Author-photographer Sondra Diepen will present a visual tour of Route 66 through New Mexico on Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. at Placitas Community Library, coinciding with the highway’s centennial year.
Diepen spent more than a decade following original maps of the historic highway, documenting both abandoned and thriving locations along the route. Her work includes photographs of vintage trading posts, roadside attractions, diners, gas stations and motor courts.
The presentation will highlight notable Route 66 sites, including a snake pit near Moriarty, Budville — site of an unsolved murder — and the original Chief Yellowhorse Trading Post. Diepen will also discuss the original Santa Fe loop and El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, where actors including Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe and John Wayne stayed.
During her research, Diepen interviewed longtime residents and collected stories from the highway’s heyday…