Meet the “Experts” January 4, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, People, Web sites.6 comments
Shameless plug time.
After a number of delays, Emily and yours truly are pleased to announce that our contributions to the Oklahoma Department of Tourism site about Route 66 launched today.
We’re labeled as “Route 66 Experts.” About 10 stories or blog posts are already posted, and more are coming.
It also contains an “Ask the Expert” feature in which we’ll answer questions about the Mother Road as best we can.
The “Experts” section for TravelOK.com also contains correspondents writing about Nature & Outdoors, Arts & Culture, Western Experience, and Only in Oklahoma.
Our bios need some tweaking, as both of us have seen job changes since planning of the site began. And, unlike Emily, I ain’t as purty to look at with our photos.
But on the whole, we’re fairly satisfied with it, and we see the site as containing a lot of potential for bringing new visitors to the road.
What to do about Bob? January 3, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Route 66 Associations.4 comments
In a few weeks, the panel that decides the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame inductees for 2010 is going to deal with what could be a thorny problem — the almost-certain nomination of Mother Road artist and ambassador Bob Waldmire, who died Dec. 16.
There are two potential pitfalls with Waldmire’s nomination.
First, he technically already is Illinois Hall of Famer because the Ed Waldmire Family, which included Bob, was inducted years ago.
Second and more problematic, the Hall of Fame’s own criteria would almost certainly prevent him from consideration.
The Ed Waldmire Family, which owned and ran the Cozy Dog Drive-In in Springfield, was inducted in 1991. However, there is plenty of precedent to allow an individual to be inducted after being in a Hall of Fame as a member of a group.
For instance, Eric Clapton was voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in addition to his being inducted as a member of Cream and the Yardbirds. Also, Roy Rogers was twice elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame — once as a member of Sons of the Pioneers and once as a solo artist.
So Bob Waldmire being elected as a solo artist (no pun intended) to the Illinois Hall shouldn’t be a big deal.
The bigger hurdle is Illinois Hall of Fame eligibility. As a recent news release about the nomination process spelled out:
It must include a fact-based essay about the nominee’s contributions to the character or history of the Illinois portion of Route 66 while it was an official United States highway in the State (1927-1977).
Nearly all of Bob Waldmire’s unique contributions to Route 66 occurred after 1977. So, based on that criteria, he wouldn’t be eligible.
It wasn’t always that way. The nomination process until a few years ago didn’t have a lot of hard and fast rules. But that changed when late Illinois Route 66 Association co-founder Tom Teague persuaded the committee to tighten the criteria and make the process more specific.
As a member of the Illinois association at the time, I questioned whether the new rules were too restrictive. The criteria, as written now, would preclude candidates such as Rich Henry, Jeff Meyer and Teague himself — folks who didn’t get involved with Route 66 until after 1977 but indisputably have made a positive impact.
Since the announcement of Bob Waldmire’s terminal cancer and his death, I’ve been hearing a lot of sentiment from roadies to induct him into the Illinois Hall of Fame posthumously — many of them unaware that the association’s rules may prevent it.
I e-mailed Illinois Route 66 Association President Cathie Stevanovich about the potential problems with a Waldmire nomination. This, in part, is her reply:
I agree with you that when they tightened up the rules, it changed many things. Originally the Hall of Fame was about the businesses on the road, and the people, and it honored those folks even a block or two off the 2-lane. When Tom wanted to change the rules, to make it more precise, he did limit who could be eligible. The board voted in the changes Tom wanted. [...]
We’re losing more old-timers each year, so there will have to be changes in the rules in order to accommodate the future. The road is viable, and our rules need to reflect those that have come along since 1978 and have worked to breathe new life into towns along the route.
Johnny Miller is the new chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee 2009-2011 and he is aware of the need to have his committee look at the rules. I will forward your concerns to him. I believe someone had already contacted Kathy about a nomination for Bob — and I anticipate we’ll hear from many others as well. [...]
I am hoping that our board will work with me to put together a “Spirit of the Road” or some kind of award in Bob’s name for Bob and for others that do as he did — share the word, give of themselves, and make the world a nicer place. I’m up for helping to create a Bob Waldmire Creative Arts Museum or exhibit somewhere on the road in Illinois as well.
So it seems that the association is well aware of the conundrum. I suspect they will make changes in the rules in an effort to induct more members such as Waldmire before they die. It would be the proper and sensible thing to do.
Or the panel will ignore the rules and induct Waldmire by sheer acclamation. If that happens, the ever-maverick Waldmire would be grinning.
Hello from Argentina January 3, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music.add a comment
This is a good version of “Route 66″ by Bluesberry Jam, a rock band based in Buenos Aires but with key members from England and America.
Notes from the road January 2, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Bridges, Events, History, Motels, Preservation, Restaurants, Road trips, Route 66 Associations, Signs, Towns.add a comment
The historic Riviera Restaurant on Route 66 in Gardner, Ill., reopened on New Year’s Eve. Check out this story in the Batavia Sun about it.
However, there is one potential snag that will be worth watching:
The new owner is dealing with a request from the Gardner Fire Department to put in an expensive commercial sprinkler system. He fears if things do not work out, the business will have to close again — leaving about eight local people out of work again.
“We all want to keep the history of this place going,” Stover said. “It is so unique it would be a shame to lose it.”
As I’ve said, I suspect the influence of the media and the Route 66 Association of Illinois will keep that from happening.
— Check out this story in the Athens News about Route 66. That’s Athens, Greece, not Athens, Ga. It focuses on Route 66 restaurants that are owned by Greek Americans, such as Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago, the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Ill., Nick’s Crossroads Cafe in Albuquerque and a slew of coney-dog joints in Oklahoma.
— Claudia Heller’s ongoing series in the Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News about Route 66 in California boasts a colorful road-trip story from 1946 — much of it on the Mother Road — as told by Manny Avila and Dick Sproul. The two made the trip from New York to Los Angeles — barely — in a rustbucket 1936 Ford convertible. The trip was inspired by Bobby Troup’s song, “Route 66.”
— St. Louis roadie Kip Welborn reports with sadness that the vintage sign for the Duplex Motel on the Watson Road alignment of Route 66 in the western suburb of Webster Groves, Mo., has been replaced with a much more nondescript model. Here’s what the sign, which included neon, looked like.
— KTUL-TV in Tulsa did a cool story about the rebirth of the Rose Bowl, which is on the 11th Street alignment of Route 66 in town. This video shows brief footage of the facility being used to fly toy airplanes and helicopters inside the vast dome.
— Here’s an interesting entry about Tulsa’s historic 11th Street Bridge from the Historic Tulsa blog. It includes photos of the bridge from 1917 and 1936. (Hat tip to Ron McCoy.)
— The Oklahoma Route 66 Association recently moved from its longtime second-floor office in downtown Chandler, Okla., to the Route 66 Interpretive Center in town. The new address is 400 E. Route 66, Chandler, OK 74834. However, the mailing address of P.O. Box 446, Chandler, OK 74834 remains the same, as does its phone number of 405-258-0008. The move seems like a logical and good fit.
— The Route 66 town of San Bernardino, Calif., is celebrating its bicentennial this year. This story in the San Bernardino County Sun has a rundown of all the activities to celebrate the city’s 200th year.
Feeling chippy January 1, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, Music.2 comments
Here’s Alvin and the Chipmunks‘ version of “Route 66″ by Depeche Mode. Yech.
I suppose Alvin and the Chipmunks were amusing for five minutes or so when their “The Christmas Song” became a hit in 1958. But taking hit pop songs and simply speeding up the vocals in an attempt to amuse is just lazy. And after seeing the trailer for the Chipmunks’ latest movie, I could think of 1,000 films I’d rather see first.
Your mileage may vary.
Roadside America launchs app for iPhone January 1, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Road trips, Web sites.3 comments
RoadsideAmerica.com, a popular site devoted to fun and quirky tourism attractions, including those on Route 66, launched an application for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch a few days ago.
The app costs $2.99 for one of six U.S. regions, or you can pay $5.99 a year to cover the entire country. It works with iPhones and iPod Touches with operating systems of 3.0 and higher.
Screen shots of the app and a list of features can be found here and here. The app is loaded with road-friendly features, including:
- In the network, the app will provide you the nearest attractions, driving directions, phone numbers, hours of operation, and reader tips.
- The app contains 70 categories. Also, “the app photo galleries display thousands of never before-published images, and access to special “research” attraction targets not yet on the web site!”
- The app is set up so you can send tips and photos to the RoadsideAmerica.com site, plus Facebook and Twitter.
- Special road-trip tools, including Sunset Alert for scheduling photo ops and Tourist Interruptus that gives you a fake phone call and gives you an excuse from overstaying your welcome to a tourist trap.
According to RoadsideAmerica.com, the app contains access to more than 6,300 tourism sites.
Merging of fun with functionality, I suspect this app will become a big hit. The Roadside America app can be downloaded through iTunes.
UPDATE: I finally had a chance to download it Monday. (I would have sooner, except I left my iPod Touch at the office during the New Year’s weekend — Doh!) The app works even better than I anticipated. It’s fast, it’s easy to use and read, and it even found an offbeat road attraction less than three miles from my house that I didn’t even know existed. Highly recommended.