Snapshots From Route 66: One Student’s Journey to Newhouse LA

“If you ever plan to travel west, travel my way, take the highway that’s the best.” It’s been nearly 80 years since Nat King Cole uttered the now famous lyrics, “Get your kicks on Route 66,” but still to this day long distance drivers are enjoying the ride along this historic byway. The trip was recently (and safely) completed by Newhouse student Malcolm Taylor ’26, a rising senior majoring in photography with a minor in art photography from Chicago, the terminus of Route 66.

The Arch of St. Louis as Taylor passed through Missouri on the second day of his journey.

Taylor is in Los Angeles this summer taking part in the Newhouse LA program and decided to take the 2,000 mile drive in his silver 2018 Buick Regal to get there. Taylor’s field of study created a great photographic opportunity, and he shared some of the images with Syracuse University News.

According to Taylor, “It was dark by the time I got to Tulsa. But as the sun set, I was astounded by Oklahoma’s multicolor sunset. One of the prettiest I’ve seen!”

“This trip was much more than transportation to LA,” says Taylor, who comes from a family of road trippers. “My dad is a self-described nomad. We’ve driven to Maine, Florida, New Orleans, there and back again, and I loved every minute of it. I’ve always dreamed of completing the Route 66 drive, Chicago to LA, solo. It’s been my goal ever since I was a kid. This trip is the culmination of all of those hours spent in the car watching my dad not just transport us, but show me the real America.”

As Taylor notes, “arriving in Amarillo, Texas, I was floored by the beauty of the sunlight pouring through my hotel window. I used to opportunity to create a mysterious self-portrait.”

During his journey, Taylor made a stop in New Mexico to visit his high school art teacher who is building a home in the desert.

In New Mexico, Taylor met up with his high school photography teacher Benjamin Jaffe. For the past two years Jaffe has been building a home in the middle of the New Mexico desert.

The side trip allowed him to capture incredible photos of the other worldly landscape.

Taylor visited his high school art teacher along the way. “After telling me stories of rattlesnakes and mice with the Hantavirus, Jaffe took me up to a beautiful vista where I made this portrait of a rock face at dusk.”

His trip overall was “filled with trials and tribulations,” including a needed tire repair on day one and a slight wrong way turn on day two, but overall Taylor described the drive and stops along the way as an incredibly rewarding experience.

A roadside stop along Route 66 in New Mexico at sunset.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says, adding that “I’m proud of overcoming these obstacles and learning from them.” A true sign that this trip was about the journey as much as the destination.

This story was originally published in Syracuse University News.