66 Motels is a documentary project about the independently owned and operated historic motels of Route 66. The project will combine interviews and photos of motels and owners online, allowing users to connect a place with its owner and to see what it's like to actually run a business on Route 66. The first phase of the project is a collection of photos; interviews will be posted in summer 2009.
One of the project's central ideas is that the people who own and maintain these pieces of the American cultural landscape are playing an important role in the development of Route 66 as a cultural corridor. Many of these owners are Asian and Asian-American, and this project hopes to bring attention to this population's role in preserving and developing the Route 66 landscape. The project also looks at Route 66 as a place where nostalgia clashes with the present-day realities of living and working in the communities along the road.
Currently, the project includes documentation of motels between Tulsa, OK and Joplin, MO, between Albuquerque, NM to Tucumcari, NM; and in northern Arizona. The project will cover Illinois and California later this year. If you are a Route 66 property owner or know of a particular motel that you'd like to see included in this project, please contact acdodge at gmail dot com.
66 Motels is funded by grants from the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.