Pasadena businesses commemorate 100th birthday of Route 66

With warm, saturated colors that whisper mid-century Americana, the historic neon signs along Route 66 in Pasadena give off a glow that takes drivers back in time, but one is turned off tonight. 

"I've been a model railroader since I was three," said Paul Scheffer, manager of the Original Whistle Stop.

Long before Scheffer was at the Original Whistle Stop re-engineering model trains, he was a kid with a passion for the craft who would come into the store and look around, mesmerized. 

"It's infinite as far as your imagination goes," he said. "You can do whatever you want with it."

This has been a season of starting over again for the 75-year-old small business. In June, they moved into a smaller storefront tucked back a bit from Route 66 on Altadena Drive. 

This was after a new owner bought the old building with the iconic 27-foot-tall neon locomotive sign and raised the rent to $10,000. 

"It was so much of the character of the store, and some of that's lost," Scheffer said. 

So on this 100th anniversary of Route 66, their story of surviving as an old-school model shop in a modern world speaks to the heart of the highway that runs clear across the country, which is and has always been the people pursuing adventure; the people who road trip through it and the businesses that have persevered for decades. 

"We're making it work as best we can. Let's put it that way," Scheffer said. 

Our colleagues with CBS News traveled the country to highlight the history of the "Mother Road."

In the 1930s, it was a route for those fleeing the Dust Bowl. In the 1940s, it was a place to get your kicks. Route 66 featured some of the finest roadside attractions, from Cadillac Ranch outside Amarillo to the towering characters lining the road in Tulsa. On the West Coast, the highway ends in Santa Monica right after Mel's Diner. 

Local businesses have been commemorating the Route 66 centennial with custom murals like the one at Pasadena's Villain Custom Cycles. 

Scheffer said being a part of the iconic thoroughfare is a point of pride.

"It was definitely a Route 66 icon," he said. "It was something people knew."

Even though most of their loyal customers are getting their kicks with another classic symbol of American travel.

"I still meet people in here that are from Australia, Japan or whatever. It's a world-renowned store," Scheffer said. 

The Original Whistle Stop is working to preserve its historic neon sign. They're talking with the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale to have it taken down and moved there.