I walked by this construction site the other day when we had lunch at the Blue Dome Cafe, formerly the Route 66 Diner.

It turns out it will be a new branch of Dirty’s Tavern, a popular watering hole in Stillwater. The new one, in the Blue Dome District of Tulsa along an old stretch of Route 66, will hold its grand opening Friday, according to Tulsa Today.

The movie gossip site, Ain’t It Cool News, has a review from Sherlock Jr. of Pixar’s “Cars” movie when it was shown at ShoWest in Vegas. It’s a more mixed review than others that have been posted here, with a call for Pixar to perform more “judicious editing” of the film’s middle section.

You can read the review here.

Maybe Pixar will tighten down the middle section. After all, that’s what test audiences are for — to find any weak spots in a film and tweak them.

Then again, maybe those so-called “slow spots” are what film lovers would call “character development.”

Either way, Sherlock admitted that the film’s gonna be a big hit.

Route 66 aficionado Mark Potter traveled to the Texas Panhandle area after the wildfires dissipated. The photo above showed how close the fires came to the red-tile-roofed Kiser’s 66 Super Service station on old Route 66 near Alanreed.

The lower photo shows how close the fire came to Delbert and Ruth Trew’s ranch home. They stayed behind to fight the fire, and it probably was good they did.

Jim Conkle of the Route 66 Preservation Foundation announced over the weekend that a new Route 66 newspaper, called Route 66 Pulse, will be published later this year. Its first issue will be available at the Albuquerque Route 66 festival in June.

The newspaper will be by the same folks who publish the Route 20 Pulse, the Richfield Springs Mercury and New York Canal Times.

I’ve already warned them about a few hurdles, like distributing a newspaper over the 2,400 miles of Route 66 and ensuring they have enough ad sales to support it. Doing a publication like this properly will present numerous challenges, so I wish them luck.

Rick and Jane McKinney, the evangelist couple that’s walking much of Route 66 in their Walk to Reclaim America, made it to the big cross in Groom, Texas, on St. Patrick’s Day. They have walked 1,200 miles. At least they missed the wildfires in the Panhandle a few days earlier.

Steve Vaught of thefatmanwalking.com finally figured out what was causing the pain in his feet: bad shoes. You can read about this on his online journal (scroll down to the March 16 entry).

Paul De Courcy of Waterford, Ireland, drove Route 66 in a motorcycle as part of the Charity Motorcycle Challenge in 2004.

Now he’s been asked to do it again for the Temple Street Children’s Hospital, according to the Waterford News & Star. He said yes.

“Back in 2004, I applied to do it and was delighted to be accepted to join a group from all over the country to take part. It was tough, there’s no doubt about it, especially the first few days when you’re travelling up to 400 miles per day.

“But it was a fantastic experience overall, a real once-in-a-lifetime thing that would stay with you forever. Hopefully, knowing what to expect and the fact that I’m ever more experienced this time round will be of benefit to me and I’ll find it a bit easier this year.�

He’ll leave Chicago with 55 others on Oct. 1.

Rain didn’t cancel the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at the Route 66 town of Shamrock, Texas. After all the recent wildfires in the Panhandle, it probably was welcomed.

You couldn’t get a green beer in Shamrock, though. The county is dry.

Here’s a story about the festival from AP.

UPDATE: I found some musings by Ace Jackalope on Shamrock and its imported blarney stone.

Eckleberg & Grumblecake have added two new reviews of restaurants along Albuquerque’s Central Avenue, aka Route 66, on their Web site, I8Route66. The eateries visited were Satellite Coffee (rating of 6 out of 10) and Milton’s pancake house (7.5 out of 10).

The City of Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission voted 6-2 on Friday to redevelop the Horn Oil Co. on Route 66 into a multi-use residential area, according to the Albuquerque Journal (subscription-only content). There also is a report at the Albuquerque Tribune site.

Horn Oil Co. at one point in its history on Route 66 boasted a one-stop place for gas, dining and lodging. It was on the National Register of Historic Places and State Register of Cultural Properties, but wasn’t a city landmark. The motel part of the complex will be demolished, but the gas station and dining area preserved. According to the Journal story, the development will have a Route 66-inspired Moderne style.

I’m a little sad to see the motel part demolished. But it looks like this is a terrific infill project for Albuquerque that architecturally gives a nod to Route 66.

I wondered why Horn Motor Lodge was rarely mentioned as a Route 66 attraction, say, compared to El Vado Motel. Then I read this in the Journal:

Since February 2005, police records show the Horn Oil Co. property has had more than 200 calls for such things as murder, stabbings, aggravated assaults, drug dealing and sex offense, a Planning Department report said.

I’ve seen the crime statistics for motels along Albuquerque’s Central Avenue. Horn Oil Co. easily possesses one of the worst. It’s easy to see why tourism officials steered Route 66ers away from it.

It’s also interesting to read what Christopher Calett, an architect for Infill Solutions, says about the project:

The demolition of the motor court units could threaten its historic designations, which means the developer wouldn’t be eligible for federal and state tax credits for rehabilitating any of the historic buildings, Marrone said.

Calott said they would do what they can to keep the designations.

And while a historic part of the structure will be gone, Calott maintains that their new development will help revitalize the Route 66 corridor.

“We’re adding to the history. We’re creating new history,” Calott said. “Route 66 is not a dead corridor.”

I know some Route 66 aficionados will disagree with me on this, but here goes: I see this project as an acceptable compromise. Horn became severely blighted by crime. I’d love to save the whole property for posterity. But chronic crime problems will make that difficult. (This is yet more evidence that indifferent property owners are an equal threat to Route 66 properties as developers are.) At least part of the property will be preserved.

Here’s the other problem: Route 66, as it stands, is little more than a cottage industry. I’ve seen generous estimates as high as 50,000 of people who travel the Mother Road each year. But over an entire year, over 2,200 miles, that isn’t a lot of people. That number probably will rise with the release of Pixar’s summer movie, “Cars.” But by how much and for how long, I don’t know.

There are about two dozen or so vintage motels in Albuquerque. They are under enormous competitive pressure from each other, chain motels, and motels near the interstates. The current number of Route 66 travelers won’t support all those vintage motels. Route 66 travelers will support maybe a half-dozen.

I also know that some Route 66ers are mad at Albuquerque for doing this. But, frankly, Albuquerque has become a lot more progressive to Route 66 in recent years than many other cities, like Oklahoma City and St. Louis. ABQ’s commitment to helping save El Vado and its ongoing revitalization of the De Anza Motel prove that.

Can it do better? Of course. But to describe ABQ as a poster child for what municipalities are doing wrong with Route 66 is simply untrue.

That’s why I’m rooting so hard for “Cars” and posting so many stories about it. “Cars” may be the biggest thing to hit Route 66 since the publication of Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” way back in 1990. The more the film draws people on the Mother Road, the incentives that cities will have for preservation.

I received a notice Friday that the hearing on Richard Gonzales’ appeal of the City of Albuquerque Landmarks Commission’s decision to designate El Vado Motel a city landmark has been delayed.

The hearing will be at 9:30 a.m. March 30.

Having read the city Planning Commission’s strong and convincing rebuttal, I think it’s just delaying the inevitable rejection of Gonzales’ appeal.

No, al-Qaida insurgents from Iraq aren’t responsible. The lopping off of the Lauterbach Tire Man’s noggin on the 1926-34 alignment of Route 66 in Springfield, Ill., was caused by last week’s severe thunderstorms.

As you can see, the head was eventually found. Lauterbach Tire and Car Wash Service is at 1569 Wabash Ave. in Springfield.

Illinois Route 66 aficionado Carl Johnson found the photos of the beheaded Lauterbach Tire Man on this fascinating link of storm damage photos.

Jay Lauterbach told me on the phone that the Lauterbach Man will be repaired.

The Lauterbach Man is one of the species of Muffler Men found across America. For more about them, check out this link from the Roadside America site.

Bob Moore, executive editor of Route 66 Magazine, was kind enough to provide me a preview of what’s coming up on the spring issue of his magazine. He said the publication should be in bookstores and newstands sometime this week.
Here’s the rundown on the current issue:

• Cover story is “I Have Seen the Future” by Johnny V (Johnny Meier, former president of the New Mexico Route 66 Association). It’s a story of how people in the 1920s and ’30s envisioned what the world would look like in future generations. Check out the cool cover above.
• “The Blevins Boys” by Bob Boze Bell, publisher of True West magazine. It’s about Commodore Perry Owens and a big shootout in Holbrook, Ariz.
• “66 in ‘46,” by Marisue Pickering. A road trip, along with family photos, in 1946.
• “Route 66 in 48 Hours,” by Ann Carden. The second of two parts of a trip from Flagstaff to Albuquerque and back.
• “Awash with Museums,” by Karen Loparco. A look at museums along the Mother Road from Illinois to Oklahoma.
• And more.

I noticed this a few days ago, but Moore announced that the Route 66 Magazine Web site has been redesigned. I think it looks really good; it accentuates the current issue nicely.

Moore also is plugging along with his Route 66 radio show on KTOX 1340 AM in Needles, Calif. Click on this link to hear one of the previous shows.

I was out of town and away from computers for a long weekend. I’m going to spend much of Monday playing catch-up on Route 66 news. So stick around.