by Lynn Cline on
DONATELLA DAVANZO SPENT three years traveling New Mexico’s Route 66, documenting the Mother Road as a living multicultural landscape instead of through the more popular lens of nostalgia. She logged mile after mile in her GMC Yukon and travel trailer, photographing and researching every existing building and roadside attraction along the state’s 278.4 drivable miles of Route 66. Born and raised in Italy, Davanzo first came to New Mexico in 1999 as a student studying the state’s pueblos for her University of Trieste thesis. She returned to examine acequia culture while pursuing a doctorate at the University of New Mexico, where she now works as a research assistant professor in the American Studies Department. Her Route 66 dissertation eventually turned into a passion project, investigating how the Mother Road preserves its bygone era even as it adapts to today’s social and economic climates. It resulted in Route 66 Connected, which combines an interactive digital map and a 156-page, full-color travel guide, Mapping the Authentic Mother Road: A Cultural and Visual Atlas Through New Mexico (PhotoEthno Publishing).
My interest in Route 66 was a long journey because I first traveled the entire road in 2006.
I came here from Italy and drove Route 66 as a tourist. I followed a travel guide and I took photos.
In 2013, during my doctoral studies, I had the project of documenting every single building on Central Avenue in Albuquerque. I took photos of murals, symbols, many things. I did the same documentation on Fourth Street.
For my dissertation, my original question was “Is this road still a connection in this country?”
I explored 255 buildings and more than 100 historic sites. I adopted the methodology of focusing on the tangible aspects of the buildings—the architecture and the use and the tangible condition of the building. Then I focused on the symbolism of Route 66, inside and outside, to see if they’re original or transformed just to promote 66 in a nostalgic way.
I added a third [category], ethnicity, with a focus on murals and ethnic or Native American symbols or traditions.
Because this is New Mexico, we have these intersections of different people and languages.
The landscape and the places, especially, change because of us.
I have a different perspective, because many things about Route 66 were new to me.
Italians are deeply fascinated by Route 66 because it represents a romantic, nostalgic vision of classic “America” as an embodiment of midcentury Americana, featuring small towns, vintage cars, and roadside diners. It was pop culture that deeply influenced this vision.
Italian director Sergio Leone and, in particular, American [actor] Clint Eastwood’s Western movies, such as The Man with No Name, classic literature like The Grapes of Wrath, and American songs shaped how Italians and many Europeans have perceived the Mother Road.
My book is for travelers.
I didn’t want to do a photographic book. It has images, but it’s not a photography book. I hope that people can really interact with the road.
From Glenrio to Tucumcari is one of the most fascinating sections of Route 66 in New Mexico. This section is gravel—it’s not paved—so you travel on the original road.
You see the old bridges, and you can stop and observe the landscape. You walk the original places, the road, motels, restaurants, and see abandoned signs.
I suggest [travelers] stop at the mom-and-pop restaurants, such as Del’s Restaurant and Carlson Coffee Company in Tucumcari; Joseph’s Bar and Grill in Santa Rosa; Frontier Restaurant, 66 Diner, and Dog House in Albuquerque.
These are local and family places serving Southwestern, Mexican, and regional handmade products in atmospheres that transport visitors straight to the Route 66 era.
Route 66 is not a road from one place to another one. It’s become more than that. It’s a destination.