Most international tourists will tell you of all the Old Route 66 attractions to see in Victorville, the most popular would probably be the California Route 66 Museum in Old Town.
Located on D Street/Route 66 in downtown Victorville, the nearly 30-year-old museum is packed with memorabilia from the “Main Street of America.”
The museum is also a portal to the High Desert’s past, which includes a vintage car, old signs, books, posters, records, military equipment and items from The Red Log Cafe and George Air Force Base, both shuttered in Victorville.
From Down Under to Down Town
Rod and Marianne Gillard, from Adelaide, South Australia, told the Daily Press they love the museum’s world map, with pins stuck in countries tourists traveled from.
“Look at Australia, Asia and Europe, that’s a lot of people!” Rod said excitedly.
On Mother’s Day weekend, the Gillards were part of a group of 31 tourists from Australia, England, Canada and the U.S., who flooded the museum in Old Town as part of the Route 66 Centennial celebration.
The Gillard’s group of “Route 66 lovers” began their sightseeing journey in Chicago and were on the final day of a nearly two-week-long road trip.
Many told the Daily Press the group had stopped, shopped, dined and took photos at venues and roadside attractions along the Mother Road.
“We’re finishing up here in Victorville and should be arriving in Santa Monica later today,” Marianne told the Daily Press. “We’ve seen the greatest road in America, and we love it.”
Relics of the past
Located on D Street/Route 66, the museum is a nearly 4,500-square-foot building packed with relics of the past, including a 1917 Model T Ford and the first Santa Monica “End of the Trails” booth.
During this reporter’s visit to the museum, many tourists asked to be photographed sitting at the makeshift ’50s diner, inside the ’60s-themed VW Love Bus and next to the 1917 Model T Ford.
Other popular items tourists asked about included the neon Green Spot Motel sign, dual Phillips 66 fuel pumps, and signs from Mahan’s Half Acre.
Mahan’s, known as “Hulaville,” was built by the late Miles Mahan and was once located near Route 66 and west of Interstate 15 in Hesperia. The roadside attraction included signs, bottle trees and a 12-foot-high hula girl sign.
Outside, the museum sports several murals, including a building-length mural, an old red train caboose and vintage signage.
The museum’s gift shop offers Route 66-themed shirts, hats, mugs, decals, buttons, toys and more.
One popular item that has flown off the shelf is the limited edition California Route 66 Centennial Passport, which the museum was out of.
A dream come true
Many in the group said driving the Mother Road was a “dream come true,” a sentiment echoed by many over the decades.
In 2016, European driver Oisteim Kjensli told the Daily Press that 20 cars were shipped to the U.S. from Scandinavia to take part in the eight-week “Route 66 90th Anniversary Tour of America.”
Kjensli said at the time, “There is a magic about Route 66 that draws people from all over the world, including our group of 58 from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.”
“And driving a classic car on the pavement of the Mother Road is a dream come true.”
Visiting the California Route 66 Museum
The California Route 66 Museum is located at 16825 D Street in Victorville. Route 66 stretches over 2,400 miles from Chicago, Illinois, to Santa Monica, California. It ran through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona before ending in California.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Route 66 Museum in Victorville a hot spot for international tourists
Reporting by Rene Ray De La Cruz, Victorville Daily Press / Victorville Daily Press
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