners, Neon, and Motor Courts
East of Pasadena, Foothill Boulevard continues through a string of San Gabriel Valley cities that Route 66 shaped and that have never entirely let go of the highway's identity. Arcadia, Monrovia, Duarte, Azusa, Glendora, San Dimas, La Verne, and Pomona all have surviving pieces of the Route 66 landscape worth stopping for.
Wigwam Motel (Rialto, Just East of LA County)
Technically just over the San Bernardino County line in Rialto, the Wigwam Motel is close enough to the start of your LA day that it deserves inclusion. Seven concrete teepee-shaped guest rooms built in 1949 are still operating as overnight accommodations, and the property has been maintained with genuine care by the same family for decades. It is one of the most photographed Route 66 landmarks in California and one of only two surviving Wigwam Motels in the United States. If you are doing this drive over two days rather than one, spending a night here before the LA County section is an experience with no equivalent.
The Donut Man (Glendora)
Jim Nakano opened The Donut Man on Route 66 in Glendora in 1972, and it has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week ever since. The specialty is the Fresh Strawberry Donut, a glazed ring donut split open and stuffed with fresh strawberries and cream that has achieved a legitimate cult following across Los Angeles. When strawberry season runs from roughly March through June, the line outside this unassuming shop on Route 66 tells you everything you need to know about how good it is. The peach version in late summer is equally worth the stop.
Pomona's Historic Downtown
Pomona sits at the junction of several old Route 66 alignments and has one of the better-preserved historic downtowns in the San Gabriel Valley. The Fox Theater on Second Street, built in 1931, is a genuine Art Deco treasure that still hosts concerts and events. The surrounding downtown blocks have been experiencing a slow revival of independent restaurants, breweries, and creative businesses that are beginning to reflect the energy of the corridor's past in a new way.
Downtown Los Angeles: Route 66 Through the City's Heart
Route 66 entered the city of Los Angeles proper along what is now Cesar Chavez Avenue through East Los Angeles, passing through Boyle Heights before reaching downtown. The stretch along Cesar Chavez through Boyle Heights is one of the most culturally rich corridors in the city, lined with murals, taquerias, and the kind of neighborhood commercial life that has been continuous on this street for the better part of a century.
Clifton's Cafeteria (DTLA)
The original Clifton's Cafeteria on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles opened in 1935 and fed Dust Bowl migrants, movie stars, soldiers, and office workers for decades. The building at 648 South Broadway reopened after a major renovation and now operates as a multi-level bar, event space, and dining venue while preserving much of the original mid-century character of the building. Standing in the lobby and knowing that people driving Route 66 west toward a new life ate here in the 1930s and 1940s gives the place a specific kind of weight.
Olvera Street and El Pueblo de Los Angeles
Just off the Route 66 alignment near downtown, Olvera Street and the surrounding El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument represent the oldest part of the city. The street itself is a covered market of Mexican artisans and food vendors that has been operating since 1930. On a Route 66 centennial trip through LA, stopping here is a reminder that the highway did not create Los Angeles. It connected a place that already had a thousand years of human story behind it.
West Hollywood and the Sunset Stretch
From downtown, Route 66 tracked west along Sunset Boulevard through Silver Lake, Echo Park, and into West Hollywood before picking up Santa Monica Boulevard for the final push to the coast. This stretch of Sunset is one of the most myth-saturated roads in America. The Sunset Strip through West Hollywood was the center of the American music industry for several decades, and the neon signs, the Chateau Marmont, the Whisky a Go Go, and the Roxy are all still standing on the same road that Route 66 travelers drove.
Chateau Marmont (West Hollywood)
The Chateau Marmont opened in 1929, the same decade Route 66 was commissioned, and has been part of the road's mythology ever since. You do not need a room to stop here. The bar is open to walk-ins, and sitting on the terrace above Sunset Boulevard while the afternoon light shifts toward golden hour is an experience that connects the Route 66 era to the present in a very direct way.
Book Soup (West Hollywood)
At 8818 Sunset Boulevard, Book Soup has been one of the best independent bookstores in Los Angeles since 1975. The travel section is excellent, and there is a respectable collection of Route 66 literature, including Michael Wallis's definitive biography of the highway, that makes for perfect reading on the final leg of the drive to Santa Monica.
The Finish Line: Santa Monica Pier at Sunset
Santa Monica Boulevard carries you through Beverly Hills, Century City, and into Santa Monica before delivering you to the pier at the end of Ocean Avenue. The final stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard approaching the coast feels like a deliberate decompression, the city loosening its grip as the Pacific air comes in.
The Santa Monica Pier dates to 1909 and is one of the oldest amusement piers on the West Coast. The Ferris wheel, the carousel, and the arcade have been here in various forms since the highway era, and the pier has enough history layered into its weathered boards to justify simply standing there for a while before the sun drops.
The "End of the Trail" sign is near the pier entrance. Find it. Take a photo if you want. But the real payoff is facing west from the end of the pier, watching the sun fall toward the horizon over the Pacific, and understanding viscerally why 2,448 miles of road was worth driving. This is where Route 66 ends, and in a city that has always understood the romance of arrival, there is no better place for it to end than here.
How to Do This Drive in a Single Day
The full LA County Route 66 alignment from the San Bernardino County line to Santa Monica Pier is about 65 miles of surface streets. With stops, plan for a full day, roughly eight to ten hours from start to finish.
A practical schedule that works:
- 7:30 a.m. Breakfast at the Summit Inn at Cajon Pass before dropping into the valley
- 9:30 a.m. Fair Oaks Pharmacy soda fountain in South Pasadena
- 10:15 a.m. Colorado Street Bridge walk
- 11:30 a.m. The Donut Man in Glendora (strawberry donut, no substitutions)
- 1:00 p.m. Lunch in Pomona's historic downtown
- 3:00 p.m. Olvera Street and El Pueblo in DTLA
- 4:30 p.m. Sunset Strip walk through West Hollywood
- 6:30 p.m. Santa Monica Pier for golden hour and the end of the trail
Route 66 turns 100 this year, and the final miles of the Mother Road run right through Los Angeles. You already live at the finish line. Drive the road that leads to it.
