Historic Mayo Hotel reopens in Tulsa September 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Motels, Music, Preservation.1 comment so far
The iconic Mayo Hotel in downtown Tulsa, which had been shuttered for almost 30 years, held a limited “soft” opening Monday, reported the Tulsa World.
The Mayo, at 115 W. Fifth St., is about two blocks from the downtown Route 66 alignment of Seventh Street. The Mayo dates to the 1920s, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and was a frequent lodging destination for traveling celebrities and oilmen. More about the Mayo’s history can be read here.
According to a front-office employee that I talked to by phone on Monday, the Mayo is taking reservations starting Tuesday.
Then there’s this:
Macy Snyder, sales director for the Mayo, said she had no comment about rumors that pop star Britney Spears and her entourage are staying at the hotel. Spears is set to play the BOK Center Tuesday night.
If the Spears rumor is true, I hope for the hotel’s sake that her management laid down a heft security deposit. That girl was a big partier.
Either way, Tulsans have been awaiting the rebirth of the Mayo Hotel for a long, long time. And it almost certainly will appear in the next listing of the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide published by the National Historic Route 66 Federation.
New videos from the Mother Road September 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Museums, People, Vehicles.2 comments
DiscoverOklahoma, which is part of the Oklahoma Department of Tourism, today posted two videos about Route 66. One is about Afton Station in Afton; the other is about the Oklahoma Route 66 Museum in Clinton.
Route 66 display being installed in Carthage September 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, History, Museums, Restaurants.add a comment
A Route 66 historical display that mimics the original Boots Drive-In restaurant in Carthage, Mo., is being installed now at the iconic Jasper County Courthouse in Carthage, reports the Joplin Globe.
At 18 feet wide and 13 feet tall, the display is a representation of the front of the former drive-in that will hold artifacts from the Mother Road. Members of the Jasper County Commission and the county’s courthouse preservation committee selected the design, which Wiseman developed and built. Funding for the project comes from a federal highway grant, administered by the Missouri Department of Transportation. [...]
The exhibit will include full-size artifacts, including a gasoline pump and air pump. There also will be a flat-screen television that will show slides of Route 66 history.
You can see part of the display here. This is what the original Boots Drive-In looked like. More elements to the display will be added later, said the curator.
Partridge Creek alignment may be developed September 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Preservation.add a comment
Arizona Route 66 aficionado Jeff Jensen noticed that a semi-obscure alignment of old Route 66 east of the Crookton Road exit of Interstate 40, west of Ash Fork, suddenly had recently sprouted a bunch of “for sale” signs.
This is what is called the Partridge Creek section of Route 66. Swa Frantzen’s Historic66.com site provides directions for the 1926-65 alignment and notes a 1920s bridge over the creek that has a tree going from one end of the structure. A striking photo of the Partridge Creek bridge can be seen here. Here’s another.
After making a few phone calls, Jensen wrote in an e-mail:
… The whole area is indeed for sale with a big chunk right in the middle possibly already in the process of being zoned for commercial development! Believe it or not, this exquisite piece of old road may in the next 3-4 years become an auto dealership as the owner is a Phoenix dealer.
Jensen also said that area real-estate firms think the long-dormant area is ripe for an economic redevelopment (although since the bursting of the real-estate bubble, I have to wonder).
That alignment is already on private property. So save for someone buying the land and simply maintaining it as it is, I’m not sure what can be done. But this situation serves to remind one that one rule of traveling Route 66 always applies — enjoy all the sights when you can because you never know whether it will still be there tomorrow.
For new roadies September 14, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Fashion.add a comment
I found this company based in Florida called Mooncakes, which makes clothing for babies.
Among its upcoming products is its Route 66 line, which won’t be available in stores until February but is available for retail stores to preorder now.
Here are links to the Route 66 clothing:
- A convertible.
- A shortall.
- A romper.
- A rugby blanket.
Here are close-up screen shots of the patterns, so you can see the Route 66 designs better:
Here’s where you can buy Mooncakes Route 66 products when they become available.
A string of bad luck September 13, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Religion.add a comment
Here’s a hitchhiker I would think twice about picking up — the perennially snake-bit Job. This is the latest video chapter of “Route 66: A Road Trip through the Bible.”
Arizona Route 66 Association wins top award September 13, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Events, People, Preservation, Publications, Route 66 Associations.1 comment so far
Winners of major awards presented at the 2009 Will Rogers Awards Banquet include (from left) Angel Delgadillo of the Arizona Route 66 Association, Will Rogers Preservation Award; Frank and Lynne Kocevar of Historic Sundries, New Business of the Year; Sean Evans of the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University, Founders Award; Tom Spear of the Arizona Route 66 Association, Lifetime Achievement Award; Ron Jones, Person of the Year; Rick Freeland of Route 66 Pulse, Wallis 66 Award; Carolyn Pendleton, Cyrus Avery Preservation of the Year; and Jim Conkle of Route 66 Pulse, Wallis 66 Award.
Story and photos by Mark Potter
The Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona was honored as the recipient of the 2009 Will Rogers Award, and Carolyn Pendleton for the Kansas Route 66 Visitors Center accepted the Cyrus Avery Preservation of the Year Award during the 2009 Will Rogers Awards Banquet on Saturday night at the Little America Hotel in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Angel Delgadillo, longtime Seligman barber and founder of the Arizona association, accepted the Will Rogers Award on behalf of the organization and its founding members from more than 20 years ago. In presenting the award, Jim Conkle, event host and co-founder of the Route 66 Alliance, commented on Delgadillo’s leading efforts in the revival and preservation of Route 66 during the past two decades.
“The revival of Route 66 as we know it today started in Seligman,” Conkle said.
Delgadillo said that the work of his state’s association was “the work of the people” and the “American Dream.”
He recalled that Seligman was changed forever approximately 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 22, 1978, when Interstate 40 was opened to traffic from Seligman to Kingman and bypassed the small community. “Traffic in Seligman literally stopped,” he said. “The world literally had forgotten us for 10 years.”
Delgadillo said that something had to be done to save his community from prolonged decline as many businesses closed their doors. After a nearly 10-year drought, Delgadillo led efforts to revive his community and Route 66 with the formation of the Arizona Route 66 Association in 1987 with 15 initial members, leading to similar efforts in other states along the route.
“And we never looked back once,” he said. “In America, anything and everything is possible.”
Kaisa Barthuli of the National Park Service's Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program visits with Seligman barber and Arizona Route 66 Association founder Angel Delgadillo.
Delgadillo said that he did not cut hair at his barbershop nor did he lead efforts to create the Arizona Route 66 Association to “make a dollar,” but to help create new jobs for Seligman and other cities. He said that in the past few years, many buildings that had been closed for quite some time have opened back up as new forms of business.
“I had the dream, but it was desires of many people that made it successful,” he said. “It was an endless project.”
“We’re all here today because of what you did that day (in 1987),” Conkle said.
The Cyrus Avery Preservation of the Year Award was presented to Carolyn Pendleton of the Kansas Route 66 Visitors Center in Baxter Springs, Kan. She was honored for her efforts to create the visitor center through the extensive restoration of a former service station building.
“Once Route 66 gets under your skin, you’re hooked,” she said.
Famed Route 66 author Michael Wallis, who planned to attend the banquet to present the Wallis 66 Award, was unable to attend due to being called for federal jury duty. Wallis presented the award via a conference call to the banquet from his home in Tulsa to the Route 66 Pulse newspaper for its efforts in publishing news happenings all along the route. Accepting the award on behalf of the publication were publisher/editor Conkle and staff member Rick Freeland.
Conkle also noted that the Pulse has evolved into becoming the official publication of the newly formed Route 66 Alliance, which officially became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization under the direction of the Tulsa Community Foundation.
Other awards presented at the banquet included:
- Founders Award: Sean Evans, archivist, Cline Library at Northern Arizona University.
- Person of the Year: Ron McCoy and Ron “Tattoo Man” Jones.
- New Business of the Year: Frank and Lynne Kocevar, Historic Seligman Sundries.
- Business of the Year: Laurel Kane, Afton Station.
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Tom Spear, executive vice president, Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona.
Freeland presented an update on the new Route 66 Alliance. He stated that the Alliance was formed after it was found that there was no single voice representing the entire route, but by various state associations. He stated the Alliance will include leaders of each of the eight state associations to serve on the Alliance’s advisory board.
“We need to be able to speak as one for the entire Mother Road,” he said.
Mirna Delgadillo, daughter of Seligman barber and Arizona Route 66 Association charter member Angel Delgadillo, chats with 2009 Miss Route 66 Arizona representatives Darian Burns of Seligman and Hillary Ekstrom of Kingman during the banquet.
The Alliance plans to seek both public and private funding for various projects, including a Legacy Fund that would accept public and private funds, a Passport Program to assist in promotion of tourism, and an “Electric Highway” to push and encourage the development of vehicles running on alternative sources such as hydrogen, electricity, wind power and natural gas, as well as 18 to 26 recharging stations all along the route from Chicago to Los Angeles, and a laboratory that would be available to all firms interested In development and promotion of such these technologies.
“We want Route 66 to be the Mother Road of new technologies,” he said.
Conkle stated that it will take a lot of people to assist the Alliance in accomplishing its goals. “We’re here to support what everybody is doing on the road,” he said.
Also speaking at the banquet was Kirk Hallam, a semi-retired attorney and producer, who acquired the ownership and rights to the original “Route 66” TV series that aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964 and has digitally reproduced most episodes of the show in DVD format. He is in the process of developing a new motion picture and TV series of the same name, which would be entirely shot along the route — unlike the original TV series, which only a few episodes were filmed on Route 66.
“The TV series was a metaphor for the adventure of the open road,” Hallam said. “But it became apparent that the film had to be shot on Route 66 and incorporate the people and values of Route 66.”
Hallam stated that more concrete details on the motion picture and new TV series would be released over the next few months.
In addition to the motion picture and new TV series, Hallam has also returned to his law practice to file lawsuits against Penthouse magazine for creating a series of pornographic films under the title of “Route 66” and allegedly misusing the title of “Route 66” and its trademark for those efforts. Hallam’s lawsuits have the support of the Route 66 Alliance.
“I don’t want to see Route 66 desecrated into a porno,” he said. “I’m confident we will prevail to preserve Route 66 as an American icon.”
The Will Rogers Awards Banquet usually has a bit of an international flavor. From left are are Sue McCarthy of Australia; Nadine Pelicaen of Belgium; Swa Frantzen of Belgium; and Andrew McCarthy of Australia.
Conkle announced that the 2010 Route 66 Festival, including the Will Rogers Awards Banquet, would be in Joplin, Mo., during the second week of June. Carolyn Pendleton of the Kansas Route 66 Visitors Center said the 2010 event would become something of a tri-state festival for the states of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma.
“We hope to see everybody in June,” she said.
The Will Rogers Awards Banquet was part of the 2009 Route 66 Festival held in conjunction with Flagstaff’s Route 66 Days, which included a car show, cruise night, summit meeting, e-group gathering, a preservation work day at Twin Arrows and displays by archivists, authors and collectors, and an authors’ book signing.