Route 66 Gets Its Kicks in Pontiac, Illinois

June 3, 2010 — Pontiac's Department of Tourism is very proud of their town's heritage and historic link to Route 66. Pontiac is located exactly one hundred miles south from the beginning of Route 66. Route 66 starts at Jackson Boulevard, just off Lake Shore Drive at Columbus Ave in Chicago. This Chicago location is where Vincent Video will begin their first shoot of the television series about Route 66.

From Chicago, the series travels southwest on Route 66 to St. Louis. Route 66 does not follow a direct path because it began as a tapestry of “existing paved roads that were linked together to form the first continuously paved road from Chicago to St. Louis,” explains John Weiss, director of IL66Authority.com, “and about ninety-five percent of the original road exists today. Since the road was realigned so many times, interesting remnants of previous alignments exist today”

The series will follow the road through Wilmington and Dwight to film some remnants of the Route before our first scheduled stop in the old coal-mining town of Pontiac. “We still have one of the original Route 66 restaurants operating here today – the Old Log Cabin. Built in 1926, the same year as the highway, the restaurant building was actually lifted and turned around to face the new alignment of the road in 1948," explains Pontiac's Tourism Director, Ellie Alexander. The original Route 66 still passes behind the ‘Old Log Cabin Inn.' Pontiac is rich in murals and monuments of, and for, this historic road. The series will capture the history, cuisine, and accommodations that a traveler will find in the city of Pontiac.

For the next two months, businesses, attractions and departments of tourism along Route 66 who would like inclusion in this series are encouraged to log onto www.vincentvideo.com. Interested parties can send their request by clicking the ‘who do I contact’ link. During this time, we are taking requests and mapping our route accordingly. Every episode has segments about the shopping, attractions, eateries, motels and hotels along Route 66.

This series will revel in the romance and the mystery of Historic Route 66. “It is all about America, our people and our passion.” The show will motivate potential sightseers and help revitalized American tourism. Filming kicks off in Chicago and concludes in Santa Monica. The eight-week project will follow Route 66 through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

Vincent Video, since 2006, is a business headquartered in Long Branch, NJ.