On November 11, about 50 people crowded into the back room at the Route 66 Diner in Albuquerque for a dinner organized by the New Mexico Route 66 Association. The “Mother Road,” as John Steinbeck called Route 66 in his famous 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath, serves as the Main Street of dozens of towns and cities, including Albuquerque’s Central Avenue along which the diner is located.
“This is so special,” said Melissa Beasley-Lee, president of the association. “The 100 years’ [celebration] is just absolutely phenomenal, and we’re really excited about it.”
Dinner at the diner was just a part of the association’s celebration of Route 66’s official 100th birthday – the road having been officially designated on November 11, 1926 – with both an afterparty at the hidden speakeasy at Hotel Zazz (previously University Lodge, also built along Route 66) and an earlier presentation by Donatella Davanzo, one of the association’s board members, who has spent years connecting the road’s cultural heritage with modern-day New Mexico…