Route 66
- The Mother Road - will always be a symbol of America’s post war freedom and
geographical mobility. It evokes imagery of roadside motels, diners and 1950s
Cadillacs. America is the home of the
road trip and Route 66 is its poster child.

Much of
the road that ran from Santa Monica through California, Arizona, New Mexico and
then north to Chicago has either disappeared or been supplanted by interstate
highways, but good sections of it do remain, as do the towns that grew up
servicing the needs of those on the road.

In the
autumn of 2022, I scouted for shooting locations in California and Arizona that
would emphatically offer a Route 66 vibe and I found it to be a challenge. So
many of the motels and diners along the route are either abandoned or worse
still have become rather kitsch tourist attractions. To find a set that was
both authentic and operational seemed mutually exclusive.

But then
I stumbled across the town of Holbrook - 100 miles east of Flagstaff in
Arizona. There are some real gems in this small town and none more so than the
Wigwam Motel that saddles up right next to Route 66.

We went
to see the owner - a charming man called Clifton Lewis - and he agreed to allow
us to film in the courtyard outside the reception. It was ideal for what we
were looking for.

The
Wigwam Motel is still operational and was fully occupied the night of the
shoot, so some of us stayed in a properly rundown motel around the corner. My room rate was $56 which I felt was perhaps
$50 too expensive. But it was all so worth it.
Holbrook is as good a canvas on which to tell a Route 66 story as I know;
to drive through sections of the old town is to go back 60 years.

I chose
Josie Canseco as the lead on this project as I knew she could wear a glamorous
1950s vibe very well. I was right and this photograph is as good as I could
have imagined when I started exploring the creative concept.

Have you
slept in a Wigwam lately?