Book review: “Route 66 Sightings”

The first time I leafed through the new photography book “Route 66 Sightings,” I encountered one large image that stopped me in my tracks:

It was Dawn Welch, owner of the Rock Cafe of Stroud, Okla., standing amid the ruins of her Route 66 restaurant after a fire gutted it in 2008. Her hands are up against her forehead as she gazes at the stone walls — the only things still standing after the blaze. Although the text says she was surveying the damage, the image conveys a gut punch of anguish.

For certain, “Route 66 Sightings” (hardbound, Ghost Town Press, 194 pages, $49.95) contains a lot of gorgeous pictures. But the book stands as more than that. The volume contains images from moments in time by co-authors Jerry McClanahan, Jim Ross, and Shellee Graham, each who have been exploring Route 66 for at least 20 years.

“Route 66 Sightings” eschewed the typical east-to-west format, or a laundry list of photos of the road’s icons.

Instead, the book serves as “a celebration of the magic and magnificence of a highway.”

“Our goal was not to simply add to the visual record, but to evoke the essence of a subject. […] We have tried to render not just sites, but insights.”

In essence, Ross, Graham and McClanahan have compiled their favorite photographs over the years, and are telling the stories behind them.

For instance, a 1992 image of the long-gone Shawford Motel in Santa Rosa, N.M., is backlit by a gorgeous sunset. McClanahan explains that sunsets were particularly vivid that year because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere spewed by Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

Many of the photos in the book are illuminated by the orange light of a setting sun, or the  glow of neon lighting (one such example of the latter is the lights of the historic Steak ‘n’ Shake in Springfield, Mo., being reflected by a wet street).

Most of the photos are printed in color, but a few of Graham’s images show up in black-and-white — including a striking infrared look at the Wagon Wheel Motel’s neon sign and a nearby evergreen tree in Cuba, Mo.

Another striking image is the rare sight of Oatman Road in western Arizona dusted by snow.

The chapters Gone and Used To Be are devoted to Route 66 landmarks that have disappeared or are decaying into the earth (such as the forlorn Painted Desert Trading Post).

But it’s encouraging to see so many pages devoted to chapters titled Against The Odds, Rescued, and New Kids on the Block. Those portions of the book show the old Mother Road’s got a lot of life left in her.

“Route 66 Sightings” also shows characters of the road, some deceased and some alive. Featured are Lillian Redman of the Blue Swallow Motel, Snow Cap Drive-In proprietor Juan Delgadillo, Soulsby Station owner Russell Soulsby, Lucille “Mother of the Mother Road” Hamons, Gardner Chronicle owner Bart Parkinson, Afton Station co-owner Laurel Kane, Ron “Tattoo Man” Jones, Gay Parita Sinclair Station owner Gary Turner, Henry’s Rabbit Ranch owner Rich Henry, and 66-to-Cali owner Dan Rice.

Make sure you see the final two pages of the book. One serves as a simple tribute to longtime Route 66 artist Bob Waldmire. The second sees Ross, McClanahan, and Graham re-creating The Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album cover, except it’s Route 66 style.

“Route 66 Sightings” doesn’t follow a strict itinerary. Instead, it’s like spontaneously jumping into the car, ignoring the guidebooks, and seeing what surprises lurk around the bend. Because of that, the book ranges from poignant to just plain fun.

Highly recommended.

(Note: POPS in Arcadia, Okla., will host a book-signing by the authors from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday.)

5 thoughts on “Book review: “Route 66 Sightings”

  1. Thank you, Ron. You were impacted just the way we hoped readers would be! I would like to add that two exceptional poems by poet Ben Myers (a son of Route 66), “For Jack Kerouac” and “Blues Song of Myself” open and close the book.

  2. “Route 66 Sightings” is a monumental achievement for the Mother Road and for either its new or long-standing fans. Anyone who has travelled 66 for any length of time knows that the three most prolific photographers on the road today are Jim, Shellee, and Jerry. As the two guys who literally remapped the road with their “Here It Is!” map series, Jim and Jerry are the guys who regifted the road back to us when the government had myopically removed the roadsigns for anyone seeking travel along America’s Mainstreet. If it wasn’t for them, its arguable whether the nostalgic Route 66 tourism boom would have had the chance to explode at all. Jerry’s subsequent EZ Guide is in a category all by itself and has been copied by everyone from AAA to Harley Davidson with no credit to Jerry as the originator of all that passion, diligence, and hard work. The rest are all pretenders but those of us who know, KNOW…and we smartly pay no attention to anyone claiming to be “competition.” There simply is none. For anyone who is familiar with Jim and Shellee’s photographic exhibit at the Route66 Interpretive Center, you’ve already known the power of their photographic eyes and their abilities to in a split second recognize an image, feel its impact, and instantly capture it to communicate what would otherwise be an untold story that would have been lost to the ages. That is a remarkable talent and power to hold and thankfully for all of us and for the chronicles of history these three sets of eyes have been telling these tales for many years now, but never in this concise a form as “Sightings” will convey. If it had been up to Shellee, we’d still have the Coral Court. Jim has helped save entire stretches of the original Portland concrete. There is no height or distance Jerry has not or will not go to, literally or figuratively, to give every bit of himself for the betterment of this road. This has been evidenced by impromptu painting jags on someone else’s old sign in need of repair or feats as significant as last minute trips to Santa Monica for literally one specific photo. For years, I was star-struck and afraid to even approach any of them for all their accomplishments. Today, I am beyond blessed to call them my friends. Their friendship with one another is legendary. To think that they have finally pooled their talents and travels into one definitive vision of the road’s history and future is more than just another 66 photo book…it is, in fact, AN EVENT that merits celebration along the full length of the road. I was one of the few lucky ones who got an early peek last spring at what they’d compiled for this collection and even then, it was the best compilation of photos and stories I’d seen about Route 66 and I’ve seen them all. The fact that they’d include me in it is beyond flattering, but every subject in the sight of their lenses is sure to feel similarly. The bottom line is that there are a few true icons along the road. With these three, and with this book, you are spending time with a “royal court,” and finally have the opportunity to glance at the Route 66 Kingdom through the years and through their eyes. There can be no better experience than this except for spending time with them in person. “Route 66 Sightings” is for that reason, simply a “must-have.”

  3. I bought the book at the signing at POP’S last saturday. The book is just great. Not because I am in it but because the 3 people that put it together are great people. If you haven’t got it yet you should as soon as you can.

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