I Love Boosters starts like a fun heist movie. There’s a gang of cool ladies from the Bay Area who steal clothes from high-end designers and sell them at a steep discount to their friends and neighbors. But I Love Boosters is also a Boots Riley movie. The film is surreal and bombastic, branching out in a thousand directions and traversing a dozen genres. So it can’t really stay a heist movie.

Poppy Liu drives that change more than pretty much any other character in the film. She plays Jianhu, a garment worker in China who joins the gang and brings with her a bonkers new wrinkle to the story. It’s a role Poppy was made for. She’s made her career playing confident, somewhat unhinged weirdos. She was cast in a lead role in the 2019 sitcom Sunnyside, had other parts on Better Call Saul, The After Party, and Hacks.

Liu joins us to talk about starring in I Love Boosters and the message that she hopes audiences take away from the film. She also chats with us about her upbringing in Minnesota, how she got into comedy acting, her role on Hacks, and much more.

The problem is not where to find photos on Route 66. The problem is putting down the camera, especially during this centennial year, when the road is dressed up with more lights, banners, murals and fresh paint than it has seen for decades.

Stories, photos and travel recommendations from America’s Mother Road

Travelers may be tempted to just keep snapping. But for better results on every level, say hello and ask questions first. Here are a few more photo tips along with an east-to-west gallery of what our photographers and I found on the road:

• You can’t be everywhere at dusk, when the neon signs blaze, so be strategic (and maybe plan for an early dinner or a late one).
• Use a solid tripod (for long exposures), stay off the road, and be sure to try a variety of exposure times. (Neon is tricky.)
• If you see a roadside image that needs your attention, pull over, park legally and step away from the vehicle. The result will be better and all will be safer.
• Besides the freedom of road-tripping, the spirit of Route 66 is about independent businesses bucking the odds on the road less traveled. If we all take pictures without spending, those businesses won’t last long.

Views from Navy Pier in Chicago.

Millennium Park in Chicago.

Route 66 begins in downtown Chicago at Adams Street and Michigan Avenue. Early alignments put it on Jackson Boulevard. Signs mark the spot across the street from the Art Institute of Chicago.

Art Institute of Chicago.

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Cigars and Stripes BBQ in Berwyn, Ill., features a Muffler Man smoking a cigar and holding a jumbo bottle of barbecue sauce.

The Gemini Giant stands along Route 66 in Wilmington, Ill.

Atlanta, Ill., is home to the American Giants Museum — which celebrates the Muffler Men and Uniroyal Gals that were common roadside advertising features in the middle 20th century.

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Springfield, Ill., is home to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. Exhibits takes Lincoln from his Illinois childhood through to the Civil War and his assassination in 1865.

A barn along Route 66 near Carlinville, Ill.

The Wagon Wheel Motel on Route 66 in Cuba, Mo.

The Route 66 Car Museum’s collection includes about 70 vehicles, especially American and European sports cars. Pictured is a 1967 Pontiac Bonneville.

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Gary’s Gay Parita, once a service station, won fame over the decades for its hosts’ hospitality. It’s still a popular stop, 25 miles west of Springfield, Mo.

Rockwood Motor Court in Springfield, Mo., dates to 1929. It has been restored and continues to operate.

The Meadow Gold District in Tulsa, Okla.

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This fiberglass Rosie the Riveter figure went up on 11th Street in Tulsa in 2025.

Buck Atom’s Cosmic Curios occupies a former service station on 11th Street — a.k.a. Route 66 — in Tulsa.

Soda pop bottles line the walls of Pops 66 in Arcadia, Okla.

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A car travels down a stretch of the Meadow Gold District in Tulsa, Okla.

The Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza features a bronze sculpture called “East Meets West,” just off the now-closed Cyrus Avery Route 66 Memorial Bridge.

The Round Barn in Arcadia, Okla., stands along Route 66.

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National Route 66 Museum and Elk City Museum Complex, Elk City, Okla.

The fastidiously restored U-Drop Inn, a Streamline Moderne filling station and cafe in Shamrock, Texas, is one of the architectural standouts of Route 66. It doesn’t sell gas, though.

Visitors to the Cadillac Ranch art installation in Amarillo, Texas, are allowed to spray-paint the 10 Cadillacs half-buried in the ground there.

The Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, celebrates the halfway point along Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles.

A license plate spotted in Albuquerque.

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La Cita, a sombrero-topped restaurant, is one of the most popular eateries in Tucumcari, N.M. It was founded in 1940 and moved to its current location in 1961.

Motel Safari in Tucumcari, N.M., is one among a handful in town that have renovated and upgraded to attract contemporary travelers along Route 66.

Michela Franceschilli and her mom, Carla, came from Rome for their second trip exploring Route 66. They are standing by the Blue Swallow Motel, in Tucumcari, N.M.

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From Old Highway 66 near Laguna, N.M., Casa Blanca Road leads to Enchanted Mesa and Acoma Village.

The exterior of Duran Central Pharmacy in Albuquerque.

The combination plate, Christmas-style, at Duran Central Pharmacy.

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El Vado Motel is a rescue-and-recovery story on Central Avenue in Albuquerque.

Signs and murals line the roadside as Old Highway 66 passes through Grants, N.M.

The West Theatre in Grants, N.M.

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The Painted Desert Trading Post stand west of Chambers, Ariz. The restored building and a stretch of old Route 66 are on private property behind a gate. Travelers call or text a number on the gate to ask for access.

Signage along old Route 66 in Holbrook, Ariz.

The Painted Desert portion of Petrified Forest National Park includes broad vistas and richly varied mineral colors.

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Scenes from Route 66 in Williams, Ariz.

Angel & Vilma Delgadillo’s Original Route 66 Gift Shop on Route 66 through Seligman, Ariz.

Aztec Motel and Creative Space in Seligman, Ariz.

Route 66 merch in Seligman, Ariz.

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Tin Can Alley is a compound of five rental Airstream trailers in Kingman, Ariz.

The stretch of old Route 66 between Kingman and Topock in western Arizona is known as “Arizona Sidewinder” for its 191 turns, often without guardrails. The old mining town of Oatman, known for its feral donkeys, is on the way.

Oatman, Ariz., is known for its roaming burros, Old West-style storefronts and busy weekends. It stands on a curvy stretch of Route 66 that attracts many motorcyclists and off-road enthusiasts.

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El Rancho Motel Sign on the outskirts of Barstow, Calif.

Wigwam Motel off Route 66.

The iconic Roy’s sign stands over old Route 66 at Amboy, Calif., in San Bernardino County. These days Roy’s operates as a gas station, gift shop and snack bar, not a cafe or motel.

The fiberglass statue known as Chicken Boy stands on the roof of artist, designer and gallerist Amy Inouye’s studio on Figueroa Street in Highland Park.

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The interior of the Magic Lamp Inn.

The Magic Lamp Inn in Rancho Cucamonga.

Mitla’s Cafe in San Bernardino.

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Foothill Drive-In sign on the campus of Azusa Pacific University.

A portion of Route 66 that runs parallel with I-15.

Signs of Route 66 through the town of Oro Grande, Calif.

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Elmer’s Bottle Tree Ranch.

The interior of the Formosa Cafe in West Hollywood.

The historic train car at the Formosa Cafe.

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Mel’s Drive-In diner in Santa Monica.

Route 66 memorabilia at Mel’s Drive-in diner.

Route 66 Burger at Mel’s Drive-In, a popular stop for Route 66 travelers.

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The Santa Monica Pier, which marks the western end of Route 66.

Memorabilia for sale on the Santa Monica Pier.

Scenes from the Santa Monica Pier and the end of Route 66.

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A sign marking the end of Route 66 on the Santa Monica Pier.

The entrance to the Santa Monica Pier.

The Santa Monica Pier at dusk.

Alfre Woodard still remembers what it felt like to act in her first play as a teenager in Tulsa, Okla: “It was as if I’d been walking around on dry land my whole life, doing the breaststroke … and then just somebody came by me and tipped me in the water,” she says.

Woodard was hooked: Acting, she says, “propelled me into just the most open freedom I’ve ever felt in my life.” After college at Boston University, she moved to Los Angeles and thrust herself into the entertainment industry. Her TV and film credits include critically acclaimed roles in Hill Street Blues, Cross Creek, Crooklyn and 12 Years a Slave.

In the new Netflix series The Boroughs, Woodard plays Judy, a former journalist living in an upscale retirement community where something supernatural is preying on the residents. The ensemble cast is mostly actors over 60, while the showrunners are decades younger.

Woodward says the generational gap led to some interesting meetings early, like a Zoom meeting held by human resources where the cast was particularly rowdy.

“It was very irreverent kind of stuff going on,” Woodard says. “We’re hearing things like ‘You can’t call people honey.’ What about baby? No, you can’t … Can I say ‘You know, your butt looks really good in those jeans?’ Just giggling and laughing. But that’s our generation, and that’s one of the things that I think we bring to The Boroughs.”

For Woodard, The Boroughs is also a chance to spotlight senior citizens, a population rarely featured prominently on screen.

“That’s the thing about accumulating years is people take away your humanity when they look at you,” she says. “But … just like anybody playing music, anybody painting, the longer you do it, the more fine-tuned you are at it. We’re constantly in the process of becoming more of our true selves. So look to your elders.”

Interview highlights

On her Emmy-winning 1983 performance on Hill Street Blues, in which she played a mother whose young son was killed by police

I understood quickly what honesty was. Honesty in portrayal, in terms of your intention, that’s what you bring. … It’s like being on-pitch when you hit a note. Everybody can recognize a flat or a sharp note. … They know something’s off, so your job is to use your mouth, your fingers, however you’re playing the instrument. And for an actor, your body — and especially your heart and your mind — is your instrument.

On the research she did in order to play a prison warden in the 2019 film Clemency

Just walking through the prisons, you recognize the boys and the girls who … got off the track, and it was because people weren’t listening to them. They didn’t have my father or my mother or my teachers. … The great thing about being an actor is you have to learn something. Not just the skill, knowing about the skill of what your character is doing, but you have to come off your own opinions to do something. … You listen with your heart.

On representing Black culture on screen in the 1980s and ’90s

A lot of the country and certainly the world didn’t know we were as complex and … smart and whole, because we’d never been presented that way on screen. The whole point [of] storytelling is for the help of the community, and it always has been. Since the griots, since people first stood up around the fire, we need stories like food and water. That’s how we know who we are. The recreating, the retelling of the story lets the tribe look at itself, laugh, cry, get scared — but to reflect and to know how to walk forward.

On starting Sistahs Soiree, a pre-Oscar party for Black and Latina actors

The reason I started it was people would say things like, “Oh, you’re so great, too bad there’s not any roles for Black women.” It was like, no, I have to answer you. If it’s the Queen of England, yeah, let all the Kates be Queen Elizabeth. But if there’s 99 other roles, then shame on you for not seeing all these women who are not only prolific but profound. They have a track record and they have made bank for people. … And I got tired of hearing, … [fans say] “You know who would have been better in that?” You know what, you don’t do that to the Kates, don’t that to us.

On the secret to staying in the entertainment industry for as long as she has

There’s nothing in my history to know to [give up]. I don’t know how to do that. My father would say … “Why don’t you run for [class] president?” … And that was in my school [where] there were only 10 Black kids. “Oh, you know, they’re gonna let a guy do it.” My father … goes, “Well, then you gotta figure out a way to get it from him, don’t you?” You never said, “I can’t because somebody won’t let me.”

Ann Marie Baldonado and Nico Gonzalez Wisler produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Clare Lombardo adapted it for the web.