Cheesy Route 66: Cadillac Ranch

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There’s cheesy, and then there’s THIS. What a concept: bury ten Cadillacs in the ground, hood down, at an angle modeled after the Pyramids of Giza, and people will come to see it AND paint graffiti all over it! Welcome to the Cadillac Ranch. It’s on the west side of Amarillo, on the original part of Route 66. The road is marked up with chalk graffiti. The ten cars are covered, then re-covered, then covered some more!!!!, with graffiti from spray cans. This isn’t an area where the cops are going to arrest you. It’s part of the “charm,” I guess you’d call it, of the place. It’s artwork done by the countless visitors to the site over the decades (it was created in 1974), so it’s probably the singularly most unique artwork in the world: ever changing and the result of countless “artists” adding their personal touch (or “Joe was here” remark). It’s cheesy. I sent a picture to my brother and he said, “I remember that,” to which I replied, “Holy cow, we’re both dumb enough to come here?” No, not really. It DOES sound silly, but it’s one of those purely American things…and purely Texan things. Photo is the Cadillac Ranch.