Route 66 from the viewpoint of a motorcycle September 21, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Motorcycles, Road trips.2 comments
This should be an interesting project. Check it out …
New film series about Route 66 soon will begin production September 20, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Movies, People.2 comments
The same production company that released a DVD about Arizona Route 66 a few months ago soon will work on a new film series about the Mother Road.
Norman Fisk, CEO of Diamond Valley Productions, says the series will be called “Life on Route 66.”
This video had this description:
Diamond Valley Productions, Inc. of Prescott, Az will soon be shooting a series about people and events along Route 66 in America. It will be a series dedicated to those who make The Mother Road what it is. It is a follow up to the newly released DVD “Route 66, Arizona, An American Story”.
The aforementioned Arizona Route 66 DVD was released during the Arizona Route 66 Fun Run in May.
Fisk says he also wants to produce a video series about the other seven states on Route 66.
Route 66 Rendezvous proclaimed “stellar” September 19, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Vehicles.add a comment
The 2011 edition of the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., had organizers and longtime observers searching for adjectives, reported the Redlands Daily Facts.
It’s hard to gauge whether the Rendezvous indeed set records. But the facts spell out success by any measure:
- The event’s producer said the Rendezvous’ economic impact will probably exceed its usual level of $44 million.
- Attendance was well past the usual 500,000.
- The police department said they’d never seen streets that crowded.
- A concert by a Beatles tribute band was so jam-packed, organizers were forced to close the stage area.
- The number of classic cars entered was 1,686 — the same as last year.
Organizers also said that booking good entertainment — this year’s included the Barenaked Ladies, Chubby Checker, and Chuck Berry — also helped boost attendance.
Route 66 in New Mexico September 19, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions.add a comment
New Mexico Video has posted several tourism-related videos in recent days, including this one about the Mother Road in the Land of Enchantment:
Its YouTube Channel contains dozens of other clips.
Route 66 photo book will debut at POPS next month September 18, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Events, Photographs.2 comments
“Route 66 Sightings,” a new photo book by Jim Ross, Shellee Graham, and Jerry McClanahan, will make its debut from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 29 at POPS in Arcadia, Okla.
Ross said in an email:
The book is now in production, and we received our two advance copies yesterday. The quality and the overall presentation has exceeded our expectations. It is absolutely beautiful.
Sample pages of the book can be seen here. The 200-page coffee-table book is a collection of photographs the trio have collected over the years on Route 66, some dating to the early 1980s.
The book retails for $49.95 and can be purchased in advance here, if you can’t make it to the book event. The book also will be available in an iPad edition for $14.99 from MyTabletBooks.com.
The second, updated edition of Ross’ indispensable ”Oklahoma Route 66″ guidebook also should be published in October.
(Photo of book cover courtesy of Jim Ross)
Press conference for the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival September 17, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Restaurants.add a comment
The Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau posted this video from the press conference announcing the International Route 66 Mother Road Festival in downtown Springfield, Ill., next weekend.
The festival is marking its 10th anniversary. And, yes, it’s become a big deal in a relatively short time — 1,000 classic cars and more than 80,000 people expected to attend.
Sharp-eyed readers will notice that the press conference was held inside the historic Cozy Dog Drive-In.
Mix old with the new September 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Signs.2 comments
The city of Kingman, Ariz., may soon get a newfangled billboard along its stretch of Route 66, reported the Kingman Daily Miner.
Lamar Advertising wants to place an LED billboard at the foot of El Travatore Hill, with these intriguing aspects:
Lamar presented four different billboard designs: a historic 1950s look with a wood-like design, a 1950s design with a painted wood-like design, a 1950s look with the frame around the billboard painted and wood-like supports, and a design that echoes the pink Historic Route 66 directional signs that are scattered through out Kingman. Each design had the option of one to three support poles. [...] The commission finally settled on suggesting the Historic Route 66 design.
The new billboard would replace an existing one that’s been there for 50 years. But it was good that Lamar and the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission were cognizant enough of Kingman’s Route 66 history to suggest billboard designs that would pay homage to that heritage.
UPDATE 9/19/2011: Christina Butler at Lamar today emailed designs for the billboard. Here’s the Route 66-styled one favored by the board:
Here’s a wood-like design:
Here’s another wood-like design:
And here’s the current billboard at the foot of El Travatore Hill:
(Images courtesy of Lamar)
Cruise night at the Route 66 Rendezvous September 16, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Events, Vehicles.add a comment
The Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, Calif., isn’t close to being over, and already a video from it has been posted:
The Rendezvous continues through Sunday.
UPDATE 9/17/2011: Route 66 TV has posted a few videos from the festival:
UPDATE 9/18/2011: Here’s a clip from the finals of the burnout contest:
Chandler Phillips 66 station named to National Register September 15, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Gas stations, Preservation.add a comment
The historic Phillips 66 station along Route 66 in Chandler, Okla., was named to the National Register of Historic Places effective Sept. 8, according to an email from the National Park Service.
The station, built in 1930, has been owned by Bill Fernau since 1997, and he’s been steadily restoring it in exacting detail ever since.
In 2002, Fernau earned a Cyrus Avery Award for historic preservation at the National Historic Route 66 Federation’s Steinbeck Awards dinner.
According to a story by Route 66 historian Jim Ross in American Road magazine a few years ago:
Station No. 1423 operated as a Phillips 66 until 1967, when it became a Skelly. In 1983, it was under the Getty Oil banner, and when last operating sold Texaco products. Fernau first laid nostalgic eyes on it in 1997. It was for sale, and had been since 1993. “Each time I came through town, I’d see it just sitting there, vacant. I finally got motivated in 1998 when an old house nearby was torn down, and I worried that it could meet the same fate.” [...]
His commitment goes deeper than simply resuscitating an endangered icon for display to tourists and those with a personal connection, however. Bill Fernau is a disabled Vietnam veteran, something he seldom talks about. “This may sound sappy, but I set aside my disability check for this every month. It’s my way of returning something for posterity—using that money to preserve America. It’s what I fought for.”
Phillips 66 built the station and others during the 1930s in a cottage style so it would blend into residential neighborhoods.
(Photo by Emily Priddy)
Billy Connolly’s Route 66, Episode 1 September 15, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Road trips, Television.15 comments
The first episode of “Billy Connolly’s Route 66″ aired on ITV earlier today in Great Britain. And someone has already posted it in five parts. I commend it to your attention:
http://youtu.be/D0tj19prCIo
http://youtu.be/Gy31esahn-Y
http://youtu.be/lXMkFmM4W9w
http://youtu.be/n-ZcuvAK7eE
http://youtu.be/lWzIEQ1xSjs
I just watched the whole thing, and it’s delightful. It’s well-photographed, and the side trips are very well-chosen. And I got a little misty-eyed when Connolly took a walk through deceased Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire’s old schoolbus home (in parts 3 and 4).
I’m really looking forward to seeing the other three episodes.