It winds from
Chicago to L.A.” so says Nat “King” Cole’s classic hit “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66.” Beginning in 1926, Route 66 was the only U.S. highway providing a direct connection between the Windy City and the
City of Angels; thus, it is no wonder that Route 66 would become the metaphor of the American journey. The crescent-shaped route from the shore of
Lake Michigan to the southern Pacific Coast followed a corridor blazed by Indian footpaths, pioneer waterways, and transcontinental railroads. As the frontier moved across the Great Plains to the ocean, Chicago was the point of embarkation for people emigrating from the east, and it was the marketplace for the products harvested in the west. During the golden age of the car culture, Chicago was where people started their California trips as they took “the highway that’s the best.”
Background Information
Chicago, Illinois, is the largest city on the Great Lakes. Lake Michigan is one of the Great Lakes and is mostly bounded on the east by Michigan and the west by Illinois and Wisconsin. Los Angeles began as one of the Spanish missions in California and grew to be the largest city in the West.
