On my Twitter account, I stumbled onto Dan Rice’s 66 to Cali business, which is an apparel shack on the Santa Monica Pier — the symbolic western end of Route 66.
Rice sells American-made T-shirts with a Route 66 theme on them. The 66 to Cali store opened on the pier in July. Stangely enough, apparently there had never been a Route 66-related business on the pier before.
Based on his Web page, Rice is relishing every minute of it:
Although the demand has been enormous for shirts, as a fellow Route 66 fan and traveler, Dan also remembers what this is all about: You! The Route 66 Roadie! Therefore, Dan feels the personal responsibility as the guy at the end of the road to provide a suitable, celebratory end and a welcoming friend at the end of your 2,448 mile Route 66 journey. That’s why you can often find him and his girlfriend Jessica at the pier greeting arriving guests until well after midnight.
With God to guide him and his new friends surrounding him, Dan looks at the Pacific surf, and the California sunsets each night with the full knowledge that he is the most blessed Route 66 “roadie” to be found anywhere along America’s Main Street. So come down and see him. Buy a shirt. And like so many before you, celebrate the end of the road, and the beginning of the dream! Dan thanks you for your business!
I guess there are worse things than hanging out on the ocean every day. 😉
66 to Cali is open from noon to 8 p.m. seven days a week on the pier.
“I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay,
Watchin’ the tide roll away,
I’m just sittin’ on the dock of the bay,
Wastin’ time.”
More power to him! Last time we were at the end of 66 in Santa Monica, I asked at a visitor’s center in the Park if there was any Route 66 related material available. The woman didn’t know a thing about Route 66, and there was one lone folder about Arizona in their immense tourist literature rack. She didn’t even know about the marker at the end of the Will Rogers Highway. I’m glad there is a little more of Route 66 ready to meet the roadies who make it all the way.
Thanks to all of you for your support. We’ve had an amazing first few months on the pier, and it would not have been possible without all of the passion of the people like you and those who, like myself, love Route 66! Thanks for your positive comments…yes, there is finally a roadie at the end of Route 66…stop by and see me the next time you are in Santa Monica. God Bless. Dan Rice, Owner – “66-to-Cali.”