The Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, run by the Nationa Park Service, has announced its annual recipients of cost-share grants totaling $117,102.

The news release does a good job detailing the recipients and for what purpose, so I’m quoting it verbatim and adding links where applicable:

1)      Atlanta, Illinois – Palms Grill Café. Grant recipient: Atlanta Public Library and Museum. Located on Main Street in Atlanta, the Palms Grill café is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a past grant recipient. This project will provide additional funds toward the restoration of the café’s crumbling façade. The long-term goal of the project is to restore the café to service as a museum or possibly a working café.

2)      St. Louis, Missouri – Walter’s Market.  Grant recipient: private owner. Established in 1905, Walter’s market primarily served local clientele until the commissioning of Route 66 in 1926 when it reoriented it’s facade to attract highway travelers. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, grant funds will assist with the rehabilitation of the building and its copper-detailed store front. The building will be used as a business office, and serve as a model for revitalization within the surrounding neighborhood. 

3)      Baxter Springs, Kansas – Independent Oil and Gas/Phillips 66 Gas Station. Grant recipient: Baxter Springs Historical Society. Built in 1930, this Tudor Revival style gas station is an excellent example of commercial architecture built in a “home-style” to instill a sense of comfort, tradition and domesticity. Grant funds will assist with the rehabilitation of this National Register-listed building for use as a Visitors Center.   

4)      Tulsa, Oklahoma – Vickery Phillips 66 Station. Grant recipient: Private owner. Another example of “home-style” architecture, this station also possesses a rare example of an early car wash and grease house. Built in 1931, it was used as a Phillips 66 Gas Station through the early 1970s and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Grant funds will assist with rehabilitation of the building for use as car rental property.

5)      Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – Tower Theater. Grant recipient: private owner. Part of a 1926 retail complex, the Tower Theater has stood as a landmark on Route 66 since 1937. The theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Grant funds will assist with repairs to restore the neon sign to operating condition. When overall restorations of the theater are complete, it will serve as a film and performing arts venue. The retail complex will provide restaurant, retail, and office space.

6)      Holbrook, Arizona – Joe and Aggie’s Café. Grant recipient: private owner.  A “mom and pop” café, Joe and Aggie’s has been serving tasty enchiladas on Route 66 since 1943. Owned and operated by the same family for three generations, the café will receive funding to make roof, structural, and electrical repairs to keep the building in good operating condition.

7)      Winslow, Arizona – Winslow Historical Society Archives. Grant recipient: Winslow Historical Society.  This project will work toward the cataloging and archiving of photographic and printed materials, as well as a large collection of Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railway documents. These historic documents pertain to many of the communities on Route 66 located between Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Needles, California. A selection of documents will also be digitally scanned. Funding will also assist with Web site development to make the catalog accessible via the Internet.

Tazza Mia in the Route 66 town of Fontana, Calif., is a combination coffeehouse, art gallery and pottery studio. It opened during Cruise Night and Market Night in downtown Fontana last week, reports the Fontana Herald News.

Another thing significant about Tazza Mia is it held an exhibition by artist Pete Morris, which included a Route 66 watercolor series.

“I drive by a place that catches my eye, and it sticks in my mind. Most places I painted I develop a relationship to,” Morris said.

One painting is of a barber named Angel Delgadillo from Seligman, Ariz., who is known as a “guardian angel” for helping to preserve Route 66. If persons looked very closely, they could see the angel wings Morris painted on Delgadillo.

At the age of six, Morris took a trip with his family from Oklahoma to Los Angeles along Route 66 in a 1950 Chevy. His memories of the trip are vivid, and after reading a book by Michael Wallis titled “The Mother Road,” his interest in Route 66 was rekindled. He ignited that spark with his passion and ability to sketch, and began taking trips along the California Route 66, where he would see, stop, and paint.

“Whatever is interesting to me is what I paint,” Morris said.

He has always liked highways because they offer the chance to get off and take time to enjoy life. “Route 66 stands for the other highway; a metaphor for life,” he said.

(Hat tip to Helen Baker for the story.)

After fits and starts too complicated to recount here, the quest to make Route 66 in Oklahoma a scenic byway is starting to get some traction.

(Disclosure: I was involved to a small degree in this effort via the Oklahoma Route 66 Association, but we finally got someone in the state who will do this for us.)

Here’s what’s interesting about Route 66 and the byway: Towns that aren’t even on Route 66 are interested in it. The town of Cushing, which at least 20 miles off the Mother Road, attended a meeting to discuss it, according to the Cushing Daily Citizen.

Here’s why:

According to Richard Andrews, Oklahoma Scenic Byways coordinator, Oklahoma currently has five designated state ’scenic byways’ but only one - the Talimena Drive - has achieved this national designation. It’s felt that since Oklahoma has more drivable miles of Route 66 than any other state this could be a big drawing card in the field of Oklahoma tourism.

He calls Oklahoma’s section of Route 66 the ‘crown jewel’ in the Route 66 ‘Mother Road’ and says it is the envy of many states. [...]

According to Smith, “We know from previous experience that Cushing has things of interest for tourists, even though those of us who see them every day sometimes lose sight of them. Involvement in the Route 66 Scenic Byways initiative will give us an opportunity to promote our community to Mother Road enthusiasts from across the nation. After all, if someone’s traveled across the country or across the world to see Route 66 they might be willing to drive a few miles further to see what we have to offer.”

Apparently Cushing knows a good thing when it sees it. It’s a pity there are a few towns actually on Route 66 that don’t display this enthusiasm.

Shunpiking is the practice of avoiding toll roads, or turnpikes, and driving nearby free roads to save a few bucks.

Shunpiking is of interest in Oklahomans. The Sooner State is full of toll roads, including a stretch from the Missouri-Kansas line to Oklahoma City that shadows the Mother Road.

I learned about shunpiking through Dan Rodricks, who writes a blog for the Baltimore Sun. He gives a couple tips on how to avoid tolls in his region. A reader has chimed in, too.
There’s also a fledgling Web site devoted entired to the practice, called Steve’s Shunpiking. To show his heart’s in the right place, Steve’s not shunpiking just to be a cheapskate. He wrote Rodricks in an e-mail:

“I travel the country and I started the web site almost for my own wants [...]  I am a gear head (car nut) and would travel places with beautiful back roads.  I have been driving Corvettes since the late 70’s.  I know the most common definition for shunpiking is to avoid tolls. I had seen a definition that said something like ‘to take a back road to avoid tolls and major roads.’  Well, if you are not in a hurry, then there is great value in touring the ‘back roads.’  And I mean touring.

“I wanted to get some input for scenic back roads when I travel.  I think there are other roads like Route 66 out there. I am working in Alabama now and took back roads through Memphis to northern
Alabama.  I saw possibly eight little towns that aren’t even on maps.  I grew up in a small town in central
New York and really enjoy the atmosphere of small towns. So, not only can shunpiking save you money, it can also reaquaint you with
America.”

There are no entries on Steve’s Web site currently, but he’s encouraging readers to e-mail shunpiking tips. Once he gets content up, I wouldn’t be surprised if his site becomes popular.

And you know this is inevitable: A computer geek will figure out a way to hack into  Pikepass and other electronic systems and drive toll roads for free. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s happening already.