Restoration of Rialto Square Theatre begins December 28, 2007
Posted by Ron in Preservation, Theaters.add a comment
About 18 months ago, we passed on the news that a local group was trying to raise $5 million to renovate the historic Rialto Square Theatre of Joliet, Ill., which is saddled between lanes of Route 66 and is a stone’s throw from the Lincoln Highway.
The Joliet Herald News reports that the fundraising continues, but the group has already started the restoration.
Some projects will accent the ancient themes of the Rialto’s grandeur. Other projects are adding a digital edge to the theater’s hidden inner workings, ushering in 21st-century production technology.
David Kump strolls through the archway leading into the theater’s column-lined rotunda. The Rialto official points out rolls of new carpet that soon will line the grand staircases sweeping gracefully upward to the north and south of the archway.
However, visitors must remember that in this renovation, everything old is new again. The new carpet design — replacing a solid maroon color — is black, gold and light burgundy with a pattern that reprises the original carpet design of 1926.
There’s a lot more — including pictures — of information that the article gives. To get a sense of the work ahead, go read the whole thing.
(Hat tip: Lynn “Lulu” Bagdon)
Round and round December 28, 2007
Posted by Ron in Attractions, History.add a comment
Another story today about the Round Barn of Arcadia, Okla. This one’s by Ted Landphair of the Voice of America.
According to his report, there are 1,000 round barns left in America. They were built up until the 1920s. Given the advantages of such a structure, it makes you wonder why farmers quit building them:
Carpenters discovered that they required less stone or wood than rectangular barns, thus saving on costs. Because their roofs are supported by the one circular wall, there are no columns needed. So there’s more room for livestock or hay. And Midwesterners learned that high winds — even tornadoes — that would pulverize an ordinary barn often glance off a round one.
And I wasn’t aware of this problem during the Round Barn’s restoration:
Slowly it began to bulge and slump to the east, until a group of citizens bought it and fixed it up. They pounded telephone poles into the ground all around the barn, wrapped heavy guy wires around them and the barn, and pulled until the old red barn was upright again. That caused the roof to collapse, but they built a new one.
I’ve seen many photos of the collapsed roof, but didn’t know about the structure leaning. That makes me appreciate the group’s restoration even more.
Here’s an audio file of the report:
Saying goodbye to a vet clinic December 28, 2007
Posted by Ron in Businesses.add a comment
Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader columnist Sarah Overstreet tells the sad tale of Dr. C.C. Moore’s Veterinary Clinic in downtown Springfield, which occupied a corner of Route 66 since 1929 and is about to close.
Dr. Tedd Hamaker is moving from his current location, which has only a few parking spaces and little room for boarding animals.
Hamaker will pack the Route 66 souvenirs he’s bought, some people brought him “because I was trying to build this as a business on historic 66,” and mementos that Moore left in the hospital, including old vet textbooks and the name plate from his desk. He has sold the clinic to a nonveterinarian, Cy Betzler, who says he doesn’t know what he will do with the building yet. [...]
Hamaker is building a clinic in Galloway, on its own site, and is proud not to be in a strip mall. He expressly didn’t seek out another veterinarian to buy the St. Louis Street hospital. “I couldn’t look another veterinarian in the eye and say, ‘Well, you only have three parking spaces, you can’t expand. … It would be like telling someone who wanted to start a restaurant, ‘But you’ll only have one table.’” [...]Layers of paint cover the woodwork, even though freshly painted and perfectly fine. The original old lavatories still stand, and there are cute touches of things as they were back when: a medicine cabinet whose door is held shut with a rubber band and paper clip; Moore’s old medicines, syringes and equipment such as the “Stethetron,” which even Hamaker doesn’t know how was used, except it was some kind of new-fangled stethoscope Moore picked up along the way — from the looks of it, in the ’50s. The sign which told customers there was extra parking available at the Texaco station to the west, when there was one. The old safe.
Like so much of central Springfield now, Hamaker is landlocked. We like to go to strip malls where parking is easy, or at least there are some handicapped spaces near the businesses we’re going to — unlike in downtown Springfield. So, another dear landmark fades into the sunset.
“I understand how people feel about it — this was their veterinary hospital,” Hamaker reflects. “It’s another reality of life, like the great vacant lot where you used to play stickball, and now it’s a supercenter.”
Route beer sales a-poppin’ December 28, 2007
Posted by Ron in Food, Restaurants.1 comment so far
When POPS in Arcadia, Okla., opened this summer, it not only offered hundreds of types of soft drinks, but commissioned one of its own. It’s called Round Barn Root Beer, a nod to the Round Barn a few hundred yards east on Route 66.
To many people’s surprise, Round Barn Root Beer is the No. 2 seller at POPS, reports the Daily Oklahoman.
To date, more than 7,500 bottles of Round Barn Root Beer have been sold just at POPS. A Florida restaurateur has even contacted Doepke about selling the soda in the Sunshine State.
“It’s been fantastic,” Doepke said. “It’s No. 2 on our sales list, right behind Route 66 Root Beer.” [...]
“We wanted to give a nod to our neighbors down the road,” Doepke said. “With this being Arcadia and being on Route 66, it’s just another way to do a tribute.” [...]
POPS now is preparing to add keg-fed fountains for Round Barn Root Beer.
Round Barn Route Beer was created by Huebert Brewing Co. in nearby Oklahoma City.
What’s the No. 1 seller at POPS? It’s Route 66 Root Beer.
