In the middle of the road January 22, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Highways, History, Route 66 Associations.1 comment so far
The Monett (Mo.) Times published an article about a local native, Jerany Jackson, who is in the middle of helping the Route 66 Association of Missouri organize public hearings so that Route 66 in Missouri can attain All-American Road status.
The article is useful, not only explaining the many facets of tourism and history of Route 66, but also pointing out attractions on the Mother Road in Lawrence County.
You can read the article here.
UPDATE: Here’s a new story by the Joplin Independent about the All-American Road efforts.
White Flag January 21, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Weather.3 comments
Not many folks are traveling Route 66 this time of year. But if you are, you’d best be aware of a huge winter storm that’s about to hit northern Arizona, especially the Flagstaff region.
According to the Arizona Daily Sun, up to 2 feet of snow will fall in Flagstaff this weekend, with wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour, creating blizzard conditions. One meteorologist said it’s going to be in the top three of all snowstorms to hit the region.
That’s on top of the 21 inches that have fallen in the past week.
So, if you’re were planning on traveling in that area this weekend, it might be advisable to make alternate plans.
A glimpse of the past January 21, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Road trips, Vehicles.add a comment
Here’s a good video from the 1993 Arizona Route 66 Fun Run. Of course, with the classic cars and the mostly unchanged section of Route 66 from Seligman to Topock, it’s hard to tell what year it is.
Rock Cafe owner will be on “Today” show January 20, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Food, People, Restaurants, Television.2 comments
Dawn Welch, owner of the Rock Cafe on Route 66 in Stroud, Okla., will make an appearance on NBC-TV’s “Today” show at 8:49 a.m. Central on Thursday.
According to her “Dollars to Donuts” blog, Welch will be making her three-cheese white lasagna on the show. Welch is there to plug her new book, “Dollars to Donuts.”
The lasagna recipe is here if you want to make it yourself. Here’s what she said about it:
Extra creamy and decadent, this casserole is like macaroni and cheese dressed up for company. Many kids and even adults aren’t fans of ricotta cheese, which is how I came up with this Cheddar and Monterey Jack–loaded alternative to the traditional lasagna. Sautéed onions and a mix of beef and pork give the dish some backbone, while a little Parmesan sprinkled over the top offers up an irresistible golden-brown crust. You could make this even more like macaroni and cheese if you wanted by using elbow macaroni or even ziti in place of the lasagna noodles.
It’s been an interesting past few months for Welch. First, her restaurant reopened in May after it was severely damaged in a fire the previous year. A few months after that, her “Dollars to Donuts” book was published. Then she was named Oklahoma’s Woman of the Year on New Year’s Eve.
UPDATE: If you missed it, you can watch the segment with Dawn Welch here.
Notes from the road January 20, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, bicycling, Events, Food, History, Museums, Restaurants, Road trips, Signs, Towns.add a comment
The Pontiac Walldog Committee, which has helped beautify downtown Pontiac, Ill., with a series of murals and related festivals, now wants to open a Walldog Mural and Sign Art Museum in Pontiac, according to news release from the city’s tourism department.
The primary purpose of the museum is to pay homage to the men and women who, through the ages, have dedicated themselves and their talents to the creation of large, outdoor advertising murals. The secondary focus of the new institution will be to preserve and honor the work of the modern-day outdoor mural painters, the Walldogs.
The Walldogs, a loosely knit group of muralists and sign painters from across the world, gather each summer to continue the tradition of outdoor signage by painting murals in one specific town. Last year, Pontiac was the host city for the Walldogs and benefited from the creation of 18 new murals painted by these artists in just four days. The name “Walldog” was an appellation taken by artists who painted outdoor advertising signs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Part of the mission of the modern Walldogs is to preserve the techniques, artistic goals, and the history of those earlier advertising mural painters.
One of the museum’s four elements is to record and display images of the outdoor signage associated with the development of Route 66. So that should definitely be of interest to roadies.
The Walldogs want to have the museum ready in downtown by the summer tourist season. According to a report in The Community News in Pontiac, tax-increment financing funds will be used to get the museum going.
— An art exhibition, “Route 66 Meets Highway 41: Roadside Impressions by Chuck Middlekauff,” will begin Feb. 18 at Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, Ariz. Middlekauff’s paintings, which were inspired by trips on Route 66 and U.S. 41, also were recently displayed at a gallery in Georgia. The 28 remaining paintings will be available for sale. Much of Middlekauff’s Route 66 work can be seen here.
— Here’s a noteworthy letter to the editor by John Fritsche in the Journal-News of Hillsboro, Ill. He explains the benefits of building a Route 66 bicycle trail on an abandoned stretch of Mother Road in Macoupin and Montgomery counties. He gets no argument from me.
— A recent issue of AAA Living magazine had an article about the Illinois Pie Trail on Route 66. It mentioned pie palaces such as Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago, Dell Rhea’s Chicken Basket in Willowbrook, Old Log Cabin in Pontiac, Palms Grill Cafe in Atlanta, and Ariston Cafe in Litchfield.
— Here’s another edition of Claudia Heller’s ongoing series in the Pasadena Star-News about Route 66 in the Mojave Desert. This story concentrates on the near-ghost towns of Chambless, Danby and Amboy.
A new old view January 20, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Books, Photographs, Toys.3 comments
The cover of the "Route 66 in Chicago" View-Master reel. This image is of the Castle Car Wash building. (Courtesy of Wurlington Pros. Press)
Here’s a new twist on an old toy — Wurlington Bros. Press has created three new reels for the old View-Master devices, including one for Route 66 in Chicago.
The View-Master device, which looked like some sort of portable gizmo an eye doctor would use, created a three-dimensional effect on photographs, and were popular children’s toys during the 1960s and ’70s.
Van Beydler, creator of the Route 66 reel who hatched the idea of a Route 66 reel years ago, tells more about the Route 66 View-Master reel in a news release:
“Many years ago, I worked with the late Skip Curtis, author of The Missouri U.S. 66 Tour Book, giving him several rare photos of Route 66 to use in a special edition of Show Me Route 66 Magazine,” said Beydler. “At the time, I suggested the Route 66 Association should do a series of Route 66 View-Master® reels to document the classic structures still existing on the road.”
That project never materialized, but Wurlington Bros. Press has taken the first step in the long journey down “America’s Highway” by producing a reel titled “Route 66 in Chicago.”
The most famous highway in America starts in the center of Chicago. For over 2,400 miles it winds west through little towns, plains, mountains and deserts, all the way to Los Angeles, California.
The first few miles of the journey zigzag down busy streets of Chicago. Here and there are old roadside businesses dating from the picturesque days of auto tourism along the Mother Road.
The other two View-Master reels are Motels of Wurlington Avenue” and “Chicago Hot Dog Stands.”
Each reel costs $10, plus $1.75 for shipping and handling if you order direct from the manufacturer. Details to order the reels are here at the Wurlington Bros. site.
One of the "Route 66 in Chicago" View-Master images. (Courtesy of Wurlington Bros. Press)
Matt Bergstrom of Wurlington Bros. Press said in an e-mail that the reel also is available at Amazon.com here. He said Amazon has it erroneously listed as out of stock. He hopes that problem will be rectified shortly.
If you don’t have your own View-Master, you can buy one here, at eBay or plenty of other online retailers.
Joplin puts museum proposal on ballot January 20, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Museums.2 comments
By a 7-2 vote, the City Council of Joplin, Mo., agreed to place a sales-tax referendum on the April ballot to fund the Joplin Museum Complex‘s proposed move to historic Memorial Hall, according to the Joplin Globe.
Voters will be asked to authorize a special museum sales tax of one-sixth of a cent to pay off $7 million in debt that would be used to remodel Memorial Hall for use as exhibit and meeting space for the Joplin Museum Complex.
After the loan was paid off, the tax would be reduced to one-eighth of a cent to support operations of the museum. Brad Belk, the museum director, told the council that the museum staff would increase from 4.5 positions now to about 12 for the larger Memorial Hall museum. Annual operating costs would increase from about $214,000 now to $1.3 million, according to information discussed at the council meeting.
The museum would include displays about the town’s Route 66 history. The Joplin Museum Complex has long been looking for ways to expand its space, as it has as much artifacts in storage as it does on display. Memorial Hall, which was dedicated to area veterans, also is being underused as a performance venue.
Severa members of American Legion Post 13 opposed the plan, even though the plan includes exhibit space to Joplin’s veterans and the town’s wartime efforts. The plan also would add two seats on the museum’s board to area veterans, and area veterans groups could continue to use Memorial Hall for meetings.
However, a representative from a veterans group in nearby Carthage, Mo., supported the plan.
A number of people asked whether the historic railroad depot was an option. It is not:
Asked by Councilman Bill Scearce whether the Union Depot would be suitable for the museum’s purpose, Belk said the museum board had looked at it five years ago and determined it was not large enough, was polluted with contaminants, would require extensive and costly infrastructure work, and was not as visible a location as Memorial Hall.
Fourteen people who attended the meeting voiced support for the Memorial Hall museum plan. Seven opposed.
Approving a tax increase amid a recession and changing the original purpose of Memorial Hall is going to be a tough sell. I’m not saying voters won’t approve it, but there had better be a lot of persuasion and education by the museum to get it done.