Victorville highlight
California Route 66 Museum
A museum dedicated to U.S. Route 66, established in 1995 in Old Town Victorville and housed in a former café that served travelers for decades.
U.S. Route 66 was established on November 11, 1926, connecting Santa Monica on the Pacific Ocean through Los Angeles and San Bernardino to Needles at the Arizona border, spanning 316 miles across California. The highway traced the historic National Old Trails Highway across the Mojave Desert through communities including Victorville, Barstow, and Amboy, serving travelers, truckers, and families moving west. The route operated through these communities until it was decommissioned in 1979 as Interstate 15 and other highways redirected traffic.
The California Route 66 Museum opened its doors in Victorville on November 11, 1995, housed in a 5,000-square-foot building on South D Street in Old Town Victorville, the former Red Rooster Café. The museum was established by Old Town Victorville Heritage Preservation, Inc., and features three display rooms plus a gift shop filled with historic photographs and artifacts that document how Route 66 shaped the local economy and culture. The building itself is part of that history, having served as a waystation for travelers and a filming location for the 1980 film The Jazz Singer.
The museum reflects what Route 66 meant to Victorville: a connection point for families and workers traveling to new opportunities, a symbol of roads that linked communities and created commerce. Today, planning for a family's financial future follows the same principle—establishing a secure connection, removing uncertainty, and ensuring the income that ties a household together is protected if something unexpected happens.