Somewhere on the old road, a driver in 1935 might pull over for a cold drink at a stand shaped like a colossal orange — a domed, bright-painted sphere with a window cut in the side and a man inside squeezing juice.
This was programmatic architecture, and Route 66 was full of it. In an age before towering signs and franchise logos, the cleverest way to catch a passing motorist was to build your business in the shape of what it sold. Starting in 1920s California, giant orange-shaped juice stands sprouted along the highways, selling fresh-squeezed orange juice to sun-struck travelers who couldn’t not notice a building that looked like breakfast.
The orange was just the beginning. Up and down the Mother Road and its cousins, you could eat in a diner shaped like a coffee pot, sleep in a wigwam, buy tamales from a giant tamale, and gas up beside a whale. The buildings were jokes and landmarks at once — impossible to miss, impossible to forget, and precisely the point.
Most are gone now, victims of the interstate and the standardized franchise, whose whole genius was to look identical everywhere. A handful survive as beloved oddities, reminders of a time when a roadside business had to earn your attention with a little audacity.
The modern road wants you to know exactly what you’ll get. The old one preferred to surprise you.
We are offering licences for ROUTE 66® Beer in specific territories. An invitation to others to become part of this story. To carry a piece of the road with them and to contribute to the story. We will share a percentage of royalties with Route 66 associations to keep the story alive.
The journey continues. This story is brought to you by ROUTE 66® BEER. Find us at ROUTE66BEER.COM
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