NOTE: Bumped for important update below.

The Ford Model T is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and enthusiasts from Southern California and beyond are celebrating with cross-country tours, including one that crosses the nation on Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway.

According to the Springfield News-Leader, members of the Model T Club of Southern California will be making a stop in that southwest Missouri town on May 13 during their Baltimore-to-Los Angeles trek.

The Heart of the Ozarks Chapter of the Model T Club will join up in nearby Conway on May 14 and escort them into Halltown.

The club will stop at the Best Western Route 66 Rail Haven Motel.

So far, I’ve been unable to track down more information about the Southern California club’s national tour. I’ll pass it along as soon as I find it.

UPDATE: Thanks to Denny Gibson, I was able to track down the tour’s itinerary today.

The Model T group enters Route 66 at St. Louis on Sunday and will stay in town there Monday, too. Here’s the rest of the schedule:

• May 13 — Springfield, Mo.
• May 14 — Morning coffee stop at old gas station (at Gay Parita?), continues on to Tulsa
• May 15 — Oklahoma City
• May 16 — Elk City, Okla.
• May 17 — Amarillo, Texas
• May 18 — Tucumcari, N.M.
• May 19-20 — Santa Fe, N.M.
• May 21 — Albuquerque, N.M.
• May 22 — Gallup, N.M.
• May 23 — Holbrook, Ariz.
• May 24-25 — Williams, Ariz.
• May 26 — Laughlin, Nev.
• May 27 — Farewell dinner in Barstow, Calif.
• May 28 — Los Angeles

The group is staying at Best Westerns at each of the listed cities, except for Gallup (El Rancho Hotel), Williams (Grand Canyon Railway Hotel), Laughlin (Tropicana) and Santa Fe (Garrett Desert Inn).

Here’s a nicely done video about the Hackberry General Store, located on Route 66 in Hackberry, Ariz.

A couple of readers have submitted photos of the dismantling work being done on the Harvey House in Seligman, Ariz., before its final demolition later this month.

Here, you can see workers removing the historic roof tiles:

According to Dan Lutzick, who is overseeing the rehabilitation of another Harvey House in Needles, Calif.:

The supervisor informed me that hazardous mitigation is complete, that the salvage project would be complete in approximately a week and that the Havasu would be demolished immediately following the completion of the salvage work.

(Hat tips to Helen Baker, Dan Lutzick and Frank Kocevar.)

The first Berdoo Bikes & Blues Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., was declared a success, and will return next year, organizers told the San Bernardino County Sun.

it was estimated optimistically that it would draw 3,000 registered motorcycles and 12,000 paying spectators. The actual number was 1,500 bikes and 7,000 spectators. Despite the shortfall, organizers were pleased:

“We fell a bit short of my optimistic expectations,” said Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Wayne Austin. “But the consensus is that this was a phenomenal turnout for our first-year event, and that this event, in this city, has a lot of promise.”

The two-day event, envisioned as a precursor to the Route 66 Rendezvous - the city’s most revered car show and festival - drew thousands of people and vintage metal steeds downtown on Friday and Saturday.

Perhaps more importantly, the event rumbled through without a hitch, easing lingering concerns harbored by people thinking about attending and corporate sponsors.

“The corporate sponsorship and the attendance, those numbers are going to grow,” Austin said. “A lot of people stand back and see how the first one goes, and in the case of the corporate sponsors, they don’t want to risk their money until they see some results.”

This year, the Rendezvous took in $50,000 from corporate sponsors, one-fifth of what the Route 66 Rendezvous attracts annually, Austin said.

I know that some would be disappointed in the numbers. But for a first-year event, those are fairly awesome figures. At the least, it meant hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars of additional money pumped into the local economy.

Organizers will tweak the festival to make it better, and word will get around to motorcycle aficionados that it’s a good event to attend.

If it continues to be run well, it wouldn’t surprise me if Berdoo Bike & Blues becomes nearly as big as the Route 66 Rendezvous.

The Route 66 Association of Arizona’s Fun Run has barely been over for 24 hours, and already videos have been posted on YouTube.

The scene from a 1950 Chevy “rat rod.”

Here’s one of the scene through Oatman:

And here are dozens a photos from the event by David Schaubert, including a few way-cool panoramic shots.

Don Gray also shot dozens of photos at the Fun Run.

The Miami (Okla.) News-Herald reported that landscape architecture students have made their recommendations “Miami Beautiful” — a revamped downtown area.

The students clearly took the “Miami Beautiful” name from the historic Coleman Theatre Beautiful in downtown.

According to the project material, the concept features Main Street as “center stage,” while the parking lots and alleys carry a “backstage” function. The proposed pocket parks are dubbed as the “wings” where people make their entrances and exits.

There’s a hearing scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday so the public can view the concepts and provide opinions.

And that’s not all that’s being planned for Miami:

Monday, the Miami City Council will consider submitting a $75,000 Oklahoma Century grant application to fund a proposed Coleman Wall of Fame Pocket Park.

The park will recognize Miami’s most famous natives such as Heisman Trophy winner Steve Owens, artist Charles Banks Wilson, country singer Keith Anderson and Cassie and Steve Gaines of the rock group Lynyrd Skynyrd.

The park will feature a fountain, entrance signs, wall of fame plaques, tables, chairs and a wrought iron fence and entrance.

The Victorville (Calif.) Daily Press published a feature called Sunday Drive, for folks who want explore the high desert without shelling out a lot for gasoline.

This one focuses a lot on the Harvey House in Barstow (which houses the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum) and another restored railroad station in the settlement of Kelso.

But it also focused on the Mother Road in Amboy:

If you are an old Route 66 aficionado, instead of returning by the way you came, continue south crossing Interstate 40 to Route 66. Go west on Route 66, and you will soon find Amboy on your right.

Amboy is one of those places that was little more than a gas station in its day, but it provided a brief respite to weary travelers. There came a day, however, when Route 66 was replaced by Interstate 40. However, the gas station and restaurant - at least the buildings - are still there, used by the movie studios as props in films and commercials. On April 12 - the day our bus tour stopped there - a T.J. Maxx commercial was being shot.

Waiting just down the road is Cima Dome, a large crater that stands proudly against the barren landscape.

No, I’m not talking about California. I’m talking about the Missouri Ozarks.

And Appellation America has a nice rundown about its wineries, including those along the Mother Road:

Historic Route 66 runs through the area, and much of the appellation seems unchanged from the highway’s heyday. The famous Wagon Wheel Motel and Finn’s Motel (“Vacancy!” “Family Units!”) still welcome weary motorists. In season, travelers may purchase fresh grapes from plywood grape stands along 66 and its modern successor, Interstate 44. The wineries in the appellation are centered on the St. James/Rosati area, with vineyards surrounding the area. An echoing, retro feel pervades the area, but that is acceptable for grape growing and winemaking, industries that use many tools and techniques that have changed very little in the last century (e.g. small wine presses, oak barrels).

The article includes extensive overviews of St. James Winery and Meramec Vineyards, both in St. James. But there are other wineries in that region.

The Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, Calif., isn’t officially at the western end of Route 66. But it’s only a block or so away from that terminus, and it’s a symbolic end of the Mother Road for many travelers.

Other than a hotdog stand or two, the closest place to have a meal at the Pier is at The Lobster, at 1602 Ocean Ave. And according to this review in Jaunted, it appears to be a nicely historic place in an idyllic setting:

The Lobster has fine dining seafood at fine dining prices like $52 for the pan-roasted lobster and $32 for the classic. Yet since it’s steps away from the beach and attached to the pier, fine dining attire is not required.

The Lobster has its own bit of history too, starting out as a small lobster shack in 1923. It was later redesigned in 1999 to give it a more modern luxe California feel. Thus the remodel gave the Lobster a dining room enclosed with glass windows on two sides.

Hit up the tables in this main dining room and request a spot longside the windows to maximize your view of the Pacific Ocean and the Santa Monica Pier, which actually looks romantic from a distance.  As for the food, you have to try the Lobster. We say stick to the Classic Lobster dish rather than the pricier pan-roasted one. And even though you’re next to the water, the Lobster (thankfully) uses fresh Maine lobsters for its dishes.

Not down for dinner? The Lobster has a small bar in front and an outside patio where you can sip on margaritas as the sun goes down. And really, that’s the best time to hit up the Lobster.

Here’s a CitySearch entry about The Lobster, complete with a video.

A report by the Morris (Ill.) Daily Herald indicates that attendance at the second annual Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival was hurt by cold weather on Saturday, but it rebounded somewhat when the temperatures improved on Sunday.

And there’s sentiment to push the festival deeper into the summer months:

Several community members said they hope the committee goes back to a summer event next year, when there may be a chance of rain but the cold, windy weather wouldn’t be an issue. [...]

“The fact that all these people came out and pulled together to put the event on makes it a success,” Cox said. “The weather is the only let down.”

He said they were also competing with several proms, including Gardner, Dwight and Morris’ proms, which he felt was holding some people back from coming out.

Cox said he would be talking with the organizers of the Red Carpet Corridor to see if he could persuade them to push the event back until warmer weather next year.

It appears attendance was better on Sunday, however:

As the weather turned nicer on Sunday, the numbers were better and more people could be found throughout the Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor.

Employees at the Joliet Visitor Center said they had about 25 people in the first hour on Sunday.

A Wilmington Route 66 store reported this weekend to be his busiest in three years.

But any festival organizer will tell you that Saturday is a much bigger money-making day for festivals than Sunday. For the festival to be successful, it needed better weather on Saturday.

I’m not sure that pushing the event back into the summer months would be all that viable because you’d be competing against other summer festivals in the region. But even rescheduling the Red Carpet from early May to late May could make quite a difference with weather conditions.

UPDATE: A report by the Pontiac Daily Leader was a bit sunnier:

“Yesterday was pretty chilly, PROUD’s Lori Fairfield said Sunday, “but the vendors said they actually did fairly well.” Store owners did well, as did restaurants, and “It was great having it downtown,” she said of the mix of entertainment, sales and food. [...]

Officers of the Route 66 Association of Illinois staffing the museum on Sunday said they had a very good turnout, whether people driving the corridor or just visiting the museum. No one mentioned the price of gasoline as a factor in whether to make the trip, they said. [...]

“I think the first day was pretty good attendance for the horrible winter weather that we had. We had quite a bit of crowds, the museums were full, they were happy with the turnout we had,” Pontiac Tourism Director Ellie Alexander said Sunday afternoon. “Our food vendors were busy all day long. I went in a couple of our restaurants here in town and you d couldn’t get a table in them so I would say that was a successful weekend of bringing people to Pontiac and showing them what we have. I haven’t talked to many of the other towns; I know weather was a factor in some of the and some of their vendors left. I was proud our vendors stuck out the bad day yesterday. Today we are going to reap the benefits of that. I see traffic is picking up as we speak.”

It should be noted that Pontiac probably would attract the most people from the festival, especially when the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum is right downtown.

Attendance figures weren’t available for the inaugural Berdoo Bikes & Blues Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., this past weekend. But all evidence points to a successful one, reports the Press-Enterprise:

Blanco said she was happy with the two-day event’s turnout: 3,000 people and 1,500 motorcycles attended Friday night.

She did not have total attendance figures for Saturday but said a 66-mile organized ride that day attracted nearly 400 riders, almost double the expected number.

Blanco said she did not have an estimate of economic impact from the motorcycle show, but said last year’s fall car show contributed $1.2 million to the city.

The event is an offshoot of the city’s enormously successful Route 66 Rendezvous.

Here at Route 66 News, we’ve seen versions of Bobby Troup’s “Route 66″ in nearly every musical genre — rock, rockabilly, blues, jazz, country, Western swing and doo-wop.

Today, we can cross punk rock off the list. Here’s a 1996 video of Los Prostitutas, an influential punk-rock band from Mexico City.

It’s such an audacious and energetic version, I started laughing with delight while watching it. Those who like punk rock will relate.

The Monterey County (Calif.) Herald previewed Cow Bop’s third cross-country trip on Route 66, which begins in Chicago on May 12.

Along the way, they’ll play a few booked gigs as well as pull over on the side of the road and perform like gypsy jam masters. All proceeds from their performances, as well as pledges for their trip, will go toward the JazzMasters Workshop founded by Forman, which provides music training and education for youth nationwide. [...]

New faces and new places are part of the fun for this year’s event. Unlike previous challenges, where the band left with only $100 and played for their meals and gas, this time they’ve booked several club gigs along the way to support their efforts. Proceeds from the shows will also benefit the music program.

“We’ll be playing along the street and whenever we see people. We’ll pass the hat,” he said. “It’s about spreading the word of music and kids, and empowering local musicians and music communities to take care of this important cultural asset.” [...]

The most they’ve collected is $20,000 on one challenge. This year, they have matching grants and Forman is hoping to raise as much as $25,000 on the road, for a total of $50,000.

Cow Bop’s Route 66 Challenge page, including gig schedule, is here. A road journal page has been set up here.

Here’s a musical duo called Reizende Sterren, from the Netherlands.

I approve of any band that uses a stand-up bass fiddle to slap on. Nice harmonies, too.

I darned near forgot of another prominent festival on Route 66 this weekend — the Berdoo Bikes & Blues Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif.

The Press-Enterprise has some coverage. Thousands of people attended the event, which is an offshoot of the Route 66 Rendezvous in the fall.

The Pontiac Daily Leader published a story Friday about the Illinois Route 66 Red Carpet Corridor Festival this weekend.

The festival is on Sunday, too. So if you’re in the area, you still have time to check it out. In fact, the weather looks superb for that day.

UPDATE 5/14/08: Here’s a story filed from Towanda by the Bloomington Pantagraph.

The Kingman Daily Miner is going all-out on its coverage of the annual Fun Run put on by the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona, which started Friday.

Here’s a story about the participants who come back to the cruise year after year.

Here’s a story about the Show and Shine portion of the event.

Here’s a story about Route 66’s allure for the Fun Run participants.

Finally, here’s the main story.

UPDATE: Rotue 66 afiscionado Donald Gray has posted several dozen photos from the Fun Run activities on Friday.

Here’s a song, along with photos from the Mother Road, dedicated to all those roadies participating in the Fun Run in Arizona and the Red Carpet Corridor Festival in Illinois this weekend.

Music is “Windfall by Son Volt. It comes from the “Trace” album, one of the finest country-rock releases ever.

The National Park Service announced this week that the old Sprague’s Super Service gas station, at 305 Pine St. in Normal, Ill., was named to the National Register of Historic Places, effective April 25.

The circa-1930s station is now owned by Route 66 enthusiast Terri Ryburn, who hopes to eventually convert it into a bed-and-breakfast, cafe, visitors center and gift shop.

The renovation costs are reported to be steep, but the National Register listing will make the property eligible for a variety of grants.

(Photo courtesy of Guy Randall.)

Here’s two videos of a family’s visit to the National Route 66 Museum in Elk City, Okla.

Legend has it that the museum was started because Elk City was miffed that a rival town, Clinton, landed the internationally famous Oklahoma Route 66 Museum.

Clinton still has the best overall Route 66 museum. Elk City’s is more of a local history museum, but still has charm and oddities of its own.

More from the museum … it’s amazing how much amusement can be had with a board and some old hand drills.