The CityLab website recently published a profile about photographer and filmmaker Phil Donahue (not the talk-show host) and his efforts to document what he calls “nostalgia on Route 66.”
Donahue’s observations give the reader a lot of think about. Here’s what he observed in many Route 66 towns:
For the most part, Donohue said, the towns that line Route 66 made him sad. “There’s such a deadness in these towns. Not much has changed… In some instances it’s better, and in some it’s worse.” He recounted talking to people in towns along the highway, and how many residents had a sense of resignation tied to nostalgia for an idea of their town and way of life that has since passed them by.
About the unexpected dark side of nostalgia:
“There’s this whole Route 66 culture — even new developments are creating their own neon signs to give you that feeling,” Donohue said. “And yet, the thing that’s giving you the feeling still exists! [But] people don’t necessarily want to interact with it. They want to interact with the imagery.”
Donahue doesn’t entirely buy into nostalgia himself:
“There’s a lot of photography about ‘(Get your Kicks) on Route 66’ and remember when everything was grand,” said Donohue. But he pointed out that a lot of towns along the route used to be sundown towns — places where black Americans were not allowed to stay after the sun had set. “There was a lot of mythology about Route 66,” he said, “that it was this great thing and this open road, but so many people weren’t able to enjoy that experience—and they don’t have the same nostalgia that a white person can.”
These things above are why I have regarded nostalgia with a bit of suspicion. When I started this website in 2005, almost all the other Route 66 sites were obsessed with old memories of the road and little else. I was more interested with what was happening on Route 66 now and how it would evolve in the 21st century. Passing on its history remains important, but it wasn’t a primary motivator. One of the reasons Michael Wallis wrote his best-selling book “Route 66: The Mother Road” was he grew tired of hearing about the Mother Road in the past tense. I held the same view.
Plus, nostalgia usually contains a considerable dose of amnesia. People who lived through the so-called heyday of Route 66 tend to forget its horrific crashes, roadside con men, dodgy food, erratic motels and systemic racism by businesses.
Alas, the CityLab article or Donahue doesn’t dive into the phenomenon of anemoia — a wish to return to a past era that one hasn’t experienced — that West Texas A&M marketing professor Nick Gerlich talked about at the 2015 Miles of Possibility Conference. Anemoiaic tourists don’t have strong feelings about their own pasts, but seeing historic landmarks on Route 66 inflames their imaginations about the past.
This phenomenon often is overlooked by tourism officials and may prove to be a financial lifeline in the future of Route 66 — especially from millennial travelers who value authenticity and old architecture and designs.
(Image of a Route 66 dead end in New Mexico by MortAuPat via Flickr)
Well said! When I was researching my first book, I unearthed a lot of memories that fascinated me and photographer Quinta Scott, but very few were happy memories. Life on Route 66 was hard.
I think most people who walk (or drive) this Earth already know that life is hard! Even some “millennials,” especially when Starbucks runs out of soy and their forced to order a Coconut milk Caramel Macchiato. But I digress… I think more museums along the Route should delve into the things that led to it’s demise: the dangerous turns, “Bloody 66,” etc. Ultimately though, I think it’s ok to give people something fun and positive too! Life is hard, but meeting Angel or Croc or having a greasy burger and fries at an old Diner makes this world a little, just a little, less ugly. And that’s the difference between “US Highway 66” and “Historic Route 66.”
“It could be argued that nostalgia is a form of self-deception in that it invariably involves distortion and idealization of the past, not least because the bad or boring bits fade from memory more quickly than the peak experiences. The Romans had a tag for the phenomenon that psychologists have come to call ‘rosy retrospection’: memoria praeteritorum bonorum, ‘the past is always well remembered’. If overindulged, nostalgia can give rise to a utopia that never existed and can never exist, but that is pursued at all costs, sapping all life and joy and potential from the present. For many people, paradise is not so much a place to go to as the place that they came from.” —Neel Burton, MD
Interesting that human nature hasn’t changed a bit since the Romans. I would venture to say that the reason we remember the good and let the bad pass is an evolutionary one – a defense/survival mechanism in our brains.
If we do ” remember the good and let the bad pass”, perhaps that is why we make the same mistakes again and again. We can only learn from the past by remembering it.
With the number of eating places mentioned on Route 66 News, one could almost mistake it for an eatery guide. It seems to be part of human nature to roseate the past. For my maternal grandfather, “the good old days” ended with the start of the First World War.
Yes, that is exactly why we repeat our mistakes! I’m just not sure that we have the capacity to “overcome” something so ingrained in the survival side of our brains. I suppose it could eventually go with other traits we’re losing, like our sense of smell, but probably not before we go extinct.
To your other point – One thing I’ve noticed about a person talking about “the good old days,” is it’s usually tied to the subjects youth to prime adulthood. True Route 66 nostalgia is a dead end and will fade simply because the people who were in their youth during it’s heydays (it’s had a few) are getting older and, truth be known, passing away. “Millennials” may appreciate an “authentic” experience, but their tie to a road and time that never existed to them, save thru a cartoon, will never be tangible.
How true. And a lot of “nostalgia” is for the time before the people being nostalgic were born – usually thanks to the so-called entertainment industry. I feel nostalgic for steam trains, for driving on rocky or dirt roads in Africa and Australia. But the trains were dirty and very hard work; the old roads were rough to drive on and breakdowns were common; when the rains came the roads were impassable. I expect those born at the start of the motor age grew nostalgic for stage coaches. I doubt if the horses did!
Boy, don’t know what to say here. Have started 3 or 4 times, and deleted it each time. I know this won’t be popular.
So where does all of this leave us?
Who are we arguing against? Who is for a totally shallow, artificial experience? Am I missing an ad campaign somewhere?
Are the uneducated Route 66 tourists not already voting on this topic? I read story after story about preservation…about how towns that have preserved elements of their past (or built new ones that have a nostalgic bent) are outscoring towns without 10 to 1 where tourism dollars are concerned. Are they doing it with grim reminders of a dark and disturbing past?
Are great unwashed masses of tourists storming the doors of Route 66 museums (we have what…at least a dozen now?) demanding the removal of information about the difficulties…about the depression that drove so many west…the hardships, the crime, the racism? I haven’t noticed it, but have not studied it either.
Dangerous roads were everywhere. Racism was everywhere. Shady operators were everywhere. Tell the story, but don’t harp on it.
If Route 66 lives or dies economically based on tourism, then that’s what you probably ought to cater to. Only one person in a thousand wants to spend two or three weeks of their lives…of their resources…of their vacation, wallowing in a repeated drumbeat of the ills of mankind, past, present and future. If I’m traveling for leisure, I want nice. I want clean. I want safe. I also want history, warts and all. But is nostalgia going to drive a big part of that? You bet.
Looks, East St. Louis is still there. Stop and walk the streets of it if you’d like. I’m find a quick way around.