Just how profoundly is U.S. Route 66 branded on the American psyche? Consider these examples of the highway in popular culture:
"Route 66," the song written by character actor Bobby Troup -- he drove a jeep in the film "M.A.S.H." -- was recorded by Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, the Replacements, the Rolling Stones, Asleep at the Wheel, Depeche Mode and Michael Martin Murphey, among others. The Quality Inn in Kingman, Ariz., features the Bobby Troup Room, where the songwriter supposedly slept.
The highway was featured extensively in John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath." The 1940 film version of the book, starring Henry Fonda, includes many scenes of the highway.
MA Parts of "Rain Man" were shot along Route 66 in Oklahoma. The
Super 8 Hotel in El Reno preserved Room 117, where director Barry Levinson filmed scenes with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise.
Route 66 is the setting for much of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road."
In the early '60s, "Route 66" was a popular television series with Martin "Adam 12" Milner and George Maharis. However, only two installments of the show were actually filmed on the highway.
A scene from "The Dark Wind," a forthcoming Lou Diamond Phillips movie based on the Tony Hillerman book, was shot at the Wigwam Village motel in Holbrook, Ariz. Robert Redford is the executive producer.
"Cadillac Ranch," a song from Bruce Springsteen's "The River" LP, was inspired by the roadside attraction near Amarillo, Texas.
A coming kick-boxing flick with Jean-Claude Van Damme was filmed over the summer along Oatman Road, one of Route 66's most famous sections.
Clark Gable and Carole Lombard spent their honeymoon in the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Ariz., on Route 66. It's now a museum.
The logo of Phillips 66, the gas station of the Phillips Petroleum Co., was inspired by the Route 66 highway signs.