LeRoy Richardson has been gathering Hollywood memorabilia for decades. Now his extensive collection is going up for sale at the recently opened Vintage Hollywood, located on old Route 66 in Hollywood.

Here's an excerpt from the Los Angeles Independent report:

“I just have gobs and gobs of stuff,” said Richardson, 55, sitting in the well-appointed gallery on richly re-upholstered faux-suede burgundy movie house seats, purchased for $10 apiece from an old Hollywood theater. “People come from all over looking for specific stuff. We’re putting together a Web site, too.”

The inviting gallery overflows with original and reproduction posters and stills of stars such as Dorothy Dandridge, Josephine Baker and many others as well as gift items such as jewelry, handbags and T-shirts hand-decorated by Richardson himself.

Prices for images range from $20 for a reproduction to $1500 for the French “Frankenstein” original.

And, of course, each part of the collection comes with its own history.

“I found these rare stills of Dandridge by an unknown photographer in Paris,” he said, also describing items he found in the Netherlands, Hungary and other countries.

…

The store also offers a selection of books, vintage copies of such magazines as Match and hard-to-find Photoplays from the 1930s, as well as a line of greeting cards from images owned exclusively by Richardson.

Steve Vaught of thefatmanwalking.com is tentatively scheduled to stroll into New York City on May 8, according to his latest journal entry.

If you're in the area and wish to walk with him, go to the journal for the details. "The Today Show" is set to commemorate the end of his walk, although Vaught is filled with wanderlust and may continue his walk in some fashion. Stay tuned.

Tommy Pike of the Route 66 Association of Missouri has alerted me to the ways the word is being spread about the dedication of Missouri's Route 66 as a National Scenic Byway at 11 a.m. Friday at Glenstone and Kearney in Springfield, Mo.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has a news release here, plus an Mp3 about Route 66 and the Scenic Byways Program. Above is an image of the signs the agency will post along the old highway.

The Missouri 66 association also has a release and brochure about the dedication.

Dennis Kinch, the man who's walking Route 66 for the National Pain Foundation, took a break from his trek to receive the Distinguished Consumer Award from the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission.

Kinch is a former resident of nearby Attleboro. The Attleboro Sun Chronicle has the story. 

Next week, Kinch will be in the Phoenix area:

The Chicago Tribune reports that the nearby Route 66 town of Joliet, Ill., is seeking a grant from the National Park Service to restore the Rich & Creamy ice-cream store on the 900 block of Broadway St.

(City Manager John) Mezera said the site's design is typical of ice cream stores that dotted Route 66 in the national thoroughfare's heyday, when Broadway was a leg of the highway in Joliet.

The store is "the only one of its kind left" in the area, he said.

Some of the grant would cover the cost of interpretive signs in the 10-acre park on the west side of the Des Plaines River, where the Rich & Creamy store sits. The signs would address the relevance of the ice cream store and Route 66.