Fun Things to Do on Route 66 in the I.E. & San Gabriel Valley

You don’t need eight states. The Mother Road still runs through our foothills — neon, booths, teepees, doughnuts, and a show after sundown.

Historic Route 66 still stitches the Inland Empire to the San Gabriel Valley. Follow Foothill Boulevard, Alosta Avenue, Huntington Drive, and Colorado Boulevard and the highway is right there: vintage motels, family restaurants, car-culture weekends, and the San Gabriel Mountains sitting on the north shoulder of the road.

2026 is the road’s 100th birthday. This stretch is one of the liveliest places in California to celebrate it. Use the guide as a Saturday loop or a slow weekend. Start in San Bernardino. Cruise west through Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, and Upland. Keep rolling into Claremont, Glendora, Azusa, Monrovia, Arcadia, and Pasadena.

Go slow on purpose. The fun is not the freeway. It’s the neon, the booths, and the live show a few blocks off the old pavement.

How to drive the local alignment

Watch for the blue-and-yellow Historic Route 66 markers and the old “66” stencils in the pavement.

From the Cajon Pass into the valley, the classic line follows Mount Vernon Avenue through San Bernardino, then Foothill Boulevard (State Route 66) through Rialto, Fontana, Rancho Cucamonga, and Upland. West of Claremont and La Verne it becomes Alosta Avenue / Route 66 through Glendora and Azusa, then Huntington Drive through Duarte and Monrovia. Colorado Boulevard carries you into Pasadena.

Park often. That is the whole point.

Inland Empire icons worth the pull-over

Wigwam Motel, San Bernardino

Sleep in a 32-foot concrete teepee at Wigwam Village No. 7 — one of only two surviving Route 66 wigwam motels. Built in 1949 and still the postcard shot. Book a night, or grab the photo and keep rolling.

Original McDonald’s Museum, San Bernardino

Dick and Mac McDonald opened their speedee-service restaurant here in 1948, a few blocks off the highway. Vintage packaging, Happy Meal toys, and the origin story of an American habit. Pair it with the restored 1918 Santa Fe Depot and the San Bernardino History and Railroad Museum.

Mitla Café, San Bernardino

Open since 1937 on Mount Vernon Avenue. The tacos dorados fed generations of Route 66 travelers and later inspired a national taco chain. Not a replica diner. The real plate.

California Theatre of the Performing Arts

San Bernardino’s 1928 movie palace still books concerts, comedy, and classic-film nights. A Route 66 cruise plus a ticket here is the local encore. Check the I.E. Xperience event calendar before you leave the driveway.

Bono’s Giant Orange, Fontana

One of the last giant-orange juice stands from citrus-country days. The juice operation is gone. The landmark is not. Perfect “we were here” stop on Foothill.

Cucamonga Service Station

A restored 1915 Richfield station at Foothill and Archibald, now a compact Route 66 museum of pumps, signs, and memorabilia. One of the best pieces of early auto infrastructure left on the California corridor.

Magic Lamp Inn & The Sycamore Inn

Two living Foothill restaurants. The Sycamore Inn started as a 19th-century stage stop and became a steakhouse in 1939 — prime rib, minestrone, long wine list. Down the boulevard, the Magic Lamp Inn (1957) still flashes its genie-bottle neon and serves old-school plates in red-leather banquettes. Friday nights sometimes bring wandering Sinatra singers. That is dinner theater without buying a ticket.

Victoria Gardens, Rancho Cucamonga

Need a modern stretch after a vintage afternoon? Shopping, dining, movies, and live theater at the Lewis Family Playhouse. The rest stop Route 66 never had.

Madonna of the Trail, Upland

One of only 12 DAR pioneer-woman statues in the country stands on the Foothill median. It marked the west end of the National Old Trails Road — the highway that became 66. Snap it, then walk historic downtown Upland.

San Gabriel Valley: neon, doughnuts & downtowns

Claremont Village

College-town streets, independent shops, and Wolfe’s Kitchen & Deli — a family market on the corridor since the 1930s. Off the alignment, the California Botanic Garden is a full afternoon of native plants with the mountains behind them.

The Donut Man, Glendora

Glendora put “Route 66” back on the street signs first. The Donut Man at 915 E. Route 66 is the argument you have in the car before you even park: strawberry doughnuts in season, tiger tails year-round, a line that proves the highway still has a sweet tooth.

Foothill Drive-In marquee, Azusa

The last single-screen drive-in on Route 66 west of Oklahoma closed in 2001. The restored red neon marquee still lights the Canyon City. Look north after the photo — Azusa is also the jump-off for San Gabriel Canyon and the Bridge to Nowhere hike if you want dirt after chrome.

Aztec Hotel & Old Town Monrovia

The 1925 Aztec Hotel is a Mayan Revival façade unlike anything else on the California alignment. Wander Old Town for boutiques, seasonal Friday street fairs, and a vintage-motel scavenger hunt along Foothill and Shamrock.

Santa Anita Park & The Derby, Arcadia

Gordon Kaufmann’s Art Deco racetrack sits just off the old road — race days, concerts, special events. Across Huntington Drive, The Derby occupies a 1931 roadhouse later owned by jockey George Woolf of Seabiscuit fame. Steaks, booths, racing memorabilia, historic 66 pavement.

Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard

The valley finale. Old Town Pasadena. The Gamble House (yes, the Back to the Future house). The Norton Simon, right on the boulevard. The curved 1913 Colorado Street Bridge over the Arroyo Seco. Every New Year’s Day the Rose Parade still uses this same Route 66 pavement. The Rose Bowl is a short detour for football, concerts, and flea markets the rest of the year.

Eat like a highway regular

This stretch is a restaurant crawl wearing a scenic-drive costume. Build a meal plan, not just a map.

Morning sugar: The Donut Man in Glendora, or the 1915 Fair Oaks Pharmacy soda fountain in South Pasadena on an older alignment.

Lunch with history: Mitla Café in San Bernardino, Wolfe’s in Claremont, or a Foothill Boulevard diner booth.

Old-school Italian: Vince’s Spaghetti in Ontario has been plating the same generous idea since 1945 — a short hop south of Foothill and a local legend.

Supper-club night: Sycamore Inn or Magic Lamp Inn in Rancho Cucamonga. The Derby in Arcadia.

Shooting a restaurant review video? I.E. Xperience runs video restaurant reviews. Send your info and footage to xperience@iex.directory.

Shows, cars & calendar dates

The Mother Road is still a nightlife and car-culture corridor. Watch the calendar for:

Route 66 Cruisin’ Reunion, Ontario. One of the West Coast’s signature classic-car weekends, usually mid-September — chrome, live music, vendors, thousands of highway fans on downtown streets.

Rendezvous Back to Route 66, San Bernardino. Vintage cars, craft vendors, and beer gardens downtown, typically in October.

Toyota Arena, Ontario. Concerts, family shows, and sports a few minutes off the historic alignment. Matinee cruise, evening ticket.

Lewis Family Playhouse, California Theatre, Pasadena stages. Theater, tribute nights, touring acts on or near the old road. Drive the history. Stay for the show.

A one-day sample loop