KNME-TV in New Mexico has just posted on YouTube its award-winning “The Neon Road” documentary from 2003.

It’s about 25 minutes, but well worth your time.

The Joplin Museum Complex in Joplin, Mo., asked the City Council on Monday night to move its cramped operations to Memorial Hall on Seventh Street, aka Route 66, and levy a sales tax to help pay for it, renovations and operating expenses, reported the Joplin Globe.

Brad Belk, director of the museum complex, told the council that the plan would give the museum the expansion space it needs to house collections that are in storage. It would make the museum a visitor destination on Seventh Street, the former U.S. Route 66, and place it near downtown revitalization efforts. It also would preserve Memorial Hall, where use has been spotty for several years, Belk said. [...]

The museum has outgrown its 8,000 square feet of display and meeting space, though it possesses what visitors describe as an important collection of minerals that were part of the mining boom that developed Joplin and the Tri-State Mining District that included Southeast Kansas and Northeast Oklahoma.

Besendorfer said that when she became a board member and first toured all the nooks and crannies inside the museum at Schifferdecker Park, “I was so impressed yet dismayed that we have phenomenal collections, yet they are in the basement (in storage). Sadly, we have to say ‘no’ to (more) collections. We don’t have the space to save them for later.”

What’s being proposed is a one-sixth of a cent sales tax that would cover the $7 million in expenses. The sales tax could then be lowered once construction bonds are paid off.

The city attorney is also checking to see whether moving the museum to Memorial Hall would violate the facility’s covenants, which allows it to be used as a meeting hall and auditorium. Memorial Hall was built in 1923.

The mayor seemed reluctant to proceed, but a majority the City Council advanced the measure to possibly put the sales tax on a referendum. The council could vote on it as soon as January, with a public vote as soon as April.

I noticed a few Joplin Globe readers want the railroad depot to be the museum. But these pictures show the depot in such disrepair that it would very likely take far more than $7 million to repair it. Restoring the depot is a worthy goal, but you’d better have deep, deep pockets to do it.

I’ve been watching this story carefully, even though it doesn’t have much to do with Route 66.

Johnny Hallyday, 66, a rock ‘n’ roll legend in France, was placed in a medically induced coma in Los Angeles after complications developed in France after back surgery. He’s expected to make a recovery, and he emerged from the coma Monday evening.

The Route 66 connection? He had been embarking on what was reportedly his final music tour, called “Route 66,” a tribute to his age and to the American rock that has inspired his music. It’s too bad Hallyday’s last tour turned so sour.

— IPD, a Volvo parts supplier, is holding its annual online photo contest involving vintage Volvos. In the lead is Jack Connelly’s 1966 model, parked in front of the Cyrus Avery Memorial Plaza in Tulsa, under the big neon Route 66 shield on the catwalk. The Route 66 yahoo group has been merrily stuffing the online ballot box in recent days, and you can do the same.

— Laurel Kane’s Afton Station in Afton, Okla., was prominently mentioned in an article about U.S. 60 by David McLane for OhmyNew International. U.S. 60 merges with Route 66 in parts of northwestern Oklahoma. Kane also has a blog here.

— The Rose Bowl Events Center is hosting an “old-school, Tulsa honky-tonk, New Year’s Eve party” starting at 7 p.m., said owner Sam Baker. “Enjoy a cold beer, concessions, complimentary midnight champagne toast, party favors and top your evening off with some lucky black-eyed peas and corn bread,” he said. The cost is $15 a head. Entertainment will be the Round Up Boys, a very good local Western swing band. Proceeds from the event go to the American Cancer Society. The Rose Bowl, on the 11th Street alignment of Route 66, was a bowling center for many years.

— A new reader-generated site has launched, called FavoriteRoad.com. It’s a place for “road trippers” to share their stories and photographs about their favorite two-lane highways and road trips. It’s sponsored by Asphalt Magazine.

Scott McCoy, the former mayor of Pontiac, Ill., and owner of McCoy studios, has produced a documentary film about the Walldogs mural painters when they descended on the city last summer, reported the Bloomington Pantagraph.

The title of the film is “Murals on Main Street — The Story of Walldogs in Pontiac, Ill.” The two-hour film is coming out on DVD, including a two-hour bonus disc of bloopers and other features.

The video recounts how mural artists from around the world came to Pontiac in June to paint more than a dozen murals on downtown buildings and other sites. It offers explanations of who the subjects of the murals tie in with Pontiac history, including its role as a Route 66 community.

It also includes footage of the preparation for the event and how the murals have affected the community.

McCoy also did follow-up interviews with the artists and even traveled out-of-state to get some of them.

You can go here to order both the DVD and the bonus disc for a total of $19.95 through the holidays.

Quinta Scott's nighttime image of the now-gone Coral Court Motel in St. Louis. (Courtesy of Quinta Scott)

A little over three decades years ago, photographer Quinta Scott was learning how to use a recently purchased but unwieldy Speed Graphic camera. After shooting a photo at the historic Eads Bridge in St. Louis for a book, she made the fateful decision to also shoot photographs along the city’s Route 66 alignment of Watson Road.

Months after capturing images of the 66 Park Inn, Casa Grande Motel and other historic motels in west St. Louis, the idea of a Route 66 book popped into Scott’s head.

“No one thought it was a good idea,” Scott recalled during a phone interview from her home in Waterloo, Ill., near St. Louis. “My husband thought it was crazy. But I knew it was a good idea, and the only other one who thought that was Susan Croce Kelly.”

Quinta Scott

That idea eventually led to two books: 1988’s “Route 66: The Highway and Its People” (with text written by Croce Kelly) and 2000’s “Along Route 66,” the latter which concentrates on the architecture and history of businesses on the road. Much of the research for the two books occurred in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, years before Michael Wallis’ “Route 66: The Mother Road” shot to the best-seller list in 1992 and reignited interest in Route 66.

Scott and her former book partner’s research also proved valuable to historians. She and Croce Kelly traveled Route 66 in five- and seven-day chunks to photograph longtime businesses and knock on doors to find more about them. They decided to mostly focus on businesses that were established from 1926 (when U.S. 66 was born) to 1956 (when the interstate highway system was established).

“We got there just in time,” Scott recalled of those interviews. “We were talking to people who were about to retire or just retired. These were the people who invented the roadside business, starting in the Depression.”

Scott said a crucial point in the research occurred in Lebanon, Mo., when they encountered Joy Spears Fischel of the Joy Motel, formerly Camp Joy (“That was the beginning of the motel … it started as a campground”), and Jessie Hudson, co-founder of the still-operating Munger Moss Motel.

Going to Oklahoma also was crucial.

“We thought there was nothing left in Oklahoma because everybody left, like in ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’” Scott said. “But people like Leon Little didn’t go to California; they established a roadside business.”

Leon Little and his wife Ann established a gas station on Route 66 near Hinton Junction, Okla., and the couple proved to be valuable historical resources for Croce Kelly and Scott. The Littles even saw a film crew shooting footage on Route 66 for the Oscar-winning “The Grapes of Wrath,” Scott said, including the scene where Grandpa dies at the west end of the Pony Bridge near Bridgeport.

Scott’s work led to more than 2,000 images on black-and-white negatives (many of them unpublished), about 100 hours of taped interviews with longtime Route 66 businesspeople, and handful of color photographs. She said she’s considering bequeathing her collection to archives at University of Missouri-St. Louis or Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville.

But, for now, Scott’s “The Mississippi: A Visual Biography” should be hitting bookstores in a matter of weeks. Scott also maintains two blogs, Quinta Scott’s Weblog and Along Route 66.

After that, she is considering a third Route 66 book. This one would be about how energy extraction — from coal-mining to oil wells to solar-energy plants — has affected the Mother Road’s landscape through the decades. If the book happens, it would necessitate another trip on the Main Street of America — including to the Sooner State.

“I love Oklahoma … People think Oklahoma is to be gotten through, but it makes my heart go pitty-pat,” she said. “And I love New Mexico … all of New Mexico.”

(Quinta Scott is holding a holiday sale for her Route 66 photographs at AlongRoute66.com through Friday. If you buy two 8-by-10-inch black-and-white prints for $47 each, you get the third free.)

I never thought I’d type that in a headline. But it accurately conveys the latest edition of “Route 66: A Road Trip through the Bible.” This one’s about the Book of Ezekiel.

Jenni Carlson, a sports columnist for The Oklahoman, tells how the Route 66 town of Stroud, Okla., has been in a frenzy since its high-school football team has played its way to the Class A state championship game.

Dawn Welch, owner of the Rock Cafe in Stroud, plays a big role in the article. It’s the first time since 1981 that Stroud has played for a state title.

Stroud lost to Tonkawa 7-6 in the state final on Saturday night. A missed extra-point kick after a touchdown was the difference in the game.

According to an Associated Press story out of Gallup, N.M., traders and makers of American Indian jewelry have seen sales drops of as much as 80 percent since the U.S. recession began in earnest last fall.

One of those interviewed was the owner of Richardson’s Trading Co., one of the oldest such businesses in Gallup:

In Gallup, there’s a saying — perhaps exaggerated — that 80 percent of the world’s American Indian jewelry comes through the western New Mexico hilltop town. Whatever the figure, there’s no disputing that local traders who sell jewelry and other crafts, such as colorful wool rugs and pottery made by members of the nearby Navajo, Hopi, Acoma and Zuni tribes, are also feeling the pinch.

Traders say their wholesale business, which in the past has come from the East and West coasts and Texas, has fallen between 25 and 40 percent this year.

“We don’t have the numbers that we used to have. That’s because their business is down,” said Bill Richardson, the 91-year-old owner of Richardson’s Trading Co., which sits among a line of jewelry stores on historic Route 66. “They don’t need this stuff. What do you need this stuff for? You can’t eat it.”

If you haven’t finished your Christmas shopping, you may want to consider throwing some business to the Indian jewelry shops. It sounds like they can really use it.

I got this e-mail the other day. Excerpt is below:

My name is Dave Harber.  My wife, Debbie, and I are huge Route 66 aficionados having traveled the route at various stages over the past fifteen years or so.  We also are web developers, own a custom poker chip business and thought it would be neat to merge our fascination of the mother road with some great looking custom artwork and build a website & create a new collectible using our custom casino quality chips.

Here are the casino chips, front and back, which are available at the 66Chips.com site.

The chips can be purchased individually, or within a keychain. Or the whole set can be purchased for $19.66 plus $5 shipping, which includes free ninth chip that has the U.S. Route 66 shield on the front and back.

So if you and your pals like to play poker as a pastime, these chips will fit nicely into the game.

Give Harber credit for doing something that, to my knowledge, hasn’t been done before regarding Route 66.

Here is Wayne “The Train” Hancock’s finest hour, and the song in 1995 that pretty much kick-started his career.

Here’s Hancock talking about one of his experiences on Route 66 in No Depression magazine in 2001:

“I’ve broken down on my way to shows and gotten there early. I was going through Vega, Texas, and my generator goes down and I pulled in the first place I see which is the Vega Motel on Route 66 and at 4:00 in the morning there’s a guy behind the desk. There’s never a guy at 4:00 in the morning so I figure he’s an insomniac.

“We get up the next day and it turns out there’s an auto parts store on either side of that motel and a garage in both of them. We got there two hours early. The next time I go through town I say, ‘Hey, let’s go through Vega. They got a cool motel there.’ The place is deserted and looks like it’s been closed for thirty years. The auto parts stores were closed too. I’ve got lots of stories like that.”

I talked with Michael Wallis, author of the best-selling “Route 66: The Mother Road” and more than a dozen other books, by phone Friday night from his home in Tulsa.

Wallis was in an expansive mood, and talked about a few things that probably will be of interest to roadies:

— Wallis and Jim Conkle, co-directors of the fledgling Route 66 Alliance, went to Springfield, Ill., on Thursday to pay a visit to Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire, who is dying of cancer. Although Waldmire is gaunt and heavily medicated, Wallis said the session was “vintage Waldmire. God, it was a wonderful visit.”

— Wallis mentioned that a Springfield resident is quietly shooting footage about Waldmire for a documentary.

— Wallis said members of the Alliance in a few weeks will meet with John Lasseter, director of the 2006 Disney-Pixar movie “Cars,” to discuss the Route 66 Experience museum that will be built on 11th Street and Southwest Boulevard in Tulsa.

— Wallis has finished writing “David Crockett: Lion of the West,” a biography about celebrated frontiersman Davy Crockett. It is being edited, and is scheduled to be published in fall 2010. Wallis also is working on “The Wild West: 365 Days,” a photo-and-essays volume that is set to be in bookstores by Father’s Day 2011.

I received this e-mail from Kathy Miller, co-editor of The 66 News, a publication of the Route 66 Association of Illinois, about the Riviera Roadhouse in Gardner, Ill.

John Weiss asked that I spread the word.  The Riviera Roadhouse will reopen for business this weekend.  Everyone’s favorite waitress, Becky, who has been serving you for 26 years, will be on staff.  Managing and cooking the Riviera is the same cook for the last 29 years.

They will be open New Year’s Eve serving their famous BBQ ribs, make your reservation soon!

So whatever issues that kept the historic restaurant from staying open a few months ago apparently have been resolved. The number at the restaurant is 815-237-2344.

Jane Lee, a historian with the Missouri Department of Transportation, sent me this e-mail regarding the endangered Route 66 Bridge at Route 66 State Park near Eureka, Mo. It’s lengthy, but probably worth your time:

I just wanted to send you a quick note since I have been closely following the news that you have posted regarding the fate of the old Meramec River Bridge at Times Beach. I think that it is important that it is clear to the public that MoDOT currently does not have the funding for the removal of the bridge, but according to our Bridge Division, the agency is actively seeking funding for demolition at the same time that it is seeking outside funding for rehabilitation.

So, while the bridge might have a temporary reprieve right now, the funding for removal is going to be a competitive process, and it is possible that funding could be secured as early as the 2010 calendar year. I recently penned a letter — with some edits from our State Bridge Engineer — in response to an inquiry from Mr. John Regenbogen of Scenic Missouri, which I think might clear up some questions about the future plans for the bridge.

If you would like to take any portion of the letter and use it on your site, I am perfectly fine with that since it has been through our MoDOT filters. Also, if any of your readers would like to comment on the project, I would urge them to contact our customer service line at 1-888-ASK-MODOT (or 573-751-2551 for out of state callers) or request more info at: http://www.modot.mo.gov/asp/request_information.shtml?comments (inquirers should select St. Louis as the county from the drop-down selection on the electronic info request form). Customer Service should be able to direct the calls to the appropriate recipient, and they will respond promptly to any inquiries. Here is the body of my letter to Mr. Regenbogen:

Hello John,

Thank you for your thoughtful message regarding the future of the Meramec River Bridge at Times Beach. I assure you, as a historian, I share your concern for the preservation of our state’s history. Also, as a Route 66 enthusiast, I understand the desire to see that the fate of the Meramec River Bridge is given careful consideration, and enough time is provided to potentially secure preservation or rehabilitation funding in order to save it. I am aware of the efforts that are currently underway to secure National Scenic Byway Status for Missouri’s stretch of Route 66, and I applaud the work that is being done by the Route 66 Association of Missouri and it’s allies in the attempt to preserve the intrinsic qualities of the Route.

I would like to assure you that the plans to close — and potentially remove — the bridge have not been made hastily. MoDOT has been working with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, including the Route 66 State Park at Times Beach, for a number of years in order to try to identify a source of funding to stabilize and rehabilitate the bridge. Both agencies have long been aware that the bridge is endangered due to its structural deficiencies and rapid deterioration. Unfortunately, the efforts of both agencies to identify rehabilitation funds for the bridge have been unsuccessful so far, and in the meantime, the bridge continues to decay. MoDOT’s recent inspection of the bridge shows that the substructure is not stable enough to support vehicular traffic, and the bridge railing is insufficient to allow pedestrian use of the crossing. Essentially, if the bridge is left to stand without rehabilitation, it will eventually collapse beneath its own weight.

However, as I write this message, it is important to keep in mind that there is no definite funding in place to remove the bridge. That being said, MoDOT will pursue dual paths for the future of this bridge. We will continue working with any interested parties who may wish to take ownership of the bridge, but we will also proceed through the required steps that may ultimately result in the removal of the bridge. MoDOT will not rush into any decision regarding the fate of this historic resource and we will continue consultation with the Department of Natural Resources and the Route 66 State Park regarding the future plans for the bridge.

Furthermore, prior to the transfer or removal of the bridge, MoDOT’s Environmental and Historic Preservation Section is required by Federal mandate to take into consideration the potential impacts of the transfer or removal project, and the bridge will be thoroughly documented for the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) of the National Parks Service. None of these things can take place without much careful deliberation from both the engineering and historic preservation ends of MoDOT, and MoDOT is aware that the best solution will undoubtedly involve multi-agency communication.

I will keep a copy of your letter and my response for my project file, which will be included with my historical documentation of the bridge. Once again, I appreciate your concern and thank you for your thoughtful message.

Sincerely,

Jane M. Lee
Missouri Department of Transportation
Historic Preservation
P.O. Box 270
Jefferson City, Missouri 65102
(573) 522-9695

The gist is that the state doesn’t have money to knock down the bridge, but it doesn’t mean it won’t have money later. However, the state also is receptive to some sort of viable arrangement to preserve the bridge.

So it would be wise for preservationists to be vigilant about finding solutions, while keeping an eye on the state in case it changes its mind.

Here’s a cool excerpt from the film “Tulsa A to Z” about the refurbishment of the historic Meadow Gold neon sign, which can be found at near Peoria Avenue and 11th Street (aka Route 66).

“Tulsa A to Z” is the latest edition from Jack Frank’s acclaimed Tulsa history film series.

Claudia Heller, in her ongoing series about Route 66 for the several Southern California newspapers, has produced an engaging story about the near-ghost town of Goffs, Calif.

The most newsworthy item is that the Goffs Library, located next to the historic Goffs Schoolhouse, was recently built and will house the Mojave Desert Archives. The building is a replica of the historic Goffs Santa Fe Railway Depot. It’s all part of efforts by the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association.

And, as the article will convey, it’s really worth visiting the schoolhouse (an architectural gem that serves as a local history museum) and the nearby walking trails that are festooned with historic artifacts and sculptures that were created, I believe, by local Boy Scouts.

A bunch of city officials in Winslow, Ariz., broke ground Thursday on a Route 66-themed streetscape projected called Winslow Renaissance II, reported AzJournal.com.

Woodson and other speakers recited the history of the project, which was first conceived in 1997, but was not granted funding until 2000. Funds have been obtained from ADOT, federal grants and turn back funds from the state for the city to take responsibility for the maintenance of Second and Third streets, which once were a vital part of Route 66.

He noted that the city has been fortunate in the timing of the project.

Route 66 has just been declared an All American Road. The downturn in the economy has made the project more affordable than it would have been when first undertaken.

The story doesn’t include many details about what the streetscape project will have, but this artist’s rendering seems to show it well enough:

Needless, to say, having a Route 66 shield the size of King Kong is impressive.

The Santa Monica (Calif.) Daily Press reports that construction has started on a new home for the Santa Monica History Museum at Seventh Street and Santa Monica Boulevard, aka Route 66.

Hands-on interactive displays will include a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, Whirlwind Dipper roller coaster (where with the touch of a button visitors can be transported back to the 1920s Santa Monica Pier), “Santa Monica: Then and Now,” and “In the Headlines” featuring front-page newspaper stories about Santa Monica. Permanent exhibits will include the Santa Monica and Ocean Park piers, Muscle Beach, bathing beauties, Third and Main streets, the city’s early film industry, artists and architecture, Palisades Park and Route 66.

The museum is expected to be finished by April. More about the museum can be found here.

David Landsel is blogging from Route 66 for the New York Post. He’s made it from Chicago to St. Louis, and seems to be having a good time so far …

Sunday night, driving across the prairie south from Chicago in the pitch dark, it must be said that I was having second thoughts.

Then came Springfield which, if you haven’t visited, you really should — the Lincoln sites, museum and presidential library make for a fascinating day. Even if all that stuff bores you, the Route 66 sites are cool too — lunch at the Cozy Dog Drive In , for example, is worth the trip. Who doesn’t like corn dogs, with a side of chili and nacho cheese?

Of course, save room for St. Louis, just an hour and a half down the road. Even if you don’t fancy a pizza topped with Provel cheese, you’re going to absolutely flip for the concretes at Ted Drewes’s custard stand, the legendary Route 66 stop that inspired Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. The worst part about driving through St. Louis: You can only handle so much Ted Drewes’s custard in a 24-hour window.

He must be on a hefty expense-budget account, though. He’s staying at the Four Seasons Hotel in St. Louis.

Newsmagazine Network, which serves the west suburbs of St. Louis, reports that the Wildwood (Mo.) Historical Society has bought a five-acre tract known as “The Hencken Place” and seeks to establish a historical museum and theater there.

The land is located directly off Hwy. 100, just 1/8 mile west of Stovall’s Grove Saloon. Nearly 7,000 square feet of storage and display space is available in three outbuildings and barns. [...]

In general, the property lies within physical space previously known as ‘Dutch Hollow’ as the earliest name of the community. The area is rich in West County history. In the 1820s, Samuel Harris was noted as having the first post office west of St. Louis. Harris had applied to the U.S. government to have the post office named Fox Creek. He also owned a 40-acre tract to the east of the current site that was just purchased.

Harris had a tavern and grist mill, according to the 1883 history of St. Louis County. These landmarks were located at what currently is Stovall’s Grove Saloon.

What the article left out is that the property sits right next to a 1926-32 alignment of Route 66, called Manchester Road.

(Hat tip: Kent Sanderson)

That didn’t take long. Just a few months after the Wagon Wheel Motel building in Cuba, Mo., changed owners, the motel’s long-closed restaurant building has been renovated and converted into a gift shop.

According to the Viva Cuba blog:

The opening followed months of restoration, where windows and doors were put back to their original spot and other historic details were preserved.

The Shoppe, which features gifts, home decor, and Rt. 66 memorabilia, was closely inspected by Cuba residents and travelers over the weekend. On Sunday, The Shoppe was a stop on Viva Cuba’s Yuletide Tour.

Scenes of the building’s history and restoration played on a TV screen as shoppers enjoyed the vintage building and its wares. Many visitors shared memories of the old building. Echols hopes to develop a special line of Wagon Wheel themed souvenirs that stay true to the Wagon Wheel heritage.

According to the blog, the motel itself will be renovated this winter, yet remain open for guests.