Back from near-extinction January 18, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Animals, Preservation.1 comment so far
For nearly three decades, the black-footed ferret was considered extinct after previously thriving in the Great Plains.
And now those ferrets have been reintroduced to about 20 sites in North America. And one of them is right off Route 66, west of Seligman, Ariz.
Matt Miller of the Mother Nature Network writes:
Both Jon and I had doubts we’d be able to see ferrets in the wild, but the ferret biologists assured us that we’d have no problem spotting them on ranchlands along historic Route 66.
“You’ll see ferrets tonight, guaranteed,” said Binford-Walsh.
It didn’t take long. Five minutes, in fact.
Driving slowly along the road with spotlights, we picked up the distinctive green eye shine of black-footed ferrets.
We approached slowly on foot, only to have three curious ferrets approach within a few feet of us.
An amazing moment: A creature, one presumed gone forever, now stared into my eyes.
The ferret’s prey is prairie dogs, which are in abundant supply west of Seligman. In fact, on one Route 66 trip, we heard from the car window the prairie dogs barking. So we stopped to take a listen and watch the prairie dogs chatter, scamper around, and maintain a watch for predators. Although we were there just a short time, I have little doubt the area has become a good habitat for those black-footed ferrets.
More about the black-footed ferret reintroduction program can be found here.
Miller uses the story of the ferret’s revival as a teaching moment: Sometimes hope is found when it appears hope is lost.
Site updates January 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Web sites.3 comments
I’ve made improvements to Route 66 News in the past few days you should know:
- The Events calendar has been updated for 2011 to the best of my knowledge.
- I’ve fixed broken links, deleted defunct sites, and added new ones to the Attractions, Restaurants, and Lodging pages. Updates on those pages have been overdue.
- I’ve added an e-mail subscription option to Route 66 News. The button is located in the upper right portion of the page.
If I overlooked anything you feel should go on the site, don’t hesitate to contact me at route66news@yahoo.com, and I”ll do my best to add it. Remember, this is your site as much as mine.
Kicks on 366 January 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, Photographs, Road trips.2 comments
Filmmaker Ester Brym has put together a slide show of 366 photos when she was shooting footage on the Mother Road for her upcoming documentary, “Autumn of Route 66.”
More about the project can be found at Brym’s blog here. A poster for the film can be found here. She plans to release the film this year.
‘Legitimate’ Route 66 museum may open in Berwyn January 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Museums.add a comment
Jon Fey of Downers Grove, Ill., is looking to open a legitimate Route 66 museum in the Mother Road city of Berwyn, Ill., instead of a small-time one, according to Suburban Life Publications.
Fey rearranged his SWF Products storefront at 7003 Ogden Ave. (Route 66) so that it may be a permanent location for the museum.
Previously, the museum had consisted of a handful of display cases crammed against restaurant walls and tucked into the parts department of a car dealership. Now, Fey is almost single-handedly leading the charge to transform the fledgling collection of artifacts and memorabilia into a legitimate museum.
“I never thought I’d open a museum. What have gotten myself into?” Fey said. “We started working on this last April, and it’s really grown quite a bit since we gave it its own space and put a lot of energy into it, but we still have a long way to go.”
Fey is driven by a zeal for history and a love of Berwyn.
“I spend more time in Berwyn than I do in any other spot on the earth, and I have for 30 years right here on Route 66,” Fey said.
The museum is currently in what Fey calls a “semi-open state” from 1 to 4 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He hopes to be in full swing by April, when tourism traffic on Route 66 kicks into gear.
Berwyn Route 66 Museum can be reached at (708) 484-9349 or through its website.
New redevelopment plans sought for De Anza January 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Motels, Preservation.add a comment
The City of Albuquerque is seeking new redevelopment proposals for the historic De Anza Motor Lodge on Route 66 after the previous one was terminated, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
The city bought the property for $891,000 in 2003. A redevelopment plan in 2006 for the property was ended by mutual agreement due to “a lack of progress,” city planner Maryellen Hennessy told the newspaper.
The now vacant, fenced off property sits on the northwest corner of Central Avenue and Washington. It’s listed on the state Register of Cultural Properties and National Register of Historic Places. The motel was completed in 1939 and “was among the new generation of motor lodges born along U.S. Route 66,” a planning department staff report states.
The lodge was developed by C.G. Wallace, a Zuni trader and American Indian art collector, who in 1951 commissioned Zuni artist Tony Edaakie to paint murals on the walls of a basement room. The imagery of a Zuni ceremonial procession remains intact “and is considered by cultural professionals to be a rare example of such artwork to be found outside of the pueblo,” the staff report further reads. “The former ‘Turquoise Coffee Shop’ at the southwest corner of the site retains a terrazzo floor with turquoise chips and inlaid silver figures.”
With the redevelopment, the city wants to maintain historic aspects of the motel.
“It’s still the city’s intention to preserve those murals, and the RFP is also noting that the city would like for a portion of the site to be available for a small museum, visitors center,” Hennessy said. “We’re trying to draw from the biggest pool of interested parties we can, but that (cultural preservation) is certainly an integral part of the city’s expectation for redevelopment.”
A good vintage image of De Anza can be found here.
‘I have a dream …’ January 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Motels, People, Road trips.3 comments
(This was originally posted four years ago. It’s appropriate to repost it for the holiday.)
This is the full version of Martin Luther King Jr.’s historic “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963.
So what does King have to do with Route 66? Well, there’s this passage:
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” [...] We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. [...] We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: “For Whites Only.”
I occasionally long to time-travel to see Route 66 during its heyday, to see its restaurants, motels and businesses when they were thriving. But I hold no desire to stay in that time of widespread racial discrimination.
Michael Wallis, author of “Route 66: The Mother Road,” alluded to this during a speech in 2003:
… [T]he late great Nat King Cole, the man with the velvet voice who helped immortalize this very highway by singing Bobby Troup’s “Get Your Kicks,” [...] for way too long would not be able to check into even a modest tourist court or dine in a greasy spoon on the Mother Road or any other road in this country.
“As a boy, I saw the ‘No colored’ signs at gas stations on my Route 66 just as I did on the roads of the Deep South. I also saw signs in cafe windows declaring, ‘No dogs, No Indians,’ and only yards away a Native American craftsman sold his hand-fashioned art from the sidewalk. Black families traveling American’s byways packed their own food and often slept in their vehicles. They didn’t get their kicks on Route 66, or at least the kind of kicks I was getting as a youngster as a hitchhiking Marine. At highway stops such as the Rock Cafe in Stroud, Oklahoma, during the ’30s and ’40s and ’50s and into the ’60s, black travelers went to the back door to get their food to go. None of them walked inside.
I’ve noticed that racism along Route 66 nowadays is more subtle and has evolved, targeting Asian-Americans who actually own motels along the road. One of the more snide comments heard is: “If you smell curry, leave in a hurry.”
I’m not the only one who has noticed this unwarranted bias. Wallis saw it, too, and urged Route 66 travelers to “choose the high road” instead.
“… [J]ust look around you. Just look at our highway today. Read the … signs on motels and other businesses proclaiming in great big letters “American Owned.” … Signs that serve no good purpose except to divide us and slap us in the face.
“… Remember the many, many reputable motel owners and operators from Indian, Pakistan, and Asia who are doing their dead-level best to provide service in their adopted homeland. Many of them are American citizens. Most are well-educated and hail from the state of Gujarat in India. Many of these have the surname Patel, as common a name in that state as Martinez is in New Mexico. [...]
“So please, I ask you to make your decisions wisely. Mark Twain said, ‘Travel cures prejudice.’ That may be true, but still you have to consider your actions and the daily decisions you make as a traveler.
“You my good friends, my loved ones . . . strive to be all you can be. Take the high road whenever you can. Reject the ignorant and the ill informed. Turn your backs on the purveyors of hatred. Seek out the good in all people. Conform your actions to the good of all others. Release your righteous indignation. Admit when you’re wrong. Embrace your own humanity.
“Choose the high road. It takes strength and discipline to choose that path. Take a step in its direction — one step at a time, one day at a time.
“Make every single day your own masterpiece. Make wise choices but never be afraid of risk. Seek out the crooked paths, the roads of genius. Enjoy the journey.”
Perhaps the silent treatment would have been better January 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Religion.add a comment
This is the latest edition of “Route 66: A Road Trip through the Bible.” This entry is about the Book of Galatians.
Hello from Argentina January 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Music.add a comment
This one’s an oldie. It’s Argentine blues-rocker Pappo (real name Norberto Napolitano) who covers Bobby Troup’s “Route 66.”
Not sure on the date of the video, but I’m betting late 1980s to early ’90s.
Pappo’s music career dated to the 1960s. Tragically, he died in an automobile accident in 2005.
Renovated Kingman depot set to open in spring January 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Museums, Preservation, Railroad.1 comment so far
The historic Kingman Train Depot in Kingman, Ariz., has been renovated and is set to reopen after Amtrak moves in during March or April, according to the Kingman Daily Miner.
Part of the depot will be used by Amtrak customers, but the other portion will be turned into a museum.
The 103-year-old train depot had been in limbo for nearly a decade while the city wrangled with various governmental agencies to get the proper clearance for the project, which only got underway last summer. The rehabilitation, which was made possible through a $600,000 grant from the Arizona Department of Transportation, has seen the construction of a new platform, new exterior and interior work, and the creation of a space that has been set aside for use as a railroad museum [...]
Taylor said the exact details of who will run the museum and what objects will be featured there have yet to be decided. Public Works has taken proposals from both the Whistle Stop Railroad Club – a group of railroad hobbyists and former career employees – and the Mohave Museum of History and Arts. A final proposal for the museum is likely to come before the City Council for approval in the coming months.
The depot is right next to Route 66, by the way.
(Hat tip: Wes Dornseif)
Storms damage portion of historic Rancho station January 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Gas stations, Preservation.add a comment
Severe rainstorms that swept through Southern California in recent weeks severely damaged a part of the historic Cucamonga Service Station, aka Richfield Gas Station, on Route 66 in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., reported the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
Ed Dietl founded the Historical Preservation Association of Rancho Cucamonga, and the city designated the abandoned gas station a historical landmark. But then misfortune struck:
Dietl and many others invested in the preservation of Route 66 have been dealt a major blow. During the recent storms, the back building that once served as a service garage caved in. The sheet metal roof couldn’t hold the rainwater and collapsed.
“I’m really disappointed that this happened but I’m still excited about the opportunity to save it,” Dietl said.
The gas station, characterized by its signature square columns in front of the garage, was not damaged.
The property’s owner, Lamar Advertising, has asked the city permission to raze the rain-damaged structure. However, city planning director James Troyer said he thought the building could be saved.
Dietl wants to buy the building, and develop it and adjacent property into a local history museum and gift shop. However, Dietl doesn’t have the funds. But the city is negotiating to possibly buy the property.
Dietl has launched a website, Route 66 S.O.S., or Save Our Station.
(Hat tip: Delvin Harbour)