Jaye Steinbrick grew up near the Mt. Baldy Drive-In and remembers watching movies from his bedroom window. He told La Verne Magazine about it this spring, when the magazine photographed him in period dress beside his yellow Model A. The drive-in screen is long gone. A Target shopping center stands where it was, on Foothill Boulevard.
That lot sums up how La Verne's Route 66 works. U.S. Route 66 was dedicated on November 11, 1926, so the highway turned 100 yesterday. In La Verne, the historic road is Foothill Boulevard. That's the street with the Vons center, the movie theater and the big-box parking lots, which makes it the part of town that looks newest. So the City's centennial car show on November 21 is in Old Town, off the old road, and the highway's oldest survivor is a Mexican restaurant at the eastern city limit.
How Foothill Went From Highway to Shopping Street
Foothill was a long-distance road before it had a number. By 1915, the National Old Trails Association was promoting a highway between Los Angeles and New York, and in La Verne that road ran along Foothill Boulevard. Here is the short version of what followed:
- 1926: The National Old Trails road becomes part of the new U.S. Highway 66, and it's widened and improved over time.
- 1926 into the 1940s and '50s: La Verne is still citrus country, nicknamed the "Heart of the Orange Empire," and AAA recommends no motels in town during the 1940s and '50s.
- After World War II: The groves come out and the land is subdivided.
- Around 1964: Interstate 10 replaces Route 66 as the main highway through the area, and Foothill traffic drops off.
La Verne Magazine describes Foothill today as "the new La Verne." It credits a deliberate push by city leaders to build tax revenue on the boulevard, while Old Town La Verne was presented as a historic center of restaurants, boutiques and jewelry stores. Its list of what lines Route 66 now includes a Vons shopping center, a Target, an Edwards Regal movie theater, the Habit, an El Pollo Loco and an AAA Auto Club office. The road that carried travelers west for nearly 40 years became the place where La Verne does its errands.
A City That Mostly Called It Foothill
That split also explains why Route 66 has always been easy to miss here. La Verne Magazine notes that La Verne, like San Dimas and Claremont, plays down the Route 66 name in favor of Foothill Boulevard, even though it is the real historic route. The same article says Glendora, Upland, Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga have fully embraced Route 66 signage.
The centennial is the year La Verne put the name back on the road. La Verne Daily reported in July that the City held a Route 66 banner competition, and the winning designs now hang along Foothill Boulevard. It also unveiled a Route 66 historical exhibit at the La Verne Public Library on July 9.
The summer Route 66 Passport sent people to the businesses themselves. It launched June 15 with booklets at City Hall, 3660 D St., and the La Verne Library, 3640 D St., according to the Claremont Courier. Participants visited 16 stops along Route 66 in La Verne, looked for a hidden Route 66 icon at each one and collected stamps. Passports with at least 10 stamps were due at City Hall by August 3 for a raffle of prizes donated by the businesses.
One of those stops shows why the program fit Foothill so well. La Verne Daily reported that Open Box Outlet, 2139 Foothill Blvd., had been at that location for about a year and doesn't advertise. The Boutros family, who own the store, said they had noticed a few new faces carrying passports. City Management Analyst Andrea Blockinger, who designed the passport as a free family activity, summed up business feedback this way in the same article:
"They are enjoying the increased traffic to their business."
La Verne Daily also reported that City Council members had talked about turning the passport into a yearly citywide program, with a different business corridor each time.
The Oldest Footprint Sits at the Eastern Edge
If the banners mark the road, La Paloma, 2975 Foothill Blvd., marks how far back it goes. The California Historic Route 66 Association lists it as a La Verne point of interest.
The site's story starts before the highway had its number. La Verne Magazine describes a sea of orange and lemon trees along the newly paved road in 1926. The one break in them was a fruit stand the Wilson family set up at the eastern city limits. The National Trust for Historic Preservation tells how Harry and Cora Wilson grew their fruit business into a sandwich shop. Within a few years of the highway's dedication, the stand had become Wilson's Sandwich Shop, and by 1962 the site was known as Wilson's Steakhouse. In 1966, Joe and Hortensia Parker opened La Paloma there.
That makes La Paloma the clearest link between 1926 and now. La Verne Magazine's May 2026 feature calls it a family-owned restaurant that has served Route 66 travelers since 1966. Its centennial photo shoot was staged there, with members of the Model A community lined up in 1929 and 1930 Model A cars in front of the restaurant's famous sign.
November 21 Brings the Cars to Mainiero Square
The City's last big centennial event moves the celebration a short drive off Route 66. The Route 66 Centennial Car Show runs Saturday, November 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Mainiero Square, at Third and D streets in Old Town. La Verne Daily's fall events calendar lists it as free. The City files it under "America 250 & Route 66 Events," and the City of La Verne event listing is the place to check for updates before you go.
Holding the show in Old Town makes sense given how the city grew. Foothill carries the history, while D Street and Third Street are where La Verne gathers. The University of La Verne at 1950 Third St. is also on the California Historic Route 66 Association's La Verne list, along with the Bicentennial Liberty Bell at 3600 D St. and La Verne Heritage Park at 5001 Via de Mansion.
The rest of the month has a few more dates that pair well with the car show:
| Date | Event | Where | Details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat., Nov. 14, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. | La Verne Historical Society Vintage Sale and Home Tour | La Verne | Location and tickets on the City listing |
| Sat., Nov. 21, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. | Route 66 Centennial Car Show | Mainiero Square, Third and D streets | Free |
| Sat.–Sun., Nov. 28–29, 2 p.m. | Inland Valley Repertory Theatre's Plaid Tidings | Morgan Auditorium, University of La Verne, 1950 Third St. | $51–$61 plus a possible $4 fee; no children under 6 |
Plaid Tidings is a holiday version of "Forever Plaid," with four-part harmony, comedy and Christmas classics, and tickets go through IVRT.
Taking the Old Road Home
After the show, take Foothill home and look at it as the highway it was. These stops come straight from the centennial story:
- La Paloma, 2975 Foothill Blvd. The Wilson fruit stand once stood on this site at the eastern city limits, and La Paloma has been here since 1966.
- The banners along Foothill. These are the winning designs from the City's Route 66 banner competition.
- Open Box Outlet, 2139 Foothill Blvd. It was one of the summer passport stops.
- The Target shopping center. This was the Mt. Baldy Drive-In that Jaye Steinbrick could see from his bedroom window.
If you want to see more of 66 nearby, La Verne Magazine also points to the restored Richfield service station in Rancho Cucamonga, now a museum. It also mentions the "ROUTE 66 AMERICA'S ROAD" sculpture over the Pacific Electric Bike Trail at Baker Avenue and Foothill Boulevard, near the Sycamore Inn.
Here at Shannon Brady Realty, we've always found that a street's history explains a lot about how it looks today, from the lot sizes to where the older buildings still stand. If you own a home near Foothill or Old Town and wonder how a century of Route 66 history shapes its value now, start with an Instant Home Valuation and we'll talk through what we see on your block.
