The just-completed “Route 66: The Road and the Romance” at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles was declared “the most popular show in the history of the museum” by its president.
That pronouncement was made by museum president Richard West, according to Jim Farber in an email Thursday. Farber shepherded the creation of the show.
Farber said the museum doesn’t keep specific counts for exhibits, but it was estimated more than 100,000 visited “Route 66: The Road and the Romance” during its seven-month run. UPDATE: In a follow-up email, Farber backs away from the 100,000 figure, but estimates attendance at 50,000 “at least.”
More observations from Farber in the email:
A security guard said that on the Saturday before the last day there were so many people in the galleries “you could hardly move.”
As the show’s original creator I can only say how satisfying it was to see so many people having such a great time. And Richard West said it was one of the few times in his experience when people that did not know each other were constantly striking up conversations. James Canary (of Indiana University, who travels with the Jack Kerouac scroll of “On the Road”) was there Sunday telling people little known facts about the manuscript and its author. Cynnie Troup, the daughter of Bobby Troup (“Get your kicks on” Route 66″) was also on hand to talk about the cross-country map created by her mother and father on the trip west.
At the end of the exhibit visitors were encouraged to post “Route 66 “postcards” of their experiences, which included this wonderful posting from David Skelly (of PIXAR).
Five years in the making, “Route 66: The Road and the Romance” was a great ride. Thanks to all of you that came and shared our trip down the Mother Road— a list that included such admired road warriors as Michael Wallis, Arthur Krim, Dan Rice, Jim Ross, Jerry McClanahan, David Knudson, Shellee Graham and 84 year-old George Maharis (who loved the show). Now it’s time to head on down the road as we make plans for 2018 and the arrival of “Route 66: Song of the Open Road” in Europe!
Here is the aforementioned postcard by the Pixar artist:
(Images courtesy of Jim Farber)
In my post-closing enthusiasm I may have over estimated the attendance, but it was well into the thousands including any number of school classes that had the chance to discover Route 66.
Are we surprised? At our institution, (Cline Library, NAU), our “Route 66 in Arizona: Don’t Forget Winona!” exhibit was among the most popular, well attended and well supported of all of our exhibits (and ours still lives on at:https://library.nau.edu/speccoll/exhibits/route66/index.html)
Seriously though, isn’t this exactly what Dr. Listokin’s Rutgers study on the economic impact of Route 66 said? It baffles me why towns on Route 66 do not capitalize on their relationship with the road. The proof is there, Route 66 is a tremendous promotional tool- especially if it is well done.
The Autry and Jim Farber are to be congratulated on a fine interpretation and representation of 66. I was there in June, and got to see some of their panel discussions- awesome stuff.
The bar for Route 66 museums and exhibits has been raised.