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Since its creation in 1926, Route 66 has been a symbol of American freedom that offered adventurous types much more than a way to get from point A to point B. During its heyday, Route 66 breathed life into countless small towns and inspired everything from hit songs to great American novels. But if you take a closer look at Route 66’s past (and present), you’ll discover that there’s even more to the famous highway than meets the eye.
1. Route 66 was built as an efficient way to get from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Over the course of the 1920s, car ownership nearly tripled in the United States, surging from 8 to 23 million vehicles. Many of these car owners wanted to use their new wheels to travel. While it had been possible to cross the country by car before Route 66, the new highway made the journey much more appealing by offering roadtrippers a single, easy-to-follow road that slashed the driving distance between Chicago and Los Angeles by more than 200
Off The Menu: French fries the stuff of fast-food legend
Updated Jan 23, 2021;
They’re the stuff of fast-food legend.
The “they” is McDonald’s original-formulation French fries. Made from fresh Russet potatoes and fried in beef tallow, the French fries served at McDonald’s restaurants in the 1960s and ’70s supposedly earned the praise of late 20th century food luminaries like James Beard and Julia Child.
Certainly today’s restaurant French fries aren’t often memorable. Industrially processed, flash frozen, and sometimes “coated” to give the product better “plate life,” the modern French fry is nothing like the “pommes frites” from which they are originally descended.