The High Desert Gateway: Where Route 66 Comes Down from the Mountains

There is a moment on Route 66 heading west through the California High Desert that has marked the psychological midpoint of thousands of cross-country journeys. The road drops south from the flat expanse of the Mojave, crosses the Mojave River on a 1930s steel truss bridge whose ornate ironwork railings catch the desert light, and arrives in Victorville, California — a city of approximately 135,000 people at 2,875 feet in the San Bernardino Mountains’ high desert foothills. To the north: the long, open Mojave corridor stretching toward Barstow, Amboy, and the Arizona border, 315 miles of desert and ghost town and volcanic geology. To the south: the Cajon Pass, the descent to San Bernardino and the Los Angeles basin, and then 50 more miles west to the Pacific Ocean and the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.

Victorville was a Route 66 city before most California communities knew the highway existed. Its downtown — anchored by D Street and 7th Street in what is now called Old Town Victorville — was a genuine hub of the pre-interstate West: a place where cross-country travelers from Chicago stopped to eat, sleep, and fuel up before tackling the mountain pass. It was a place where Hollywood came to film Westerns in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s, using its “wild West” back country as the backdrop for more than 200 films. It is a place where Roy Rogers, the King of Cowboys, kept his ranch. And it is a place where Route 66’s heritage is preserved in one of the finest free Mother Road museums on the entire California corridor — the California Route 66 Museum, housed in the historic Red Rooster Café building on D Street since 1995.

Where Does Route 66 Run Through Victorville?

Route 66 enters Victorville from the north via D Street (National Trails Highway / Business I-15), crossing the Mojave River Bridge from Oro Grande. It runs south on D Street through Old Town Victorville — the city’s original commercial district — until reaching 7th Street, where the route turns west and continues through the newer commercial district toward the Cajon Pass alignment. The D Street alignment is the heart of Route 66 in Victorville and the location of its primary landmarks.

To reach the Route 66 alignment in Victorville from Interstate 15: Take the D Street / Apple Valley exit and drive east on D Street. The road is immediately Route 66 itself — the National Trails Highway through the High Desert. In approximately three quarters of a mile, D Street enters Old Town Victorville, and the California Route 66 Museum is on the right side of the street, directly across from the Victorville Transit Center (built on the site of the former railroad depot).

Victorville’s History: From Victor to the Mother Road

Jacob Nash Victor and the California Southern Railroad: 1885

The community that became Victorville was established in the mid-1880s around a single decisive event: the arrival of the California Southern Railroad. The town was originally called simply “Victor” in honor of Jacob Nash Victor, a construction superintendent for the California Southern (a Santa Fe subsidiary) who helped build the line through the Mojave River Valley. The railroad’s arrival transformed what had been a sparse agricultural and mining area — the Mojave River’s water supply had already attracted some farming, and the nearby Calico silver mines had created modest commercial activity — into a functioning town with a depot, commercial district, and the services that railroad workers and travelers required.

The name changed from Victor to Victorville as the community grew, and the city was not formally incorporated until September 21, 1962 — making it one of the later California High Desert communities to achieve municipal status despite its long history as a railroad and highway town. The post office changed its name to “Barstow Post Office” in 1886, while Victorville developed its own identity as the primary commercial center of the Victor Valley — the high desert basin between the San Bernardino Mountains and the Mojave.

Hollywood Comes to the High Desert: 1914–1937

Before Route 66 made Victorville a highway town, the movie industry made it a film town. The WPA Guide to the Golden State of 1939 described the Victorville area with unusual precision: “From 1914 to 1937 the town and its ‘wild West’ back country were used as the locale for more than 200 films.” The combination of the area’s authentic frontier architecture (the WPA noted that “characteristic false front frontier buildings remained” from the mining era), its dramatic desert and mountain landscape, and its proximity to Los Angeles via the developing highway made Victorville a natural film location for the Western genre that dominated American cinema through the first half of the 20th century.

The town was, according to the WPA Guide, actively cultivating this identity well into the Route 66 era: “Victorville admits its attempts to recapture its waning movie trade. The atmosphere of Old Town across the railroad tracks is zealously preserved. Even when new ranch houses, corrals, and stables are built in the cattle range back country, they are constructed in the old style to meet the demands of location scouts.” This deliberate preservation of Western character added a cinematic dimension to Victorville’s Route 66 identity that made it distinctive among the California desert highway towns. Where Barstow was a railroad city and Amboy was a ghost town in the making, Victorville was a cowboy movie town that happened to sit on the Mother Road.

Route 66 Arrives: 1926

When U.S. Route 66 was commissioned on November 11, 1926, it ran through Victorville on D Street and 7th Street, placing the existing railroad-era commercial district directly on the federal highway. The 1939 WPA Guide described the town as “a curious blend of the present and the past — a past carefully preserved,” a description that captured Victorville’s dual identity as an active highway service town and a place self-consciously maintaining its frontier character. Route 66 brought a new wave of businesses to D Street and 7th Street, supplementing the railroad-era hotels and cafes with the motor courts, service stations, and roadside restaurants that defined Route 66 culture across the American West.

World War II and George Air Force Base: 1941–1992

The Second World War transformed Victorville even more dramatically than Route 66 had. Construction of the Victorville Army Airfield began northwest of downtown in 1941, and the U.S. Army Air Corps opened it as an Advanced Flying School in June 1941. The base brought thousands of military personnel and their families to the Victor Valley, creating a sustained economic boom that sustained Victorville through the wartime years and into the early Cold War period.

The base was closed at the end of World War II, reactivated for the Korean War in November 1950, and renamed George Air Force Base in honor of Harold H. George, a WWII Air Force general. During the Cold War, George AFB supported two Tactical Fighter Wings and employed up to 6,000 people, making it one of the primary economic engines of the High Desert. The base closed in 1992 and was annexed into the city in 1993, repurposed as the Southern California Logistics Airport (SCLA) — one of the more successful military-to-civilian airport conversions in California history.

Interstate 15 and the Bypass: 1970s

The construction of Interstate 15 through the Victor Valley — completed through this section in the early 1970s — redirected the through traffic that had sustained D Street and Old Town from the Route 66 era. Unlike the smaller desert towns completely bypassed by I-40 (Amboy, Ludlow, Bagdad), Victorville was large enough to absorb the transition. Interstate 15 exits bring traffic directly to Victorville’s commercial districts, and the city grew steadily through the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s as a Los Angeles exurb. But Old Town D Street, while quieter than in its Route 66 heyday, survived — and with it the buildings, landmarks, and institutions that preserve Victorville’s identity as a Mother Road city.

The Mojave River Steel Truss Bridge: Route 66’s Only California Steel Truss Crossing

Arriving in Victorville from the north on the historic Route 66 alignment (D Street from Oro Grande), the first major landmark is the Mojave River Bridge — a 1930 steel truss bridge spanning 575 feet across the Mojave River that is, according to Route 66 historians, the only steel truss bridge that Route 66 crosses in all of California. The bridge was built in 1930 (some sources indicate completion in 1932) to replace an older structure and to carry the newly paved U.S. Highway 66 across the river. It is also known as the “Victorville Route 66 Bridge” or the “Oro Grande Bridge,” reflecting its position at the boundary between the two communities.

The bridge has several distinctive qualities that make it worth slowing down for. The steel trusses meet at odd angles — a structural consequence of the angle at which the bridge crosses the river, which is not perpendicular. The ornate ironwork railings along the roadbed are exceptional examples of the decorative metalwork that characterized public infrastructure in the early 1930s, when bridges were still designed to be beautiful as well as functional. And the bridge’s position at this particular point on the Mojave River has geographical significance: unlike most of the river’s northern reaches, where the water flows underground through sandy soils, the bedrock underlying the river here forces the water to the surface — making this one of the few points where the Mojave River carries visible surface water year-round. The banks here are green and forested in a way that contrasts dramatically with the surrounding desert.

Old Town Victorville: The Heart of Route 66 in the High Desert

Old Town Victorville is the compact historic district centered on D Street between 5th Street and 7th Street that preserves the essential character of the city’s Route 66 era. The district’s relationship to the original town is direct: the original railroad depot stood directly across the street from what is now the California Route 66 Museum. The depot burned down in 1983, and the Victorville Transit Center was subsequently built on its site — a continuity of transportation purpose on the same property that the railroad originally developed. The Old Town Gateway Arch at the intersection of 7th Street and D Street marks the entry to the historic district with vibrant neon signage renovated with LED lighting and new signage, and serves as one of the most photographed Route 66 landmarks in Victorville.

The California Route 66 Museum: D Street’s Finest Free Attraction

The California Route 66 Museum at 16825 D Street is the anchor of the Route 66 experience in Victorville — a free, volunteer-run museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Mother Road and the communities it created, housed in a 5,000-square-foot building with a remarkable history of its own. The museum opened on November 11, 1995 — the 69th anniversary of Route 66’s commissioning on November 11, 1926 — under the stewardship of the Old Town Victorville Heritage Preservation, Inc., a nonprofit organization that continues to manage it today.

The Building: The Red Rooster Café

The museum’s building is the former Red Rooster Café, Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, constructed in 1930 on D Street directly on the Route 66 alignment. The Red Rooster served Route 66 travelers for decades, flanked at various points by Scott’s Cafe (later Riley B’s Restaurant and Cocktails) and Fred’s Cake Lounge — both since demolished. After its café days ended, the building served as Les Pyrénées Restaurant and then had its most unexpected chapter when it appeared in Neil Diamond’s 1980 film The Jazz Singer, standing in for a Texas café. The building was subsequently acquired by the Heritage Preservation organization and transformed into the museum that operates there today.

The Exhibits

The museum’s three exhibit rooms cover Route 66 history, Victorville history, and transportation history through a combination of static and rotating displays. Visitors find historic photographs, antique road signs, vintage gas pumps, automotive memorabilia, and documents tracing Route 66’s arc from the National Old Trails Highway that preceded it through the decommissioning of 1985 and into the contemporary preservation era.

The museum’s interactive photo opportunities are among its most popular features: a genuine 1917 Ford Model T that visitors can climb into; a recreated 1950s diner booth for photos in authentic mid-century style; a 1960s VW Love Bus outfitted with wigs and sunglasses; and a historic outhouse that captures the less glamorous side of early highway travel. The museum also holds a replica End of the Trail booth — a reference to the iconic End of the Trail sign at the Santa Monica Pier, the symbolic western terminus of Route 66.

The Hulaville Collection

Among the museum’s most historically irreplaceable holdings is the Hulaville Collection — artifacts, a detailed scale model, and art pieces rescued from Hulaville, also known as Mahan’s Half Acre, the life work of Miles Mahan (1896–1997). Mahan was a retired carnival worker who spent decades accumulating found objects, bottle sculptures, and hand-lettered signs at his property along Route 66 in Hesperia, creating a genuine piece of roadside folk art centered on a salvaged Hula Girl figure from a defunct tropical restaurant. Hulaville was the direct inspiration for Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in nearby Helendale — itself a Route 66 landmark — and when Hulaville was demolished, the museum rescued its most significant pieces. The collection includes the original Hula Girl figure, the Howdy Cowboy, and a detailed scale model of the entire property. The museum is the primary custodian of this unique piece of High Desert Route 66 folk art history.

Admission to the museum is free. A gift shop carries Route 66 books, DVDs, branded merchandise, and souvenirs. Hours are Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; closed Tuesday and Wednesday. As the museum is volunteer-run, calling ahead — (760) 951-0436 — is recommended before traveling a significant distance specifically to visit.

Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Café: The Soul of Route 66 in Victorville

Two miles north of Old Town on D Street (Route 66) at 17143 North D Street, Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Café is the oldest diner in Victorville and one of the finest surviving Route 66 roadside dining experiences in Southern California. The café has been serving drivers on the Mother Road since 1947 — which means it has been a fixture on D Street for longer than some of the travelers who eat there have been alive. It is everything a classic Route 66 diner should be: small, unpretentious, friendly, with counter stools and booths, a griddle that has never stopped flipping burgers, and food that is exactly as good as the setting promises.

The History of Emma Jean’s

The café was originally opened in 1947 by Bob and Kate Holland as the Holland Café — a simple roadside diner serving the truckers, military personnel from George Air Force Base, and cross-country Route 66 travelers passing through the High Desert. The “Emma Jean” in the name came through a series of family connections: longtime waitress Emma married truck driver Richard Gentry, Richard bought the café for her, and the business was renamed Emma Jean’s Holland Burger in her honor. Their son Brian Gentry and his wife Shawna subsequently ran the café for years, keeping the family tradition alive. Brian passed away in 2024; Shawna continues to operate the café, carrying forward the 75-year family tradition of hearty meals and warm hospitality that has made Emma Jean’s a Route 66 institution.

What to Order

The menu is classic Route 66 American diner. The Brian Burger — named for the late owner, a hamburger topped with melted white cheese and Ortega chili on Parmesan-crusted sourdough Texas toast — has achieved cult status among Route 66 enthusiasts and has been celebrated on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The Truckers Sandwich (tri-tip roast beef, cheese, Ortega chili, and bacon on grilled sourdough) reflects the café’s enduring connection to the professional drivers who have made D Street a regular stop for nearly 80 years. Breakfast items — biscuits and gravy, pancakes, country-style eggs — are equally celebrated.

Emma Jean’s appeared in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004) as a filming location, adding a Hollywood dimension to its Route 66 legacy. Hours are Tuesday through Friday 6:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Saturday 6:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The café is small; expect to wait for a table during peak hours and on weekends. The wait is worth it.

Route 66 Motels on D Street and 7th Street

The New Corral Motel

At 14643 7th Street, the New Corral Motel is the most characterful surviving Route 66 motor court in Victorville, immediately identifiable by its “rampant colt” neon sign — a bucking bronco neon that has been marking the motel’s presence on Route 66 since the property opened in 1953. The L-shaped layout with a central parking area, lawn, and pool is the classic Route 66 motor court form; the original advertising offered “21 units, heated pool, free TV, sun patio, room phones” under the management of Mr. and Mrs. D.W. Kurtz. The New Corral’s Western identity — the horse logo, the cowboy references — reflects Victorville’s Roy Rogers-era culture and the mid-century California West aesthetic that made the Victor Valley a natural location for Hollywood Westerns. The motel has been refurbished with modern amenities while maintaining its vintage character and continues to operate as overnight accommodation for Route 66 travelers.

Historic Hotels on D Street

The Hotel Pioneer (formerly at 16853 D Street) and the Hotel Stewart (at 16889 D) were Victorville’s primary Route 66-era hotels — both documented in Jack Rittenhouse’s 1946 Guide Book to Highway 66 as reliable stops for cross-country travelers. The area around 7th and D Streets was Victorville’s hotel row, with the Mojave Hotel (at 16927 D) completing a cluster of mid-century accommodation options that served the enormous volume of World War II military traffic and the postwar travel boom. The buildings have been substantially altered from their Route 66-era appearances, but their sites mark the commercial heartbeat of old Victorville.

Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and the King of Cowboys’s Route 66 Connection

No account of Route 66 in the Victorville area is complete without acknowledging the connection to Roy Rogers (1911–1998) — the “King of the Cowboys,” one of the most celebrated figures of mid-century American popular culture, and a genuine resident of the Victor Valley. Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye) was a movie star, singer, and television personality who starred in dozens of Western films and hosted “The Roy Rogers Show” from 1951 to 1957 with his wife Dale Evans — the “Queen of the West” — making them one of the most famous couples in American entertainment history.

Rogers and Evans owned the Double R Bar Ranch — a 67-acre property along the banks of the Mojave River in Oro Grande, just north of Victorville on Route 66. The ranch featured a 1,700-square-foot home, barns, a movie theater, a 15-stall stable, and a half-mile horse track, and was purchased by Rogers in 1965. Roy Rogers owned the ranch until his death in 1998; Dale Evans followed him a few years later. The ranch is located on Bryman Road, approximately 3 miles north of the California Route 66 Museum — a short detour for Route 66 travelers who want to see where the King of Cowboys lived alongside the Mother Road.

A 24-foot-tall statue of Trigger — Rogers’s famous Golden Palomino — stands in Victorville as a monument to the cowboy culture that made the Victor Valley famous. Rogers’s Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum was long a major Victorville attraction, though it has since closed and relocated. The statue of Trigger and the Double R Bar Ranch site remain as tangible connections to Victorville’s cowboy heritage.

Near Victorville on Route 66: Oro Grande, Helendale, and the High Desert Corridor

Oro Grande: The Oldest Town in the Victor Valley

Three miles north of the California Route 66 Museum on the National Trails Highway (Route 66), Oro Grande (Spanish for “big gold”) is the oldest community in the Victor Valley — a product of the 1880s gold and silver mining era that preceded even the railroad’s arrival. Today, Oro Grande is best known for the Mojave River Bridge at its southern edge (the 1930 steel truss bridge described above), a large cement manufacturing plant that dominates the local economy, and antique shops — including what is described as the largest antique mall in the High Desert — that draw treasure hunters from across the region.

Oro Grande is also home to the Iron Hog Saloon and several old Route 66 buildings whose age predates the highway itself. The Roy Rogers Double R Bar Ranch is accessible from Oro Grande via Bryman Road. And Oro Grande is historically significant as the location of the “End of the Trail Bar” — a stone building constructed by Guy Wadsworth (who built many of Helendale’s structures) that featured a distinctive wagon wheel window facing Route 66. The building is now a private residence, but it represents the visual culture of early Route 66 commercial architecture in the High Desert.

Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Helendale

Approximately 11 miles north of Victorville on Route 66, just south of Helendale, Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch is one of the most photographed roadside folk art installations on California’s Route 66 corridor. The 2.3-acre property features more than 200 “bottle trees” — steel poles decorated with hundreds of glass bottles of every color, shape, and vintage, creating a landscape of color and light that is genuinely unlike anything else on the Mother Road. The ranch was created by Elmer Long, who began building it in the late 1990s. Long passed away in 2019, but his family has maintained the property as a Route 66 attraction. Admission is free; the ranch is open daily during daylight hours.

The direct inspiration for Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch was Hulaville — Miles Mahan’s folk art roadside environment, whose artifacts are now preserved at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville. Elmer Long reportedly knew Mahan’s work and drew on it as a model for his own creation, making the two installations part of a continuous tradition of High Desert Route 66 folk art that the Victorville museum now preserves and tells.

The Old Trails Highway Between Victorville and Barstow

The 38-mile stretch of old Route 66 between Victorville and Barstow — running through Oro Grande, Helendale, Hodge (now completely gone), and Lenwood before reaching Barstow — is one of the most rewarding off-interstate detours on California’s Route 66. The route follows the National Trails Highway, passing Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch, the ruins of various Route 66-era businesses, the power line infrastructure from the 1932 Hoover Dam–Los Angeles transmission project, and the open desert landscape that characterized this corridor before the Interstate bypassed it. Exiting I-15 at either Victorville or Barstow and returning via the other is a self-contained, low-traffic desert drive that takes about an hour without stops and can fill an entire morning with deliberate exploration.

The Cajon Pass: Route 66’s Mountain Descent South of Victorville

South of Victorville on 7th Street, Route 66 begins its approach to Cajon Pass — the dramatic mountain gap through the San Bernardino Mountains that carries the highway from the High Desert plateau down to the San Bernardino Valley and the Los Angeles basin. The Cajon Pass is where Route 66 transitions from desert to urban California, dropping more than 2,000 feet in elevation over a distance of approximately 15 miles.

The pass follows the line of the San Andreas Fault — one of the most geologically significant routes that any American highway follows — and the drama of the landscape is intensified by this tectonic context. The old Route 66 alignment through the pass (Cajon Boulevard and other surface roads paralleling Interstate 15) offers an alternative to the freeway for travelers willing to navigate the switchbacks and curves of the original highway alignment. The Summit Inn, a celebrated Route 66 diner at the summit of the pass that served travelers from 1928, was sadly destroyed in the Blue Cut Fire in August 2016. Its site at the top of the pass remains a significant Route 66 historical landmark despite the building’s loss.

Practical Information for Your Victorville Route 66 Visit

Getting to Victorville on Route 66

From Barstow (north): Take I-15 south to the D Street/Apple Valley exit, or drive the historic Route 66 alignment south on National Trails Highway from Barstow through Helendale and Oro Grande (approximately 38 miles of old-road driving with no freeway).

From San Bernardino/Los Angeles (south): Take I-15 north to the D Street/Apple Valley exit, or follow the historic Route 66 alignment north through the Cajon Pass on Cajon Boulevard from San Bernardino.

By Metrolink and Bus: Metrolink’s San Bernardino Line serves the Victor Valley with a Victorville station, providing rail connections from Los Angeles. Check Metrolink’s current schedule for service days and times.

Time Required

A thorough Victorville Route 66 visit — the Mojave River Bridge, Old Town and the California Route 66 Museum, the Old Town Gateway Arch, Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Café, the New Corral Motel, and a Trigger statue photo — requires a comfortable half-day. Adding the detour to Roy Rogers’ Double R Bar Ranch and the drive north to Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch in Helendale fills a full day. The old road drive between Victorville and Barstow adds another two to three hours depending on the pace.

Climate and Best Time to Visit

Victorville sits at 2,875 feet elevation in the California High Desert. Summer temperatures can exceed 100°F but are generally more moderate than the lower desert communities. The elevation brings genuine four-season weather: cool springs and falls, hot summers, and winters that occasionally bring snow to the mountains visible from D Street. Spring (March–May) and fall (September–November) are the most comfortable visiting seasons for travelers planning outdoor exploration.

Where to Eat and Stay

Emma Jean’s Holland Burger Café (17143 N D Street) is the definitive Route 66 meal in Victorville for breakfast and lunch, Tuesday–Saturday. For dinner, Victorville’s commercial districts along Bear Valley Road and nearby offer a full range of national chain and local options. The New Corral Motel (14643 7th Street) remains the most characterful Route 66 overnight option, with its 1953 rampant colt neon. Chain hotels are concentrated near the I-15 interchange.

Nearby Route 66 Highlights: North and South of Victorville

California Route 66 Museum, Victorville — The full guide to the free museum at 16825 D Street in Old Town Victorville — its exhibits, the Hulaville Collection, the interactive photo opportunities, and the building’s history as the Red Rooster Café.

Route 66 in Barstow, California — About 38 miles north via old Route 66 (or 35 miles via I-15), Barstow is the High Desert’s most historically significant Route 66 city — home to the Harvey House, the Route 66 Mother Road Museum, the Main Street Murals, and Calico Ghost Town.

Barstow Harvey House — Casa del Desierto — The magnificent 1911 Fred Harvey railroad hotel in Barstow, a National Historic Landmark housing two free museums and an active Amtrak station.

Route 66 Mother Road Museum, Barstow — The free Route 66 museum inside the Harvey House, reopened in March 2025, with a complementary collection to the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville.

The Wigwam Motel, San Bernardino — About 35 miles south via Route 66 (through Cajon Pass and San Bernardino), the iconic teepee-shaped motel has offered Route 66 travelers one of America’s most distinctive overnight experiences since 1950.

Route 66 in San Bernardino, California — The Original McDonald’s Museum site, the Wigwam Motel, and the full Route 66 heritage of the gateway city to the California Inland Empire.

Aztec Hotel, Monrovia — About 60 miles southwest via Route 66, the 1925 National Historic Landmark is the first Mayan Revival architecture building in the United States and one of the most visually extraordinary buildings on the Mother Road.

Route 66 in California — Complete Guide — The full overview of all 314 miles of California’s Route 66 corridor from Needles on the Arizona border through Victorville, Pasadena, and Los Angeles to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.

Route 66 Centennial 2026 — The 100th anniversary of Route 66 is November 11, 2026 — the same anniversary that the California Route 66 Museum on D Street in Victorville was founded to celebrate. Check this page for California centennial events.

Route 66 — Complete Guide — The definitive guide to all 2,448 miles of America’s Main Street, from the Begin sign in Chicago to the End of the Trail at the Santa Monica Pier.