Elderly woman may be new owner of old Cuervo school December 11, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Preservation, Towns.5 comments
An 80-year-old woman likely will be the new owner of the long-closed but historic school building in the Route 66 hamlet of Cuervo, N.M., according to a story in the current print edition of the Guadalupe County Communicator, based in nearby Santa Rosa.
The Santa Rosa school board owns the property, but put it up for bids some months ago. According to the newspaper, the high bidder is Flora Page, who was born and reared in Cuervo.
Page reportedly bid $10,250, beating out three others that ranged from $10,100.50 to $6,350. The Santa Rosa Schools superintendent says he will recommend the high bid be accepted.
The Communicator said:
Seeing the school where she had so many memories fall apart, “I was so heartbroken,” Mrs. Page said on Tuesday in a phone interview from her primary residence in Albuquerque.
“You know what? For a long time I’ve been wanting to buy that school,” she said. “At the time, it had all the windows, doors, everything … It’s in pretty bad shape now. If I don’t get it, I hope somebody thinks enough of it to do something with it.” [...]
Her late father, a stone mason, was among those who helped construct the school, which drew pupils from a wide area of the countryside. [...]
Although her exact plans are up in the air, she stressed that her plan would be to restore the building and put it to use — not to dismantle it or tear it down.
Page will face a Herculean effort to restore the property. Not only is the structure dilapidated from neglect and age, but it’s difficult to even access it because of deep erosion around the property boundaries.
A recent photo of Cuervo School can be seen here.
History Channel may include Route 66 on program December 10, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, History, Museums, Signs, Television.1 comment so far
A film crew from the History Channel filmed segments Friday along Route 66 in Southern California that may be included in a program titled “101 Objects That Changed the World,” reported 66-to-Cali owner Dan Rice in Santa Monica.
The crew spent time shooting near the “End of the Trail” Route 66 sign on the Santa Monica Pier, then at the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville.
Rice provided some details in an email:
Last week, they called to say they hadn’t found a location they liked yet, so I suggested the California Route 66 Museum in Victorville. They were open to the suggestion, so I called Betty Halbe there and she signed a location release immediately to make it happen. Wednesday night, I called Paul Chassey to ask if maybe we should have a classic car or two for the History Channel folks in case they wanted some of that classic car ambience. Paul has been such a help to me with the car rallies for the birthday celebrations I’ve put together at the pier, and lo and behold, in just a few hours, he got 12 cars together from “Cruzin’ Buddies of Apple Valley,” a local car club for our shoot that took place this morning, Friday, December 9.
The producer and I rode up together from Los Angeles and he was floored by the presentation that the folks in Victorville had waiting for us, right down to buying the film crew pizza for their trouble of driving the distance. If there has ever been a definition of volunteerism and class on Route 66, all the amazing folks at Victorville more than fit that description. The producer was so impressed with their welcome that he decided to incorporate one of the vehicles, a beautiful 1958 Pontiac Chieftain into the segment with me behind the wheel. Though I’d never met Roger Glenn, the Pontiac’s gracious owner before, he was more than happy to get involved, so in 2012, he’ll have some nice footage from the History Channel of his baby cruising along on Route 66 for the segment. [...]
Overall, a good time was had by all I think, and it was a true, true team effort…but the big star of the day turned out to be Route 66 as it should have been. Come next year, she’ll get some great coverage on a network that reaches a lot of people. It’s a short segment, but every little bit helps the folks out on Route 66, and the Producer left with the idea that doing something more and longer later might be a great project to put in the que. We’ll see what happens.
More photos from the History Channel’s day at the museum can be found here.
UPDATE 12/13/2011: Here’s a story in the Victorville Daily Press. Excerpts:
The historic cars served as a natural backdrop for a segment on Route 66’s famed sign, which JWM Productions is filming for the History Channel special “101 Objects That Made America Great.”
“I looked at the website and I fell in love with it,” Walter Gottlieb, producer and writer for the “101 Objects” series, said of the museum in Old Town Victorville. “I said, ‘This is the place we have to shoot.’ ”
The crew filmed for four hours Friday to generate a 11⁄2-minute segment, set to air in late spring or early summer. [...]
Gottlieb said the segment will focus on the significance of Route 66 in America’s history, using its iconic shield sign to represent the country’s move west and decades of glamorized travel down the “Main Street of America.”
More about the Litchfield museum December 10, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in History, Museums.add a comment
In recent weeks, several media reports have emerged about a Route 66 and area history museum planned in Litchfield, Ill. This one from the State Journal-Register in Springfield contained a lot of information.
However, the reports left a few things out, including an artist’s rendering of the proposed building.
Thanks to Litchfield Tourism director Carol Burke, that’s been resolved. Here’s the drawing of Litchfield’s Route 66 museum building that she emailed:
Also, in an email, one of the museum’s contacts, Anne Jackson, wrote:
In it we plan to house the local genealogical society, as they are an large part of our history. We want the Litchfield Visitor’s Bureau to have space and want the local Chamber to be able to highlight businesses there.
It is difficult to say how much space will be dedicated only to Route 66, as Litchfield’s history is so intertwined with it. We are not sure what Route 66 (items) will be displayed at this time … but we are getting calls on a fairly regular basis from people in the area telling us they have items to donate to the museum. We haven’t begun soliciting items yet.
We are waiting for our not-for-profit documents from the State before we start our big fundraising campaign. We would love to break ground next spring or summer.
Jackson also said a website about the museum is being organized now.
Kingman rejects railroad quiet zone December 9, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Motels, Railroad.1 comment so far
The City Council of Kingman, Ariz., voted down a proposal that would eventually create a quiet zone to bar trains from sounding their horns in the downtown area, reported the Kingman Daily Miner on Thursday.
The newspaper said:
Council received a study on the proposed quiet zone in October. According to the study, it would cost around $370,000 to install all of the safety measures the railroad is requiring in order to turn the area into a quiet zone for trains.
Council had asked city staff to look into the idea of creating an improvement district to fund the project. An additional $95,000 to $111,000 would be needed to cover the administrative costs for creating an improvement district, according to staff.
City Manager Jack Kramer added that trying to determine who would benefit from the quiet zone and those who would be included in the district would be very difficult. It was also too small a project to make it feasible for the city to go out for bonds.
Kingman started considering the railroad quiet zone about a year ago, especially after an investigation determined a similar zone was hailed as a “smashing” success in Flagstaff. A quiet zone in Tulsa, implemented in 2010, certainly has been appreciated by downtown residents and businesses.
I suspect Kingman officials do want a quiet zone, but think the city cannot afford it. The coffers of many American cities — especially in Arizona — are begging for cash after the real-estate bubble burst and a deep recession ensued in 2008.
But it seems inevitable the city will be forced to revisit this issue. Kingman’s population has more than doubled in the past 20 years, and those new residents likely aren’t used to those ear-splitting horns from the many diesel locomotives that lumber through town.
And Kingman’s motel owners will demand it, too. Here’s one from the archives in February 2010:
According to former (Hotel) Brunswick Owner and Manager Debra Sixta, the trains were one of the main deterrents to tourists spending the night there.
“The people would walk in, hear the trains, and walk back out. That happened a lot,” she said.
The historic Hotel Brunswick now is closed.
A good problem to have December 8, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Museums, Towns.add a comment
City Hall in Pontiac, Ill., is hosting a meeting Monday at 7 p.m. to discuss tourists — not necessarily to just draw them, but to better handle the influx of them the city has experienced in the past year.
The Bloomington Pantagraph reports:
Pontiac Tourism Director Ellie Alexander said the number of visitors is up 30 percent from a year ago. More than 20,000 tourists have visited Pontiac in 2011. [...]
One complaint that Fairfield has heard from tourists is that many of the downtown businesses are not open on Sundays.
“There is a reason to be open now,” Fairfield said. “We have had a big increase in the number of car clubs that come to visit the new Pontiac museum and they generally come on Saturdays and Sundays. It is unfortunate to hear from visitors that they may return but they don’t want to come on a Sunday because so many of the businesses are closed.”
Talk about a missed opportunity …
All I know is if I had a business in a downtown that was seeing a 30 percent surge in tourism, I’d want to be operating on the weekends, when large numbers of tourists will arrive.
I’d rather take the day off during a weekday, when visitor numbers would be at their lightest.
Pontiac’s “problem” would be the envy of many other towns.
Officials attribute the tourism surge to the Pontiac Oakland Auto Museum opening in July. The Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, the International Walldog Mural and Sign Art Museum, and the Livingston County War Museum also are strong draws.
Area officials also will use the meeting for planning the 2012 tourism season.
Foothill bridge in Rancho Cucamonga dedicated December 8, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, bicycling, Bridges.add a comment
Officials in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., on Wednesday celebrated the recent completion of a pedestrian and cycling bridge over Foothill Boulevard (aka Route 66), reported the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.
The bridge over the roadway now carries the 7.5-mile Pacific Electric Trail.
The newspaper’s report didn’t include a photo. However, this artist’s rendering shows what the bridge and a nearby park will look like when they’re all done:
The newspaper also said:
A Route 66 Trailhead Park, which features a historical timeline, remnant of the old bridge and a piece of the original Route 66 pavement, is also expected to be finished next month.
Artwork on the bridge depicting historic cars, states that Route 66 passes and scenes from California and Illinois, the end points of the Mother Road, is scheduled to be complete by March.
Cars Land update December 8, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Movies.1 comment so far
Construction on Cars Land in Disney’s California Adventure continued with the recent installation of the leaning tower of tires in front of Luigi’s Casa della Tires.
The complex takes its inspiration from the fictional Route 66 town of Radiator Springs from the 2006 Disney-Pixar movie “Cars.”
Cars Land is scheduled to be open sometime in summer 2012.