Honest, it’s the biggest March 20, 2010
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Motels.add a comment
The gigantic covered wagon in front of the Best Western Lincoln Inn in Lincoln, Ill., that features an equally large figure of Abraham Lincoln in the driver’s seat was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records, said Geoff Ladd of the Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau on Friday.
According to the Lincoln Daily News:
Paresh Patel, the owner of the Best Western says he has had international travelers driving Route 66 stop and ask about the wagon. Patel said a pair of Japanese men recently stopped as they made the drive from California to Chicago in the car they had shipped over for the journey.
Bill Kelly, executive director of the Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway told those gathered that this summer the new Route 66 signs would be finished and one of the new signs would be added at the site. The signs, in chrome, relate to the cars of the fabulous fifties when Route 66 was the ‘Mother Road’.
Larry Van Bibber, who donated the funds to purchase the wagon in 2007, said he decided to purchase the wagon for the city to help attract tourists.
The entry for world’s largest covered wagon hadn’t been listed on Guinness’ Web site as of Saturday morning. According to a news item in my archives, the fiberglass Abe is 12 foot long (seated) and weighs 350 pounds. The wagon is 24 feet tall, 12 feet wide, 40 feet long, and weighs five tons. The front wheels stand 10 feet tall, and the back wheels are 12 feet tall.
Grocery in Needles will remain open March 19, 2010
Posted by Ron in Businesses, Towns.1 comment so far
The endangered Bashas’ store, the only remaining grocery still operating in the Route 66 town of Needles, Calif., will remain open for the foreseeable future, reported the Needles Desert Star this week.
The Bashas’ chain had filed for bankruptcy months ago, and the closure of the Needles location and nine other stores was part of an initial reorganization plan.
The city agreed to offset part of the store’s costs, totaling $350,000, for a four-year period. In exchange, Bashas will work to replace old equipment to lower the store’s utility costs. The landlord also renegotiated the lease.
I know some would blanch at a municipality offering financial incentives to keep a private business open. However, Bashas is the only grocery store in Needles. Its closure would have been catastrophic to the town’s senior citizens (many whom don’t drive) and its poor because the nearest grocery is more than 20 miles away.
Notes from the road March 19, 2010
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Books, Events, History, Music, People, Photographs, Preservation, Towns, Web sites, bicycling.add a comment
A final meeting for public comment will be Monday at 5:30 p.m. at Clinton Middle School in west Tulsa about the Route 66 Master Plan: Red Fork Streetscape Improvements, according to Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers.
The project area includes Southwest Boulevard between 25th West Avenue and 27th West Avenue. [...]
Citizens are welcome to comment on features such as enhanced sidewalks, trees, street lights, and crosswalks. [...] The project is scheduled to bid this summer, with construction to begin in the fall.
Downtown Red Fork businesses are emerging in restored old buildings. This Route 66 project will continue to encourage historic preservation-based commercial revitalization.
— Alan Dunn, aka Mr. Zip66, saw his blog post about tracing the path taken in the classic 1969 motorcycle movie “Easy Rider” touted by About.com. Dunn deserves prominence for his post; his research was exemplary. The path seen in the movie included portions of Route 66 in California and Arizona.
— Read Claudia Heller’s latest in her ongoing series about Route 66 in California’s Mojave Desert. This one is about the town of Newberry Springs.
— Christian Chensvold, a writer for The Huffington Post, writes about “Route 66″ composer Bobby Troup. The story includes a video of Troup performing his signature song.
— Warren Keating writes for Gather.com about his family’s experience at Meteor Crater off Route 66 in Arizona.
— Here’s an excerpt of the new book “Appetite for America” by Stephen Fried, published by the Wall Street Journal. The book details how Fred Harvey built his famed Harvey Houses and changed the West and United States transportation forever. Harvey’s railroad stops also inadvertently paved the way for Route 66.
— Steve Anchell is exhibiting his black-and-white photographs shot on Route 66 from 1981 to 1989 at the Emerald Art Center in Springfield, Ore., through March 27. Many of Anchell’s Route 66 photos can be seen here.
— Edwardsville, Ill., this week scheduled its Route 66 Festival for June 11-12. The festival took a one-year hiatus in favor of a Fall Fest in the city, but the latter event was poorly attended.
— Gordo at Handcolored66.com has just posted his first in a series of color photographs from the Mother Road on his site. They’re available as postcards, prints, etc.
— Here’s a brief update about the two Memphis teens who are bicycling east on a chunk of Route 66 to help raise funds to build wells in earthquake-stricken Haiti. The two were going through the Texas Panhandle this week. The boys’ Water Cycle site is here.
— A family of four is blogging nearly daily on One Journey At a Time about their trip to the West, including Route 66.
— Read about Jeff Burton, who plans on bicycling Route 66 in May from Santa Monica to his hometown of Stroud, Okla., to attend his 50th high-school reunion. He wants to raise money on the 1,500-mile trip to benefit Stroud High School girls athletics.
Footage from the past March 18, 2010
Posted by Ron in History, People, Television.add a comment
A few days ago, the C-SPAN network announced it put all of its video archives online, dating back more than 20 years.
The archive, which contains more than 160,000 hours of video, will be a boon for muckrakers. But considering that C-SPAN also gave plenty of air time to historians, I thought maybe some Route 66 footage would be there, too.
And there is. One big find is the late Tom Teague, author of “Searching for 66″ and a founding member of the Illinois Route 66 Association, talking about the Mother Road before an audience in Denver in 1996.
The direct link to Teague’s talk is here. It’s about an hour.
Teague died a few years ago, and it’s neat to see and hear him again, albeit through my computer monitor.
If you enjoy hearing “Route 66: The Mother Road” author Michael Wallis speak, you can hear him here talking about his Billy the Kid book in 2007. David King Dunaway talks about his book “Across the Tracks: A Route 66 Story” and other biographies in 2002. And the C-SPAN School Bus stopped at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas, in 1994.
Oklahoma City tower named to National Register March 18, 2010
Posted by Ron in History, Preservation.1 comment so far
The Citizens Bank Tower, on an old alignment of Route 66 in Oklahoma City and very close to another, was named to the National Register of Historic Places, according to an e-mail from the National Park Service.
The tower, now known as The Classen luxury apartments building, is at 2200 N. Classen Blvd., an early alignment of Route 66. It is only a block south of NW 23rd Street, the more prominent alignment of Route 66 through Oklahoma’s capital.
Here’s information about the building from The Classen’s Web site:
Originally constructed in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright in 1966, The Classen is a 21 story hexagon marvel, clad in glass and marble. Its towering presence is a premier architectural icon that shines again in the Oklahoma sky.The Classen has floor to ceiling windows, with breathtaking views of the downtown skyline, the State Capitol, treescapes dotted with houses and steeples, and legendary Oklahoma sunsets.
A visit to the Grants Cafe March 18, 2010
Posted by Ron in People, Restaurants.add a comment
The Cibola County Beacon published an interesting feature about the Grants Cafe in Grants, N.M., which has been serving customers along Route 66 since 1949.
And get this: The restaurant has had the same cook for more than 50 years, and the owner has been there more than 30.
Alice Rose Johnson, a cook for the café since 1955, remembers the decade of the 1960s as being the busiest. In those days, there was a motel behind the café and the kitchen crew packed brown bag lunches for the fire fighters who lodged there during the summer fire season. [...]
The current owner, Steve Vigil has been at the local bistro since 1977.
“He makes the chili and I make the beans,” said Johnson. “Mary is a very good waitress and she helps me a lot. Sandy is the dish washer, she’s a very good worker,” Johnson said of her family of co-workers. [...]
“We’re hanging in ’till we can’t do it anymore,” she added. “We’re waiting to win the Power Ball. We’re dreamers.”
Bones of the road March 18, 2010
Posted by Ron in Music, Photographs.add a comment
Glassonion Productions posted photos from a graveyard off Route 66 in western Arizona, including one where someone had a sense of humor … I think.
Music is by Johnny Cash, from his latest posthumous album that was released a few weeks ago.
“Route 66″ on stage March 17, 2010
Posted by Ron in Events, Music, Theaters.add a comment
Hey, look what’s happening behind the Cheddar Curtain. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater has included the Roger Bean musical “Route 66″ as part of its 2010-2011 season.
Here’s a taste of what it’s like:
The production runs until April 25. You can buy tickets here.
Baseball cruise March 17, 2010
Posted by Ron in Road trips, Sports.add a comment
MiLB.com, the Web site of Minor League Baseball, has published an article about three Texas League teams, and advocates traveling on Route 66 part of the way to see them.
The Drillers of Tulsa, the Cardinals of Springfield, Mo.; and the Naturals of Northwest Arkansas all are part of the league. The story advocates checking out a Drillers game first; the team is about to open the new ONEOK Field just a few blocks from the original Route 66.
After that, the story recommends taking the Mother Road to Springfield:
While Route 66 is no longer recognized as part of the U.S. highway system, drivers can still travel along the iconic route. Two early proponents of Route 66 were businessman Cyrus Avery of Tulsa and John Woodruff of Springfield, and a drive between the two cities represents an opportunity to check out some attractions that are alternately funny, strange and poignant, but always deeply American.
Examples include an 80-foot replica of a sperm whale, built out of pipe and concrete, which resides in Catoosa, Okla. And how about a stop at the Will Rogers Museum in nearby Claremore? The legendary humorist and traveling lecturer is perhaps Oklahoma’s most well-known native, and Route 66 used to be known as “Will Rogers Highway.” Traveling onward to Foyil, one will find a monument to Andy Payne, who won the 3,400-mile Transcontinental Footrace of 1928. (Foyil is also home to “The World’s Largest Totem Pole.”) After crossing the state line, a stop in Carthage, Mo., may be in order. The town is home to the Precious Moments Inspirational Park, a gaudily decorated chapel created by the man behind the wildly popular Precious Moments figurines.
The tour finishes at Springdale, Ark., where the Naturals play.
More commercials from “Route 66″ March 16, 2010
Posted by Ron in Television, Vehicles.add a comment
As promised, here are more television commercials from the 1961 season of “Route 66.”
It’s amazing to encounter Chevrolet models of which I was unaware.
A tasty development March 16, 2010
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Food, Museums, Railroad.add a comment
The original railroad Harvey House in Barstow, Calif., which is the home of Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum, will also play host to a farmers market starting this weekend, reported the Desert Dispatch.
Barstow has been without a farmers’ market for some time, and the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce aims to bring farmers who sell at the Victorville market to Barstow. They hope that local crafters will show up as well. The Harvey House market will make its debut Saturday at 9 a.m.
Cory Baker, customer service representative for the chamber, said that the chamber hosted a similar market downtown on Main Street five to six years ago and the time had come for another.
“It was a group idea, (The chamber) thought ‘what better place than the Harvey House?’ It’s a beautiful building,” Baker said. [...]
Baker said that this month’s market will consist mostly of crafts and prepared-food vendors. Once fruits and vegetables come into season, he said that he hopes to see local farmers selling their produce. The bazaar-style market aims to attract vendors who sell handmade or new items, and produce. This event will not be a flea market or rummage sale.
The farmers market in the Barstow Harvey House will be held on the third Saturday of each month. The nearest farmers market is 30 miles away in Victorville.
I’m sure such a market will provide a nice boost for the Route 66 museum, also.
Let me answer March 16, 2010
Posted by Ron in Highways, Maps.add a comment
KTVI-TV in St. Louis proclaims that a few folks are confused by the new “Historic Route 66 Byway” signs posted along Manchester Road in the St. Louis region.
A merchant claims that Watson Road is the original Route 66. He named his transmission business because of that.
“Watson Road here is the original Route 66,” said Sam Lopretta of Route 66 Transmissions.
MoDOT put up the new signs but said they were paid for by the Route 66 Association in Springfield, Mo. MoDOT declined to explain the signs. To complicate matters, one of the new signs on Manchester at McCausland Road points motorists north to Route 66 even though Watson runs to the south.
Manchester actually was an alignment of Route 66 from the late 1920s until the early 1930s. The Watson Road alignment wasn’t designated until the early 1930s.
To make matters more confusing, there also were “City 66″ alignments. There are no fewer than a half-dozen Route 66 alignments in the St. Louis area, as this map illustrates.
A commenter on the story, James from Junction City, Kan., also rightfully points out that Watson and Manchester were chosen as Route 66 at different times.
It doesn’t surprise me, alas, that a TV station didn’t do a bit of research and figure out there was more than one way that Route 66 went through St. Louis during the highway’s history. Hasn’t anyone at KTVI ever heard of Google?
UPDATE: KTVI has been even more pilloried for its lack of research in comments to the story.
Commercials from “Route 66″ March 15, 2010
Posted by Ron in Television.2 comments
Someone has compiled all of the commercials that aired during the 1961 of the original “Route 66″ television drama. You’ll see ads for Milk of Magnesia, “instant flaking action” Bayer Aspirin, and a whole fleet of Chevys.
You’ll even see an ad that features Frontier City, which is still off Route 66 north of Oklahoma City.
The YouTube poster promises to upload more ads.
Book review: “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” March 14, 2010
Posted by Ron in Books, History, Photographs, Road trips, Towns.1 comment so far
Route 66 aficionados who like straying off the beaten path will find dozens of ideas for day trips with “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” (soft cover, 256 pages, Voyageur Press, $21.99).
Subtitled “Your Guide to the Historic Mining Camps & Ghost Towns of Arizona and New Mexico,” the book by Jim Hinckley and photographer Kerrick James takes you into towns in Arizona and New Mexico that went from boom to bust in the 19th and 20th centuries. Ghost towns on Route 66 in this volume include Oatman, Goldroad, Hackberry and Two Guns, all in Arizona.
In his text, Hinckley divides the chapters by region, choosing a well-populated city from which to organize day trips to these often-isolated desert locales. From there, you’ll be introduced to colorfully named burgs as Vulture City and Bumble Bee. A few of the towns survive as tourist destinations. Others hang on for a few dozen hardy residents. Other old mining settlements feature nothing but ruins crumbling into the sand.
Hinckley advises visitors to be aware of poisonous snakes, intense desert heat and unstable mine shafts. Most towns are accessible by good roads. But a few, such as an alluring saloon in the remnants of Crown King, Ariz., is accessible by only an old railroad bed or the 40-mile Senator Highway from Prescott that “requires at least three hours to travel in good weather and a solid vehicle with good ground clearance.”
Hinckley stretches the definition of “ghost town” a bit by including cities such as Bisbee (population 6,000), Tombstone (pop. 1,500) and Jerome (pop. 300). However, as he points out, all of these towns are mere shadows of their former mining heydays.
Places such as Oatman and Chloride, Ariz., aren’t heavily populated but attract hundreds or thousands of tourists on any given weekend.
These ghost towns weren’t always mining centers, either. Chaco Canyon and Gran Quivira in New Mexico were American Indian settlements until they were abandoned centuries ago, with nothing remaining but stone ruins.
James gets co-billing with this book, and should. “Ghost Towns of the Southwest” provides generous space and color for his photography. Many of his images prove to be breathtaking, including wildflowers near the ruins of Goldroad and golden sunlight streaming on the rustic buildings of Mogollon, N.M. The photography alone makes this book worthwhile.
A purist may quibble with Hinckley on whether these places are true ghost towns or former mining settlements. However, no one will dispute that they offer spectacular scenery and unforgettable (and real) glimpses of the Old West. That’s more than commendable.
Those who wonder why Mother Road ghost towns such as Glenrio, N.M., and Twin Arrows, Ariz., aren’t included should be advised that Hinckley is working on a more expansive book about ghost towns on Route 66, slated for release later this year.
Recommended.
Pass the Tums March 14, 2010
Posted by Ron in Religion.add a comment
Here’s the latest from “Route 66: A Road Trip through the Bible.” This chapter focuses on the Book of Jonah.
Somehow, I don’t think Jonah will be hired as a trainer at Sea World anytime soon.
More images from the road March 14, 2010
Posted by Ron in Photographs, Road trips.add a comment
Here’s a collection of excellent photos by Cris Mitchell during a trip on Route 66 from Los Angeles to Flagstaff, Ariz.
The steeple in that old church in Amboy, Calif., leans more every time I see it.
DVD about Arizona’s Route 66 is completed March 13, 2010
Posted by Ron in Attractions, Highways, History, Movies.add a comment
Kirk Slack and his Out West Family Films have released a 34-minute DVD about the history and attractions of Route 66 in Arizona, according to the Kingman Daily Miner.
The documentary begins with the route’s Arizona origins along the Beale Wagon Trail in 1928, progressing to its role in the 1930s dustbowl migration, into its 1950s heyday as America’s Main Street. Slack said he interviewed a number of people who drove the route during its height, including one motorist who first traveled it as a child in 1951.
“I worked on it from about August to January, about five or six months accumulating stuff and doing interviews, researching stuff at the museum here in town,” Slack said.
As might be expected, the documentary prominently features Kingman and includes plenty of footage of the annual Street Drags events, as well as interviews with some of the participants. Slack also speaks with Route 66 connoisseurs and museum curators from Holbrook to Oatman, emphasizing the route’s recent resurgence as a large draw for European tourists.
“To us, it’s just another old road, you know? But I interviewed people from Swtizerland, Brazil, Germany, and they just love it for some reason,” Slack said.
You can order the film for $15 here.
A new song about an old road March 13, 2010
Posted by Ron in Music.3 comments
Here’s a new song, “Route 66,” by the Davis Wasser Band. You’ll notice a lot of Route 66 landmarks in the green-screen effects.
Quite a milestone March 13, 2010
Posted by Ron in Music, People.add a comment
According a Reuters article, Ray Benson’s Western swing band Asleep at the Wheel is making its 40th year this month.
During a four-decade career, the band has earned nine Grammy Awards, launched a critically acclaimed theatrical production, performed with everyone from Willie Nelson to President Obama to the Fort Worth Symphony, released more than 25 albums and had an airport roadhouse named after its frontman. [...]
Those initial expectations were modest. “I was hoping that in 10 years I would have enough money to buy the farm that I lived on and go back to farming and teach music in a music store. That was what I was considering would have been a very successful career, if I got a 10-year run of playing and making records,” he says. “But it just kept going, and there’s more to be done.”
The band was formed in West Virginia, but moved to California on the invitation of country-rock outfit Commander Cody.
Benson says the California chapter was an important time in the band’s history. “We met a peer group — Commander Cody, Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks, Elvin Bishop — but we also got to meet the originators of western swing like Tiny Moore. We learned from them. Then we were so broke, we took a job backing up Stoney Edwards, and that put us on an incredible journey where we wound up backing Freddie Hart, Connie Smith, LaWanda Lindsey and Dave Dudley as a country western backup band. That was an education in itself.”
In 1973, at the invitation of Willie Nelson and Doug Sahm, the group moved to Texas. It is still there.
“What took root in Paw Paw, West Virginia, came to full bloom in Austin,” Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum director Kyle Young says. “From Count Basie to Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel has explored the best of the American songbook, western swing style. Over these past 40 years, Ray Benson has followed his heart down Route 66 and far beyond to build a lasting musical legacy for himself and all the great players who’ve taken a turn with the Wheel.”
The Route 66 reference comes from the fact Asleep at the Wheel performs Bobby Troup’s song every night, and that band also has embarked on several Route 66 tours.
The amazing part is that Asleep at the Wheel has been performing as long as the King of Western Swing, Bob Wills, did.
