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Media Advisory: San Bernardino Celebrates a "66-Diamond Day" with Auto Club

Route 66's Original Sign-Posters To
Present City with Vintage Sign Replica

WHO: Mayor Judith Valles, travel writer David Brackney and Auto Club photographer Todd Masinter

WHAT: The Automobile Club of Southern California's popular Route 66 GreatestHits™ Map is being updated with new photos and information about the road's unique roadside eateries, historic motels and scenery for next year's 80th anniversary of the Mother Road. The Auto Club was an original mapper of many of the nation's early highways and streets, including Route 66. As part of this road trip, Greatest Hits map writer David Brackney and photographer Todd Masinter will present Mayor Judith Valles and the City of San Bernardino with a replica of the sign that the Auto Club posted along the predecessor to Route 66, the National Old Trails Road.

Also, the Auto Club will declare a "66-Diamond Day" in San Bernardino to recognize the city's top quality efforts to maintain the popularity of the famed "Mother Road." The AAA Diamond rating program normally is used to rate hotels and motels nationwide, with five-diamond properties deemed to be of the highest quality.

WHY: Before the federal government took it over in 1927 and renamed it U.S. Route 66, the original transcontinental byway was called the National Old Trails Road. The Auto Club installed 4,000 directional signs on the road between Los Angeles and Kansas City, Mo.

WHEN: Sign installation — 10 a.m., Tuesday, June 7, 2005.

WHERE: 3rd and D Streets, in front of the Route 66 mural near San Bernardino City Hall (the traditional start point for the Route 66 Rendezvous).

SPONSORS: Hertz and Ford Motor Company provided the 2005 Ford Mustang coupe and Mustang GT convertible that the AAA travel writer and photographer are traveling in. The road trip finishes in Santa Monica, Calif., on the evening of June 7.

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CST 1016202-80 Copyright © Automobile Club of Southern California. All Rights Reserved.
The Automobile Club of Southern California is a member club affiliated with the American Automobile Association (AAA) national federation and serves members in the following California counties: Inyo, Imperial, Kern, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Tulare, and Ventura.