Newspaper names Dawn Welch Oklahoma’s Woman of the Year December 31, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Restaurants.1 comment so far
Dawn Welch, owner of the historic Rock Cafe on Route 66 in Stroud, Okla., was named Oklahoma’s Woman of the Year by The Oklahoman newspaper today, according to the newspaper’s BAM’s Blog.
The Oklahoman no doubt honored Welch because of her tenacity, which the story details:
In 2008, Welch watched helplessly as the historic cafe, which she has owned since 1993, burn down. A year and nine days later, in May, she triumphantly reopened the Route 66 landmark. (In the meantime, the ever-busy Welch published a cookbook.)
The Rock Cafe has been around for 70 years, and it is one of Stroud’s top attractions and an immense source of community pride. The community has experienced a decade of hard times since it was ravaged in the May 1999 tornado that destroyed the town’s Tanger outlet mall, and it could ill afford to lose a landmark like the Rock Cafe.
Welch not only saw that the cafe was rebuilt, she is again filling the walls with community memorabilia, from newspaper clippings about the high school football team to artwork from customers.
She recently got some help filling the wall space from Pixar chief John Lasseter, who based the Porsche character Sally from his 2006 film “Cars” on Welch after meeting her on his Route 66 travels. Lasseter recently sent Welch a box of new “Cars” stuff to replace what burned in the fire.
Welch also published a cookbook, “Dollars to Donuts,” this year.
The main Oklahoman story about Welch’s honor is here. A key excerpt:
She tells people not to give up on how they want to live their lives.
“Dream big, and then work hard. Very hard,” Welch said.
“People are always waiting to do what they love versus just doing it or getting to it,” she said. “I have a lot of people who tell me all the time they’re going to do something in a year, or we’re going to do this. I had lost everything at the Rock Cafe, and a year and nine days later, I was able to put it back up.”
And get this — among the finalists that Welch beat were Ree Drummond, aka Pioneer Woman, who boasts a humongously popular blog and best-selling cookbook by the same name; and multiplatinum country artist Carrie Underwood.
Scenes from the marathon December 30, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Sports.add a comment
This is a just-posted promotional video posted of the Route 66 Marathon in Tulsa, which was held a few weeks ago. Very well done.
In case you’re wondering, the music is by U2, from its latest album.
The next Route 66 Marathon is Nov. 21.
Weekly “Route 66″ radio show begins Saturday in Joplin December 30, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music, Radio.2 comments
Radio host Terry Hester is debuting a new weekly music show, “Route 66,” at KZRG in Joplin, Mo., on Saturday.
In an e-mail, Hester said he would be playing the top pop hits from 1957 to 1972 to “relive the music of the Mother Road,” along with “bits of audio from that time frame … radio commercials, news events, etc.”
Mentioned on the playlist were the Beatles, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Platters, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, The Temptations and more. Hester said he’d also tell of upcoming Route 66 events, if applicable.
The show will air from 8 p.m. to midnight each Saturday. If you’re in the area, the station’s frequencies are at 1310 AM and 102.9 FM. Also, KZRG streams on the Internet here.
KMOX-AM in St. Louis has used a similar format to Hester’s with its “Route 66″ show for several years. Bob Moore, former executive editor of Route 66 Magazine, also hosts a “Route 66″ show of music and musings at B.O.U.N.C.E. Radio on the Internet and at KTOX radio in Needles, Calif.
Not just any meeting December 29, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Events, Highways, Preservation, Route 66 Associations.add a comment
The quarterly meeting of the Route 66 Association of Missouri, set for Jan. 16 after a noon lunch at Matt’s Steakhouse in Rolla, isn’t going to be just any meeting, according to a report by Three Rivers Publishing.
First, a Missouri Department of Transportation official will be discussing the Old Route 66 Bridge at Route 66 State Park near Eureka. The dilapidated bridge is in danger of being razed if an alternative preservation plan isn’t found.
Also, Great River Engineering representatives will talk about the Missouri Route 66 Byway Corridor Management Plan.
The plan is a required element of the byway and outlines plans to involve local communities and maintain, improve and promote Route 66. This project will fund the development of a 10-county corridor management plan for the Missouri Historic Route 66 Byway. Great River Engineering has developed a website outlining the plan. It can be accessed by visiting http://Route66.greatrivereng.com.
The next step in the plan process will be to conduct public meetings in each of the Missouri Route 66 counties. All government officials, business owners and other interested individuals are encouraged to attend the meeting in their area, or other scheduled meetings.
Here’s a list of the byway meetings by county. Each runs from 6 to 8 p.m., and public participation and discussion are encouraged:
- Lawrence County: Jan. 12, Mount Vernon Branch Library, Mount Vernon. Contact: David Eslick, 417-889-9332.
- Jasper County: Jan. 19, Powers Museum, Carthage. Contact: Michelle Hansford, 417-237-0456.
- Greene County: Jan. 21, Library Station, Springfield. Contact: David Eslick, 417-889-9332.
- Webster County: Jan. 28, Empire Bank Building, Marshfield. Contact: David Eslick, 417-889-9332.
- Laclede County: Feb. 2, Lebanon-Laclede County Library, Lebanon. Contact: Judy Wallmark, 417-588-6110.
- Pulaski County: Feb. 4, Pulaski County Tourism Bureau, St. Robert. Contact: Debbie Rhew, 573-759-7994.
- Phelps County: Feb. 9, Phelps County Courthouse, Rolla. Contact: Mark Stauter, 573-341-2932.
- Crawford County: Feb. 11, Recklein Auditorium in Cuba. Contact: Rev. Norman Heironimus, 573-259-3481.
- Franklin County: Feb. 16, Tri-County Senior Center, Pacific. Contact: Ron Sansone, 314-575-1771.
- St. Louis County: Feb. 17, Kirkwood Community Center, Kirkwood. Contact: James Crooks, 317-293-2540.
Here’s the Missouri association’s lunch registration form if you want to attend.
A license to play December 29, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Music.1 comment so far
If you’re a Route 66 fan and a musician, you could do worse than this functional cigar-box guitar made with a Route 66 license plate:
It’s made by Chickenbone John Guitars, a one-man shop based in England. The Route 66 guitar isn’t on his online shop, but he says on the video notes that he just finished it, so it may not be listed yet. You can go here to contact him.
“Santa Monica Noir” December 28, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies.add a comment
I think it’s safe to say that Emory Duick’s triumphant stroll to the Santa Monica Pier today didn’t end like this.
Emory Duick takes a long walk to the Pier December 28, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, People, Sports.3 comments
Emory Duick, the 71-year-old man who decided to walk or jog Route 66 to encourage fellow senior citizens to be more physically active, reached the end of his 2,250-mile journey today when he made it to the Santa Monica Pier at the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, Calif.
Duick reached the “spiritual” end of Route 66 at 11 a.m., according to the Journal & Topics Newspapers Online. Starting in Chicago, he accomplished the feat in 209 days — an average of a little more than 10 miles per day. Duick had hoped to make it to the Pier by New Year’s, and accomplished that with days to spare.
This next excerpt is highly dubious, though:
He may be the only person who has actually journeyed on, or next to, the entire 2,200-mile length of the road, starting on Chicago’s lakefront on June 2.
That is incorrect. Jonathan “Willy” Williams did it a few years ago, as did Dennis “Pain Walker” Kinch and Steve “Fat Man Walking” Vaught (although Vaught’s journey remains in some dispute because he may have skipped walking some miles near Albuquerque). Then you had several dozen guys who ran it back in 1928 during the fabled Bunion Derby. And I’m fairly certain others have done it, also.
Nevertheless, Duick’s accomplishment is worth noting. I’ll post more links to more news stories about him as they come.
UPDATE: The Daily Herald in the Chicago area has a good follow-up on Duick’s feat.
UPDATE2: Journal & Topics Newspapers has filed an updated story on Duick.
UPDATE3: Here’s a story by the Santa Monica Daily Press from a few days ago.
City will redevelop its Route 66 December 28, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Gas stations, Highways.add a comment
The Route 66 town of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., will redevelop its portion of the Mother Road, including building a new bridge, that will carry a Route 66 theme, reported the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
As part of a Foothill Boulevard widening project, the bridge near Baker Avenue will be torn down and replaced with a new one. The project will be one of several City Hall ventures in 2010. [...]
The $15 million project will spruce up Foothill Boulevard on the western part of the city. The street will be widened to six lanes, sidewalks will be constructed and the old bridge will be replaced. Route 66 themes will be incorporated in the design. [...]
Traffic will be rerouted during the removal of the bridge, which is expected to take no more than two days, said Lam. Currently the city is relocating utility lines. The bridge is scheduled to come down by next fall.
I don’t know of anything historic that might be standing in the way of the redevelopment. The city council a few months ago took great pains to make sure an abandoned but notable gas station from the 1920s was declared a city landmark, but that’s all of which I’m recently aware.
Meditations with music December 27, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Music.add a comment
Here’s a remarkable story in the Los Angeles Times about the Church of Beethoven, which is less than a block off an old alignment of Route 66 in Albuquerque and has its beginnings on the Mother Road.
The whole thing is worth reading, but this excerpt captures the place’s purpose well enough:
It’s not really a church, of course, but it’s not quite a standard concert series either. Its intent, Wurman said, is part entertainment, part spiritual awakening.
Wurman, 51, was a cellist with the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra when, two years ago, he played a church gig that inspired him. It wasn’t the theology he liked — Wurman isn’t religious. It was the ecstasy of the music, and the warmth of the parishioners enjoying it together.
He had an idea: “How about a church that has music as its principal element, rather than as an afterthought?”
He recruited other musicians from the symphony, and together, in an abandoned gas station off old Route 66, they began playing concerts each Sunday.
More and more people started coming (“I just leave here feeling really soul-satisfied,” explained one regular, Veronica Reed, 68, who said it was a treat to see symphony members perform up close), and after a couple of years, the concert series outgrew the space.
The story reminds me of the old quotation: “God gave us music that we might pray without words.” And Beethoven reportedly said: “I despise a world which does not feel that music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy.”
The Church of Beethoven meets at 10:30 a.m. each Sunday at 1715 Fifth St. in Albuquerque, just a short walk from the Fourth Street alignment of Route 66.
The sad part is that founder Felix Wurman died on Saturday, just a few hours after the Times’ article was published. However, Wurman’s colleagues have made it clear they will continue the tradition that he started.
A pie-in-the-sky place December 27, 2009
Posted by Ron Warnick in Food, People, Restaurants.add a comment
Longtime roadie Dave Hoekstra of the Chicago Sun-Times takes a closer look at the restored and historic Palms Grill Cafe on old Route 66 in Atlanta, Ill.
Apparently the restaurant, in addition to its old-time atmosphere, is making a name for itself because of its pies. And an Albanian immigrant named Lumi Bektoshi, who is working in the restaurant’s kitchen, deserves a lot of the credit.
And here is where my favorite travel story of the year begins: Lumi’s pies became the grill’s most popular item. So Thomas thought it would be fun to enter Lumi’s pies in a competition at this year’s Illinois State Fair.
Lumi had never heard of a state fair. She only started baking pies in April. Even so, Lumi wound up winning a first-place blue ribbon for her peach pie, a first-place blue ribbon for her apple pie and a third-place ribbon for her black raspberry. [...]
The Palms Grill reopened in April. Since then, Lumi has mastered apple, pecan, cherry, rhubarb, black raspberry, blueberry, gooseberry, pumpkin and sour cream raisin pies. [...]
Lumi’s favorite is her peach pie. Black raspberry and peach are the best sellers ($2.95 for an ample slice).
It sounds as though the Palms may be getting a reputation that will eventually match other highly regarded Route 66 pie palaces, such as the Midpoint Cafe in Adrian, Texas, and A Slice of Pie in Rolla, Mo.