By Oliver Beckwith, MHM Board Member
In the first four decades of Monrovia’s existence, modes of transportation in the city had been changing. In the early years the train was the main mode of transportation. Passengers arrived at the Santa Fe Station. Next they were taken into town on a mule drawn trolley. In 1903 the Pacific Electric train line was added, making trips to Pasadena and Los Angeles relatively easy. The twentieth century also saw the advent of the automobile, and before too many years had passed, people were driving to and from Monrovia in their Studebakers, Oldsmobiles, or Fords.
Long distance travel was difficult owing to poor road conditions. Colonel (later General and President) Dwight Eisenhower tried to move a military convoy across the country in 1919. The trip took 62 days, and this led to calls for an improved highway system in the United States. By the mid-1920’s a highway between Chicago and Los Angeles was planned by the Bureau of Public Roads, and on April 30, 1926, they designated the Highway as Route 66. The 2448 mile highway was put together from a number of state and local highways, and featured many stops in small towns along the way. Local businesses on the road prospered as people passed through those towns. Monrovia too benefited from the highway.
In anticipation of the improved traffic such a highway would bring, local investors put up $138,000 and built the Aztec Hotel at Foothill and Magnolia in 1925. Architect Robert Stacy-Judd designed the building in the rare Mayan Revival Style, but the place was named the Aztec Hotel because many Americans knew nothing of Mayan culture. While never a successful hotel, the building stands today as an important monument for Route 66 travelers. Other buildings from Route 66 in Monrovia include the Flying A Gas station on Shamrock and the Oak Park Motel on Huntington, which features a googie-style sign.
During the life of the highway there were two routes going through Monrovia. Early on the road went through Huntington, up Shamrock to Foothill, and then West to Arcadia, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. In the early 1930’s a decision was made to move the route to Huntington, and in short order businesses, following street traffic, moved to Huntington as well. Monrovia Airport was located on that route between Mountain and Shamrock. In the late 1930s the McDonald brothers operated a stand there offering hot dogs, fries, and orange juice. It was called the Airdrome, and when they moved to San Bernardino in 1940 they renamed their restaurant McDonald’s.
Over the years Route 66 played an important part in American history. The Depression years saw the coming of more than 200,000 migrants to California on the “Mother Road,” as described by John Steinbeck in his classic book, The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II the road was used for transportation of men and materials to the many military bases on the West Coast.
After the war many former soldiers used the road to move their families to California, now a center for industrial expansion, and a population explosion followed. In 1946 Bobby Troup wrote a song encouraging people to “Come and get your kicks on Route 66,” and people watched a TV series with the same name in the early 1960s. For people of a certain age Route 66 is a fixture of memory.
The success of Route 66 in the postwar years may have led to its replacement. In 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower, seeing a need for safer highways that would carry more traffic, signed into law the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. This created the interstate highway system we all use and enjoy today, but it bypassed Route 66. By 1985 the Transportation Department removed Route 66 as a highway designation, leaving the upkeep of the roads to state and local governments. Many of the small towns on Route 66 were bypassed by the interstate and a good number are now ghost towns. Monrovia avoided that fate owing to its location in the Los Angeles basin.
April 30, 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road. Events are being planned across the old highway and plans are being made to celebrate the anniversary here in Monrovia. More information will be forthcoming. The museum is working on a much larger space dedicated to Route 66 and its history.
Part of the display will feature Route 66 stories from local residents. I have a Route 66 story. In 1928 my grandfather drove his family, including my mother who was nine at the time, from New York to Chicago. He then took Route 66 from Chicago through Monrovia on his way to settling in Los Angeles. Every day I drive the same streets my grandfather drove 97 years ago.
What is your Route 66 story? We are hoping our local stories of Route 66 will be shared in the museum for generations to come, sharing our personal history of the Mother Road’s past with the future.
In anticipation of the improved traffic such a highway would bring, local investors put up $138,000 and built the Aztec Hotel at Foothill and Magnolia in 1925. Architect Robert Stacy-Judd designed the building in the rare Mayan Revival Style, but the place was named the Aztec Hotel because many Americans knew nothing of Mayan culture. While never a successful hotel, the building stands today as an important monument for Route 66 travelers. Other buildings from Route 66 in Monrovia include the Flying A Gas station on Shamrock and the Oak Park Motel on Huntington, which features a googie-style sign.
During the life of the highway there were two routes going through Monrovia. Early on the road went through Huntington, up Shamrock to Foothill, and then West to Arcadia, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. In the early 1930’s a decision was made to move the route to Huntington, and in short order businesses, following street traffic, moved to Huntington as well. Monrovia Airport was located on that route between Mountain and Shamrock. In the late 1930s the McDonald brothers operated a stand there offering hot dogs, fries, and orange juice. It was called the Airdrome, and when they moved to San Bernardino in 1940 they renamed their restaurant McDonald’s.
Over the years Route 66 played an important part in American history. The Depression years saw the coming of more than 200,000 migrants to California on the “Mother Road,” as described by John Steinbeck in his classic book, The Grapes of Wrath. During World War II the road was used for transportation of men and materials to the many military bases on the West Coast.
After the war many former soldiers used the road to move their families to California, now a center for industrial expansion, and a population explosion followed. In 1946 Bobby Troup wrote a song encouraging people to “Come and get your kicks on Route 66,” and people watched a TV series with the same name in the early 1960s. For people of a certain age Route 66 is a fixture of memory.
The success of Route 66 in the postwar years may have led to its replacement. In 1956 President Dwight Eisenhower, seeing a need for safer highways that would carry more traffic, signed into law the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act. This created the interstate highway system we all use and enjoy today, but it bypassed Route 66. By 1985 the Transportation Department removed Route 66 as a highway designation, leaving the upkeep of the roads to state and local governments. Many of the small towns on Route 66 were bypassed by the interstate and a good number are now ghost towns. Monrovia avoided that fate owing to its location in the Los Angeles basin.
April 30, 2026 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Mother Road. Events are being planned across the old highway and plans are being made to celebrate the anniversary here in Monrovia. More information will be forthcoming. The museum is working on a much larger space dedicated to Route 66 and its history.
Part of the display will feature Route 66 stories from local residents. I have a Route 66 story. In 1928 my grandfather drove his family, including my mother who was nine at the time, from New York to Chicago. He then took Route 66 from Chicago through Monrovia on his way to settling in Los Angeles. Every day I drive the same streets my grandfather drove 97 years ago.
What is your Route 66 story? We are hoping our local stories of Route 66 will be shared in the museum for generations to come, sharing our personal history of the Mother Road’s past with the future.
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