The movie “Cars” passed the rarified $200 million plateau in domestic box-office receipts during the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo.

It is the third-most successful film this year, and it’s coming up fast on the No. 2 film, “The Da Vinci Code.”

There’s plenty more money to be made. “Cars” has grossed just $24 million in international box office, mostly because the movie hasn’t opened in many foreign markets. Also, foreign markets are slow in reporting their box-office income.

There was some fear when a monument company that occupied that historic, Art Deco-designed Tulsa Monument Co. building at 1735 E. 11th St., aka Route 66, moved out a few weeks ago at the behest of the landlord. What would be the future of that landmark building?

Not to fear — the building is safe. The Tulsa World interviewed owner Mike Rives Jr. He was out of the monument business for a while. But he missed it, and the relationship with his tenant didn’t work out. Rives is selling his house in Ada, Okla., returned to Tulsa, and is renovating the interior of the building. The name of the business is Benchmark Monument Co.

(Photo courtesy of Tulsa Preservation Commission.) 

The Inland Press-Enterprise has a story about Anthony Vernola, owner of the landmark Magic Lamp Inn along Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. The Vernola family is having a shopping development in Mira Loma named after them.

Anthony Vernola’s father ran a farm in that area; the farm, like many others, is now long-gone because of development in that region. Vernola bought the Magic Lamp in 1975 as an investment.

With its trademark genie lamp and real gas flame beckoning passers-by, the Magic Lamp Inn has been a Foothill Boulevard fixture since 1955. Vernola thought being a restaurateur would be a better life than toiling on the family’s farms.

When he was in high school, he listened longingly as his friends talked about the fun things they had planned for Saturdays and Sundays. “I hated the weekends, because my dad would get me out of bed to go work on the ranch,” Vernola said.

“I thought (the restaurant) would be a cleaner business,” he said. Little did he realize he’d put in long hours, just like his father and grandfather.

“If I wanted to work seven days a week, I should have stayed on the ranch,” Vernola joked.

The Magic Lamp still thrives, while nearly all of Vernola’s farm is gone.

Since roving Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire is a Luddite in terms of the Internet and cell phones, it’s hard to figure out where he is at times. This often leads to “Where’s Waldmire?” questions when Mother Road fans talk among themselves.

Well, this weekend Waldmire is in Tucumcari, N.M., for the Route 66 festival there. The Quay County Sun spoke to him briefly.

The story didn’t mention it, but Waldmire is an unofficial inspiration to Fillmore in the “Cars” movie. More details about that are here.

Pontiac, Ill., which is home to the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, is hosting its first-ever Pontiac Cruise Night next Saturday.

It also will have Cruise Nights on the third Saturdays of August and September, reports the Bloomington Pantagraph.

For more, read the rest of the article. Pontiac Cruise Night also has a Web site.