On the road again
A photographer’s tribute to Route 66 spans a creative lifetime
New Mexico, Arizona and California have a prominent presence in Terrence Moore’s new book, “66 on 66, A Photographer’s Journey.” The book is a collection of 66 of Moore’s photographs — images of such subjects as glowing neon signs, weathered billboards, rusted trucks, old gas pumps, open trading posts, closed cafes, and cracked pavement along historic Route 66. He took the photographs from 1970 to 2010.
The book’s cover displays a nighttime photo of the lit-up neon sign at the front of the Grandview Motel on West Central in Albuquerque. Moore shot that in 1988. The motel is still in business.
An iconic Moore photo inside the book taken in 1971 shows two-lane Route 66 looking west into the sunset from San Fidel.
Another image shot in New Mexico is a close-up daytime photo titled “Neon Indian” that Moore shot in Gallup in 1980.
One reason for the prominence of New Mexico, Arizona and California is that Moore’s life has been centered there. Born in Duluth, Minn., he moved with his family to California as a preteen and soon started taking pictures.
“I went to high school on Route 66 in Claremont. I delivered newspapers there. I bought my first car in Fontana and sold it in Pasadena,” Moore said in a phone interview from his home in Arizona.
After college, he moved to Albuquerque, where he rented an apartment in Old Town for about a year. “I was getting out of college with no plans. I decided photography was what I wanted to do. I moved to Albuquerque because I thought I could get a job there. I had my dog and my ’57 Ford wagon,” he said.
Moore found work at the Santa Fe Ski Basin and lived in the Santa Fe area for several years. He worked as an environmental photographer.
One of the people he met in Santa Fe was Michael Wallis, who later wrote the famous history “Route 66: The Mother Road.” Wallis’ book contains many of Moore’s photographs.
In Wallis’ foreword to “66 on 66,” he writes that “Moore handles a camera with the same passion and focus as Hendrix or Clapton making love to a guitar. He is an authentic maestro.”
In the afterword to “66 on 66,” Clark Worswick writes that “Moore’s photographs preserve one of the greatest civic achievements of a new continent defining itself. In essence, Moore’s photographs are nothing less than core documentation of the American 20th century.”
U.S. 66 was established in 1926, stretching from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif. It was decertified as a federal highway in 1985.
The 74-year-old professional photographer said that in his recent travels along Route 66 promoting the book, he has observed pockets of resurgence.
“Like my friend Michael (Wallis) says, ‘It will never die. We live in such a flaky world that having something like 66 even if it’s only symbolic is good for us. … It is changing, evolving. It will continue to be Main Street of America,” Moore said.
He thinks it would be good if the route is designated a National Historic Trail.
“I try to show what people have missed and I try to show sections of the road and landmarks that have been there forever. The point is there are lots of cool things out there on the road,” he said.
Moore’s book can also be viewed as his love letter to the Route 66.