Barstow museum featured in Japanese documentary November 19, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, Museums.add a comment
Barstow Station and other stretches of Route 66 in Arizona and California will be featured in a documentary currently being shot by the Tokyo Broadcasting System, according to the Desert Dispatch in Barstow, Calif.
Barstow Station serves as home to the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum.
Yoko Honda, the location and production manager for the documentary, said the documentary should be aired early next year. She said that there will also be a DVD made and that she plans to give a copy to the City of Barstow.
Honda said that she is based in Los Angeles, but said that the rest of the film crew was from Japan. She said that the crew was looking forward to the rest of their trip on Route 66.
“We started in Santa Monica this morning and we will be traveling along Route 66 for most of the way into Needles tonight,” said Honda.
Honda said that the crew was going to travel to Arizona on this trip along Route 66 before flying back to Los Angeles. The crew is going to be filming the documentary in several segments.
Honda said that the documentary will feature famous and historic places around Route 66.
The newspaper also said that downtown Barstow was used earlier in the week for scenes for a movie titled “Pizza Man,” starring Frankie Muniz, most famously known for the lead role in the television series, “Malcolm in the Middle.”
Savior of Chicken Boy honored by governor November 18, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Preservation, Signs.add a comment
A team that saved a gigantic Chicken Boy mascot that once graced a restaurant in downtown Los Angeles will be given the 2010 Governor’s Historic Preservation award, according to a report in Blogdowntown.com, a blog about downtown L.A.
The 22-foot-tall fiberglass man-chicken on top of the Chicken Boy restaurant on Broadway between Fourth and Fifth streets in Los Angeles was rescued in 1984 by Amy Inouye and her Chicken Boy Team.
It was kept in storage until 2007, when it was placed on top of Future Studio Design & Gallery on Route 66 (Figueroa Street) in Highland Park, Calif., north of downtown L.A.
Chicken Boy sat on top of the Chicken Boy restaurant downtown during the 1960s. On the Chicken Boy site, Inouye explains how she acquired it:
One evening in 1984, I drove by and the restaurant was boarded up. I took down the number of the realtors and called them to find out what would be the statue’s fate. At first they were suspicious–why was I asking and who exactly was I? The more I called, the chattier they got. Ultimately, they called me–We’ve got to do some construction work on the building and the statue has got to come down. If you want it so badly, come and get it. So, a deal was struck and we hired a stealth sign mover to go and get Chicken Boy.
Chicken Boy also is called the Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles. The Chicken Boy site sells a lot of Chicken Boy merchandise. Proceeds undoubtedly help keep such weird kitsch alive.
Chicken Boy also has a Facebook page. Plenty of Chicken Boy photos can be found on Flickr.
San Bernardino considers retro streetscaping November 18, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Theaters, Towns.1 comment so far
The Route 66 town of San Bernardino, Calif., is considering “Modern Retro” and “Classic Simplicity” streetscape designs that partially take inspiration from its Route 66 past, according to the San Bernardino County Sun.
The former theme would be a throwback to Route 66 and the highway travelers who came West after World War II.
The design would rely on features like aluminum, steel, neon, succulent plants and palm trees to create a vintage look that calls back to a world of roadside diners and the early years of rock ‘n’ roll.
The second theme, “Classic Simplicity,” reaches even further into San Bernardino’s past. The concept is intended to recall the California of the early 1920s and 1930s, Barr said.
Design elements for the second alternative include basic building materials like iron and concrete. Other touches would include shady trees and Spanish-inspired architecture.
AECOM of San Diego is getting $200,000 fromthe city’s Economic Development Agency $200,000 for its designs. The city’s site for the streetscape proposals can be found here. AECOM’s initial ideas that were unveiled in September can be found here (35-page PDF file).
The city doesn’t have the money right now to do a complete overhaul. But its first priority for streetscaping will be the area for the California Theater, when it reopens as a movie house.
The California Theater opened in 1928, and is best-known for its architecture. It’s also where Will Rogers held his last performance before his fatal Alaska plane crash in 1935.
He’s near the end of the road November 17, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in People, Road trips, Sports.1 comment so far
Some of you may remember John Radich, who started running on July 4 from the Santa Monica Pier eastward on Route 66 and then the Lincoln Highway toward Atlantic City, N.J.
According to a report by The Evening Sun of Hanover, Pa., Radich made it to New Oxford, Pa., on Tuesday. That puts him fewer than 200 miles remaining in his 3,700-mile trek. He’s averaged 40 miles a day.
Radich hopes to make it to the Atlantic Ocean by Thanksgiving.
In Needles, Calif., in the Mojave Desert, Radich pushed himself to keep going despite 122-degree temperatures.
“It was like running with a hair dryer in your face on high,” he said. [...]
Subsisting mostly on energy drinks, cranberry juice, raisins, nuts, peanut butter and bagels, Radich has lost 15 pounds since he started.
“You can eat pretty healthy when you travel, but you’re burning up a lot of energy,” he said. “You have to watch your diet.”
Radich is running because he always was fascinated by the Bunion Derby, the transcontinental footrace that took place on Route 66 in 1928. He’s also raising money for the Way to Happiness Foundation, started by Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Radich worked for the foundation for 20 years, which tries to keep youths off of drugs and build character.
First Dairy Queen designated a landmark November 16, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Preservation, Restaurants.add a comment
The building that housed the first Dairy Queen restaurant, located along old Route 66 in Joliet, Ill., has been designated a local landmark by the city council, reported The Herald-News.
The two-story brick storefront at 501 N. Chicago St. (map and Google Street View image here) now houses a local church, but is little-changed otherwise. It was here in June 1940 the storefront sign touted “Dairy Queen: The New Frozen Dairy Product.”
Dairy Queen now boasts almost 6,000 restaurants in 21 countries.
“It was developed in Kankakee, but the first actual store with the Dairy Queen name was here,” said Bob Nachtrieb, a member of the Joliet Historic Preservation Commission that sought the landmark status. The Joliet City Council approved the landmark status Tuesday.
Nachtrieb’s version is confirmed in the company history on the Dairy Queen website.
People at the Dairy Queen corporate headquarters in Minneapolis think the landmark status is “a fabulous thing” and have requested that the official ceremony take place next year during warm weather, which will be more conducive to eating ice cream. [...]
There will be a bronze plaque attached to the building storefront to commemorate its place in Dairy Queen history, said Barb Newberg, a planner for Joliet.
“That will make it more visible to the traveling public and tourists that may be traveling around the Route 66 corridor,” Newberg said.
The Joliet Area Historical Museum also is planning a display about Dairy Queen’s local history.
Route 66 Center in Webb City opens November 16, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Gas stations, Preservation.1 comment so far
The Route 66 Center, located in a renovated gas station in Webb City, Mo., opened during a ceremony on Tuesday morning.
The Webb City Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting at the station, located near Main and Broadway in downtown.
Here are a few photos of the building and the interior during the event:
You can go here to see the interior mural by painted by local artist and Webb City’s mayor, John Biggs.
The Route 66 Center as an information center and a Route 66 museum. And the city plans to add neon lighting to the station later.
The Joplin Globe reported:
Some work remains to be done. The center will eventually sell Route 66 clothing and souvenirs, and Mayor John Biggs — who painted the mural inside the building — has agreed to paint another mural on the outer brick wall just north of the center.
(Photos courtesy of Eric Wright, Webb City Public Works)
More details released for “Cars 2″ November 15, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies.2 comments
More details about the Disney-Pixar movie “Cars 2″ were released today by Disney and picked up by a variety of media outlets.
First, here at left is the official poster for the 2011 film.
FirstShowing.net also posted an official photo from the movie.
And, according to Collider.com, here is the official synopsis of the movie:
Star racecar Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) and the incomparable tow truck Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy) take their friendship to exciting new places in Cars 2 when they head overseas to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. But the road to the championship is filled with plenty of potholes, detours and hilarious surprises when Mater gets caught up in an intriguing adventure of his own: international espionage. Torn between assisting Lightning McQueen in the high-profile race and towing the line in a top-secret spy mission, Mater’s action-packed journey leads him on an explosive chase through the streets of Japan and Europe, trailed by his friends and watched by the whole world. Adding to the fast-paced fun is a colorful new all-car cast that includes secret agents, menacing villains and international racing competitors.
John Lasseter returns to the driver’s seat to direct this follow-up to his 2006 Golden Globe-winning Cars. Cars 2 is co-directed by Brad Lewis, producer of the Oscar-winning film Ratatouille, and produced by visual effects industry veteran Denise Ream (associate producer, Up; visual effects executive producer, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith). The film hits the track on June 24, 2011, in the US.
The description pretty much matches others of the plotline — in essence, “Cars 2″ is steering away from the fictional Route 66 town of Radiator Springs in favor of a spy-comedy caper. Of course, the thought of having a lovable rube such as Mater involved in international intrigue already is enough to make me smile.
A few Route 66ers may grouse about the film’s characters away from the Mother Road. But “Cars 2″ certainly will reignite interest in the original 2006 “Cars” movie and lead to an additional surge of travelers on Route 66.
Collider.com also reports that Disney will release the official “Cars 2″ trailer tomorrow. We’ll post it when it becomes available.
UPDATE: Here’s the trailer:
Another mother of a road race November 15, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Motorcycles, People, Sports.add a comment
The final edition of the Mother Road 100 ultramarathon finished Sunday afternoon at Catoosa High School in Catoosa.
Starting Saturday morning, the 100-mile footrace went on old Route 66 from the Kansas border town of Baxter Springs to Catoosa, Okla., just outside of Tulsa. Runners trudged for up to 30 hours without sleep; several aid stations supplied fluids, food and medicine in several towns along the course.
According to the Miami (Okla.) News-Record, Thomas Whalen of St. Louis won the race in 15 hours, 34 minutes, 32 seconds, edging runner-up Scott Hill of Wichita, Kan., by just under 12 minutes.
Whalen completed the whole course in less than 9 1/2 minutes per mile. It’s even more impressive when you consider Whalen had to stop for at least a few minutes at three mandatory weigh-in stations along the course.
Below, you can see at least one weary runner after crossing the finish line at Catoosa High’s running track, a few minutes short of the 30-hour mark.
Complete results still hadn’t been posted as of Monday night. Nearly 200 runners competed from 32 states, plus Canada and Germany.
The inaugural Mother Road 100 in 2006 went from Arcadia to Sapulpa, and the second in 2008 went from Elk City to El Reno.
Laurel Kane, co-owner of Afton Station, posted photos and musings on two blog entries after she and other volunteers ran an aid station for runners at Afton. She wrote on Day 2 of the race:
Prior to this, I must admit I was thinking that these long-distance runners must be a little crazy to want to indulge in this strenuous sport — a very different breed from lazy me. But seeing them plod along in the cold, dense fog, strung out for miles, still running after 12 hours while I’ve been indulging my own comfort-based activities, moved me to tears. Whatever their motivation for doing this, they deserve nothing but my admiration and respect. Each and every runner got a headlight blink and a thumbs-up from me as I passed them, and surprisingly, almost all of them waved back!
Todd Christell also posted dozens of photos from the race on his Flickr account, along with images from the Mother Road 100 in western Oklahoma in 2008.
Coincidentally, when we went to Catoosa High School on Sunday afternoon to see the finish line, a motorcycle club congregated for a Christmas toy drive in an adjacent parking lot at the school. It turned into a pleasant surprise to see all the custom motorcycles on the Mother Road. I’m sure the late-straggling runners got a bit of a visual treat once they caught their breath:
UPDATE: Full results can be found here.
(Photos by Emily Priddy)
Promotional trailer for Coliseum documentary November 15, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Movies, Music.add a comment
Jim Marcacci and Bruce Logsdon of Sound & Image Videography are producing a documentary about the history of the colorful Coliseum music venue in Benld, Ill., which is on an older alignment of Route 66.
Sound & Image has just released a 9-minute promotional video. You’ll see a lot of good memorabilia and information. The breadth of musical talent that performed at the Coliseum is just staggering.
Sound & Image hasn’t set a firm release date for the documentary, but it is providing a website for updates.
So who had the first drive-thru restaurant? November 14, 2010
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music, Restaurants.add a comment
This story from The Tribune-Democrat in Johnstown, Pa., delves into the history of drive-throughs, which has squirreled its way into American life from drugstores to liquor stores to restaurants to banks to even funeral homes.
As for drive-through restaurants, it’s claimed that Red Chaney at the famous Red’s Giant Hamburg on Route 66 in Springfield, Mo., developed his drive-through window in 1947. Maid-Rite, a loose-meat sandwich chain that I admit fondness for, claims it developed the first drive-through in 1948.
If the dates are to be believed, Red’s wins the battle of the first drive-through.
Alas, Chaney retired in 1984 and the building was removed about a decade later. Chaney died in 1997, and his wife and longtime partner Julia died in 2006.
Strangely enough, the thing that best captures the atmosphere of Red’s Giant Hamburg turns out to be a music video. The Morells, a rock band based in Springfield, shot this musical tribute, “Red’s,” in 1982:
In-N-Out Burger, of which there are several locations on Route 66 in the Los Angeles region, also claims to have the first drive-through window in 1948. At the least, In-N-Out claims it perfected the model, by using a two-way speaker. Such speakers are still in use today.