The 1983 movie adaptation of The Outsiders, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and based on the classic novel by S.E. Hinton, was shot on location in Tulsa, Oklahoma. After decades of disrepair and narrowly escaping demolition, the Curtis brothers’ house was purchased in 2016 by musician and Outsiders fan Danny Boy O’Connor. The restored house opened to the public in 2019 as a museum, featuring photographs and artifacts from the film.

Albuquerque’s Central Avenue was once a designated stretch of Route 66; today the road is still lined with motels, diners, and photogenic neon signs, many of which can be glimpsed in AMC’s still-popular TV show Breaking Bad (2008-2013). The Dog House, an Albuquerque staple serving up chili-topped footlongs for more than 70 years—and its tail-wagging, sausage-eating neon dachshund—makes a few appearances in early seasons, as does the Crossroads Motel.

Built by film director D. W. Griffith in 1936 as a base for numerous Western movie productions, Gallup’s El Rancho Hotel and Motel has hosted hundreds of movie stars over the years, including Errol Flynn, Gregory Peck, Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn, John Wayne, and Ronald Reagan. Nearly a century later, El Rancho still offers today’s guests the “charm of yesterday” (but maybe not so much the “convenience of tomorrow”).

Released in 1972, the Eagles song “Take It Easy” (written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey) includes the lyrics “Well, I’m a-standin’ on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see. It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me.” In the late ‘90s, the Standin’ on the Corner Foundation was formed to attract tourists back to Winslow; with the help of donors, a public park opened—on a corner—in 1999, featuring a hand-painted mural and a flatbed Ford.

The Canyon Padre Trading Post was built in the 1940s along Route 66, but renamed Twin Arrows after the construction of two 25-foot wooden arrows on the property. It’s a shame Forrest Gump didn’t want to stop running long enough to explore the ruins of the trading post, located in Flagstaff between Winslow and Williams, but the arrows can be seen in the background of the 1994 movie as he wipes his muddy face on a yellow t-shirt.

The steel arch Old Trails Bridge carried travelers over the Colorado River from Arizona into California from 1916 until 1948., when the deck was reconfigured to carry a natural gas pipeline. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988, the photogenic bridge is used by Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) in The Grapes of Wrath and can be seen in the opening of 1969’s Easy Rider behind motorcyclists Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Dennis Hopper).

Opened in 1938 in Amboy, California, Roy’s was one of the many gas and service stations along Route 66. Eventually expanding to include a cafe and tourist cabins, Roy’s iconic neon sign was installed in 1959 (dark since the ‘80s, the sign was restored and re-lit in 2019). Although the motel remains closed, a coffee shop and gas station reopened in 2008. The recognizable site has been a filming location for several productions, including the 1993 Brad Pitt film Kalifornia.

Located east of Barstow and west of Amboy in the Mojave Desert, Bagdad, California, was a thriving Route 66 town until it was bypassed by I-40 in the early 1970s. Although the town was the setting of a novel and 1988 movie, Bagdad Cafe, scenes in the eponymous restaurant were actually shot at the Sidewinder Cafe in Newberry Springs, California. Built in the ‘50s and renamed the Bagdad Cafe in 1995, the spot is still a popular destination fans of the film.