The once-notorious Avalon Steakhouse, just off Old Route 66 between Tulsa and Sapulpa, served its last meal in its current building Saturday night. Avalon is moving into a new building one block north later this month, according to the Tulsa World (subscription).

It’s a tame place now, with an excellence in steaks to which I can attest. But shortly after it opened in 1967, it was a rough-and-tumble place where illicit liquor flowed and semi-Mafia types hung out until the wee hours. Local cops called it the “Gun & Knife Club.”

Linda Perise-DeArman started at the Avalon years ago as a waitress and eventually became its owner.

Willie Nelson, David Allan Coe, Waylon Jennings and other country music greats stopped in at the Avalon for impromptu, wee-hour jams after playing in Tulsa at Cain’s Ballroom.

Cleaning up the next day following a night of carousing, it wasn’t uncommon for the staff to find drugs and unmentionables strewn around the room, the owner said.

“It all went on,” Parise-DeArman said.

The unruliness began to fade in the early 1980s when police started cracking down on drunk drivers and more watering holes sprang up in the area, diluting demand.

“People started to grow up or be dead,” she said.

The old Avalon will only live on in the minds of people like (waitress Darlene) Barney, who just couldn’t seem to leave, despite the danger.

On her first night as a waitress, she saw a man stabbed in front of her in the dining room.

“I told the owner I was never coming back, and here I am 30 years later.”

I’ve been told through the grapevine that the Avalon’s famous door, which has a special lock and a peephole so a bouncer could see who was entering, is making the trip to the new building.

I decided to tweak Route 66 News this weekend, mainly the links. I hope it’s more useful now.

I originally envisioned this site having about 75 links down the side. But I underestimated Route 66’s presence on the Internet, and ended up with more than 250. That was too unwieldy, and the links were listed in alphabetical but otherwise willy-nilly fashion. Part of the problem was that I was still learning the capabilities and limitations of the WordPress.com program.

So I decided this weekend to create separate pages for links to Route 66 associations, restaurants, lodging and attractions. They are listed by the state in which they originate, and from east to west geographically. That way, I figured it would be easier to find information about a certain cafe or museum.

I’ve also added pages, state by state, of nearly all the towns Route 66 goes through. Each town is linked to an official or semi-official Web site, if it has one.

The links on the side of the main page remain; it’s just a shorter list of personal Route 66-themed Internet sites or areas that are too specialized for their own page.

If you have any other suggestions, e-mail route66news (at) yahoo (dot) com or use the comments section here.