Road Memories of Route 66
Regarding Route 66, someone should tell about the greed of exploiters along the way and the outright hostility of some of the towns. I knew Route 66 well, having hitchhiked it and driven it by car and truck about 33 times.
Flagstaff, Ariz. loved to jail hitchhikers and cut hippies’ hair in the late ‘60s. Tucumcari, N.M. (one of the last stretches to succumb to Interstate 40), had a 24-hour justice of the peace to try people on anything they could find to make money. Their speed traps rivaled any in the United States. It is rumored that black writer Louis Lomax’s car brakes were sabotaged there.
For pure greed, you could cross the California line into towns between Needles and Barstow. They charged 10 cents for a glass of water in cafes, 10 cents a gallon for water for car radiators. When gas was 23 cents a gallon in L.A., they were charging 45 cents a gallon plus outrageous prices for car parts taken from abandoned cars.
JOEL HUNTER
Glendale
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