Book review: “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found”

For those who don’t have either of Russell Olsen’s excellent books, “Route 66 Lost & Found” and “Route 66 Lost & Found, Vol. 2,” Voyageur Press has published a new volume, “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found” (hardbound, 320 pages, $25), that combines the two.

For those who are unfamiliar, Olsen’s books are a collection of before-and-after photos of longtime Route 66 businesses — one during its heyday and one in the current age. Olsen tries to shoot the modern-day photos from the same angle as the old image. This often produces startling and even sad contrasts that show the ravages of time and development.

Sure, a few longtime Route 66 businesses are little-changed, such as the Coleman Theatre in Miami, Okla., and the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Ill.

A few businesses were transformed out of necessity — the Dixie Truckers Home in McLean, Ill., because of a fire, and the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, Ill., due to a short-distance relocation. And a handful are gone completely, such as the Mojave Desert town of Bagdad, Calif., and the Rio Puerco Trading Post in New Mexico.

Although the side-by-side comparisons of the old and new photos are endlessly fascinating — along with Olsen’s well-researched text — the publication of “The Complete Route 66 Lost and Found” feels rushed and a bit ill-advised.

One significant change is that the new book has been shrunk. Olsen’s previous two volumes, published by MBI, were in a 10-by-10-inch format. Voyageur, a division of MBI, published “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found” in an 8-by-8 format. So some of the photos’ details will be lost in the smaller page size.

Olsen’s original volumes organized the listings east-to-west, like a Chicago-to-L.A. road trip. For “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found,” the logical thing to do would have been to simply intermesh all the entries from both books into one cohesive east-to-west volume. Instead, “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found” essentially is two books with a new binding.

Also somewhat disappointing is that no effort was made to update any of the businesses listed. In the past few years, the Pig Hip Restaurant burned down, the Tri-County Truck Stop closed, and Lucille’s was lovingly restored. Such omissions seem strange for a meticulous researcher such as Olsen.

It turns out that Olsen had little input in the repackaging of his books. In an e-mail to me, he said:

… I wish it was not done. I did not have much to say about it. I like the two separate volumes better but I guess from a marketing/business point of view it was a good idea. What I do not like is the reduction in size from 10×10 to 8×8.

So while the new volume is still a good book, there was a missed opportunity to make it better.

But here’s good news. Olsen isn’t done with his “Route 66 Lost and Found” series. He wrote:

Volume 3 will be out in early 2009 matching the size if the complete Route 66 Lost and Found. This will be published by Paul Taylor and Route 66 Magazine.

So that’s something to look forward to.

2 thoughts on “Book review: “The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found”

  1. This is great news — my dad is a big Route 66 buff and this would be a great Christmas present for him.

    I’m afraid to direct him to your blog for fear he’ll find this book and get it himself!

  2. Well, that’s certainly a strange bit of news. I’m sure the reduced size and reduced price of the “Complete…” volume will help get Russell’s work into more hands so maybe that’s a good thing. There is also some merit in the comment (from route66lostandfound.com) that the new book is “perfect for bringing along on your next adventure”. So, while my instinct is to agree with your “ill advised” observation, I can accept that there are real justifications.

    The undeniably bad news in all this, assuming that this is what he really meant, is Russell’s announcement that volume 3 will match “the size of the complete Route 66 Lost and Found”. I know that Russell once hoped to have V3 ready for the 2008 festival in Litchfield but I’m not shocked that that turned out to be a bit ambitious. I’m sure glad to hear that it’s progressing (maybe Flagstaff?) but sorry to hear that it’s going to be reduced in size. Maybe he really meant “the size of the ORIGINAL Route 66 Lost and Found”. I’m hoping.

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