[photo credit; Visit Pasadena]
The 90-minute program, running from 3 to 4:30 p.m. PST, ties the museum’s centennial-year Route 66 programming to a coincidence of anniversaries: 2026 marks 100 years since the highway’s 1926 founding and 150 years since Colorado Boulevard, part of the original Route 66 alignment through Pasadena, marks its own milestone anniversary, according to the museum’s event listing and prior Pasadena Now reporting on the museum’s related exhibition.
Ross and Graham are married and live along the route near Arcadia, Oklahoma. Ross has written or co-written 10 books on Route 66, including “Route 66 Crossings” and “Route 66 Sightings,” publishes the Route 66 Map Series, and has received multiple preservation awards for his work on the highway. Graham, a photographer, artist and Route 66 ambassador, has authored or co-authored five books, including “Tales from the Coral Court” and “Route 66 Sightings.” Her photographs and drawings have appeared in national and international exhibitions, and she is a recipient of the John Steinbeck Award for her preservation work on the highway, according to the museum and the book’s publisher, Reedy Press.
Their book, “Route 66: The First 100 Years,” is a large-format hardcover priced at $42, released in May 2025 with a foreword by Michael Wallis, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of “Route 66: The Mother Road.” It has since won the IBPA Gold Award and the Oklahoma Book Award, and was named one of Smithsonian magazine’s top 10 travel books of 2025.
Registration is through Eventbrite and costs $18 general and $13 for museum members, according to the museum’s website. The program will be recorded and made available to registered participants through July 16.
The talk is one piece of a larger Route 66 push at the museum this year. Its exhibition “Where History Meets the Road: Celebrating Route 66 & Colorado Boulevard,” which opened June 13 and runs through January 24, 2027, is on view at the museum, 470 W. Walnut St., Thursday through Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. General admission is $9, with seniors at $7, and free entry for members and visitors under 18.
The museum has scheduled two walking tours tied to the exhibition. Curator Julia Long will lead the first on Saturday, July 11, from 10 a.m. to noon, meeting at 585 E. Colorado Blvd.; a second is set for July 25. Tickets for each are $25 general and $20 for museum members.
