KIM WILCOX | senior staff writer
There's more to 'Route 66' than most students realize. Start your engines!
Hypothetically speaking, today you were pulling out of the West Campus parking lot when you felt the urge to turn right instead of left. So you did.
Then you continued heading west on Foothill, pausing to enjoy the sites as you go.
Foothill is a portion of the Historic Route 66 that follows a straight line through downtown Azusa and into the city of Irwindale.
Buildings old and new rise up on either side of the street. Some look old and rustic like you would imagine the buildings looked like when first constructed.
One example of this was the first building to catch my attention. It rose up on my left as I drove west and on the side it read “General Joe’s Paintball.”
The store is intriguing but as you continue driving you come to the 98+ Smart Shopping store located on Foothill and Virginia.
The store is a large grey building on my left, so I make a left turn at the light, pull into the parking lot and walk inside.
Abraham Hawa is standing behind the register assisting a man with a portable gas tank. He looks up and asks if he can help me.
“For students, we have a lot of stuff. Medicine, candy and food; as well as stuff for computers and electronics,” Hawa said.
Hawa points out each aisle as he lists the many types of merchandise on the floor. The store carries food, decorations, dinnerware, cords for VCR’s and DVD players, phone cords, light bulbs, cleaning supplies, toys, books, beach towels, and more.
Their flyer says they are “a dollar store with so much more.”
As I left, I continued to drive westward till I reached the city limit and then I turned around and drove slow enough to the names of a few stores.
There was a small building with the name “Corky’s Place” on the door and across from that was a Pawn shop and several body shops. A little further down were two car washes and many mechanics shops. The next block had a sign reading “Nettech Computer Service and Networking.”
There is a Shanghai Buffet, CVS Pharmacy, Starbucks and for all those late night runs with friends, Taco King sits proudly on Foothill Blvd.
Also located on Foothill is the Azusa City Town Hall. The building isn’t hard to miss if you are driving, let alone the fountain out front and the memorial to the men and women killed in action on the corner.
Maria Salazar is a receptionist for City Hall. She works for the City Clerks department and is the first person I see as I walk into the building. I’m curious to know about this building.
Salazar said the library actually has a book titled, Azusa Downtown Walking Tour: Historic Glimpses, that was released by the city of Azusa a few years ago, guiding the reader on a walking tour of Azusa.
She opens her copy of the book and shows me a page, which details the history of the fountain out front.
The fountain was brought from Mexico in 1975 by Azusa’s sister city Zacatecas, Mexico.
However, Salazar said the students of APU will be seeing many changes on Foothill in a few years as the shopping centers undergo construction and the stores change.
“In a year or two it is going to be totally different,” Salazar said. “ It’s something to look forward to. All of downtown will look different.”
As I walked back out the door, I could only imagine what this busy highway would look like in a few years. Can you see it? 
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