Book review: “A Route 66 Companion” February 12, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, History.3 comments
Roadies leafing through David King Dunaway’s “A Route 66 Companion” (University of Texas Press, soft cover, 162 pages) may get a jolt of bittersweet nostalgia.
That’s because the pages are sprinkled with intricate pen-and-ink drawings of Bob Waldmire, the beloved Route 66 artist and roving hippie who died of cancer in late 2009. Waldmire’s artwork of landmarks and landscapes may feel like comfort food for longtime Route 66 aficionados. (The art was acquired for the book posthumously from Bob’s brother, Buzz Waldmire.)
It turns out Waldmire’s drawings are one of the few familiar things of “A Route 66 Companion.” This collection of fiction, poetry, memoirs, plus oral history from Dunaway’s own “Across the Tracks: A Route 66 Story” project largely delves into little-known history or cultures of the Mother Road. Perhaps it should be titled “A Comprehensive Route 66 Companion.”
The book contains writing excerpts or oral musings from the usual subjects, such as “Route 66: The Mother Road” author Michael Wallis, John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath,” Texas Route 66 historian and rancher Delbert Trew, and Oklahoma humorist Will Rogers. (Wallis also wrote the book’s forward.)
But “A Route 66 Companion” includes unexpected sources, such as writers Sylvia Plath, Washington Irving, Thomas Wolfe, Zane Grey, Vachel Lindsay, Henry Miller, Aldous Huxley, and veteran musician Ry Cooder.
The collection of writings and stories starts in chronological order with the prehistory of Route 66. One writer describes buffalo-hunting by Native Americans in western Oklahoma. Washington Irving and a companion tell of their experiences traveling the Plains during the 1830s. An excerpt from Lt. Edward Beale’s journal praises the use of camels in the Southwest before the Civil War.
Then came the railroads. One passage by a Zane Grey entry stands out, and foreshadows the decline of Route 66 by “progress” a century later:
Slingerland hated that great, shining steel band of progress connecting East and West. Every ringing sledge-hammer blow had sung out the death knell of the trapper’s calling. This railroad spelled the end of the wilderness. What one group of greedy men had accomplished others would imitate; and the grass of the plains would be burned, the forests blackened, the fountains dried up in the valleys, and the wild creatures of the mountains driven and hunted and exterminated. The end of the buffalo had come — the end of the Indian was in sight — and that of the fur-bearing animal and his hunter must follow soon with the hurrying years.
After that, chapters are organized in east-to-west geographical order — the prairie, the Plains, the mountains, desert, and Pacific Coast.
Some of the most arresting entries come from minorities along Route 66 — American Indians, native Spanish-speaking peoples, and African-Americans. One excerpt from a 1936 edition of the Negro Motorist Green Book — a guide for traveling African-Americans on where to sleep and eat in segregated America — is among the shortest in the book, but delivers a mountain-size impact:
There will be a day sometime in the near future when this guide will not have to be published. That is when we as a race will have equal opportunities and privileges in the United States. It will be a great day for us to suspend this publication for then we can go wherever we please, and without embarrassment. But until that time comes we shall continue to publish this information for your convenience each year.
Edmond Threatt of Luther, Okla., also told of his segregation experiences, including “sundown” signs in nearby Edmond and blacks and whites not being buried in the same local cemetery. However, during the 1980s, when he told his story, he saw optimism:
The next generation is more open. ‘Cause they play football together. They’re playing football and running and going to school together and riding, laughing, and hugging each other. I was down last week getting food. One of the white girls, some black guy went over there and took a bite off her sandwich. I saw some people frowning up at them. I sat there in my car just looking. I said, “Now I hope something isn’t going to break out here.” The kids laughed and let him.
The writers and interview subjects aren’t always pleasing. Stanley Marsh 3, one of the creators of Cadillac Ranch art installation near Amarillo, comes across as a grandiose bigot. In another chapter, Robert M. Davis insists all the hype about Route 66 isn’t warranted. He saw the Mother Road as a dangerous highway filled with shysters and “boring” stretches. “There’s no culture with a capital ‘C,’” he said.
Naturally, the book contains a few chapters about driving. Jay Smith’s fictional account of his family heading west on the Mother Road in 1941 is one such example, and becomes vivid in its detail.
We were going fast. We had a 1941 Pontiac, dark green. A business coupe, Dad called it. It had an Indian chief on the hood, Chief Pontiac. His face was orange plastic, and when the car’s lights were on, Chief Pontiac’s face lit. The feathers in his headdress streamed back, a shiny plastic tapering into the middle of the hood, as if he were flying a hundred miles an hour. It felt like we were going a hundred miles an hour. The road wasn’t gravel, it was a long white slap of concrete with tar strips across it. We were flying and the tar strips went “whump” when we hit them. I looked over my father’s shoulder at the round speedometer. The red needle was pointing at 60. We were flying.
Most of the chapters go no more than two or three pages. This makes it good if you encounter a writer whose style doesn’t compel. However, the brevity works against writers you’ll enjoy — you’ll be really involved in the story when it suddenly ends. The brevity of the stories in “A Route 66 Companion” makes it a wash.
The concluding “Future of 66″ seems to be the only section of the book that isn’t well-executed. A rocket scientist’s musings of the coming decades seem forced. And Fredric Brown and Aldous Huxley’s visions of Albuquerque in the 23rd and 26th centuries, respectively, seem quaint and unrealistic at the same time. It probably would have been more interesting if Dunaway had tracked down a historian to get his or her educated guess on what historic Route 66 would look like 50 or 100 years from now.
Still, “A Route 66 Companion” proves to be thought-provoking and deceptively sprawling for such a slim volume. Such a broadly themed book will miss the mark a few times. But it also hits the bull’s-eye in ways that will have you thinking about the Mother Road in a new way for weeks. Your mileage may vary.
A plug for Route 66′s best guidebook February 9, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Businesses.4 comments
Dan Rice, owner of the 66-to-Cali souvenir store on the Santa Monica Pier, explains his endorsement of Jerry McClanahan’s “EZ66 Guide for Travelers” guidebook of Route 66.
It’s an important to note that McClanahan maintains a Web page that contains regular updates to the guidebook. It’s recommended that you consult that page before heading out on your Route 66 journey.
Also, the “EZ66″ guide can be purchased through its publisher, the National Historic Route 66 Federation. However, it’ll be a package deal with at least the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide.
You also can buy it from the Amazon widget on the left.
And, yes, we get a cut of the action so we can help defray the costs of this website.
The Motels of Route 66 project will spawn a book and film February 7, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, History, Motels, Movies.5 comments
Simon Cantlon, an Emmy-nominated producer of digital media for the entertainment industry, has launched The Motels of Route 66 project that will spawn a documentary film and a book.
Cantlon created this video that explains his project:
According to his website:
The Motels of Route 66 project will capture the spirit of these motels, both the thriving and the forgotten, in film, photographs and oral histories. We will document the motel owners stories, the iconic neon signs, the mid-century architecture and the travelers who stayed there then and now.
From the Greenway Motel in Mitchell, Illinois with the billboard-sized arrow showing travelers where to turn, and the Blue Swallow Inn in Tucumcari, New Mexico with its blue and pink neon sign adorned with a sweet, simple blue bird select iconic motels and their owners along the Route will be documented on film. Every single vintage motel sign still standing along the mother road will also be captured in film and photograph.
Another major component of the project will be compiling existing photographs and stories from people around the world. We will use social media networks, mobile phone apps and online ad campaigns to cull photographs and stories from those who have been inspired by Route 66. We will form partnerships with Route 66 associations to get the word out about the project and help gather pre-existing source material. We want to form a digital and physical archive of these places, of visuals and narratives already found, and those we have yet to unearth.
The project will culminate with the release of a coffee table book, publishing the best photographs of the accumulated images, as well as stories about a select number of the motels. We will also put together a short documentary film, giving further context to and expanded stories from these classic motels.
In 2009, Route 66 motels were named one of the most endangered historic sites in America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. So Cantlon’s book and film probably will have historic value.
UPDATE 2/10/2012: Cantlon, in an email, said he’d do a scouting trip in May and start actual shooting in July.
He also said this about the project:
The plan is to highlight the stories of a select number of the vintage motels (12 to 16 or so) in the documentary. Visually I plan to represent all of them in the film and the book but only the expanded stories of a select amount in the documentary. The book will expand on the documentary and include many more stories of the motels.
The project will also be seeking submissions from travellers, fans, motel owners and experts in the form of video and photos to be included in the documentary and book.
Book review: “Polaroid Photos from Route 66″ January 16, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Art, Books, Photographs.2 comments
Polaroid photography was immensely popular decades ago, but corporation that made it eventually stopped its production as its use faded. But a small but enthusiastic group continues to keep the original Polaroid format alive because of its unique look and unpredictable qualities.
If that description seems to match the boom, bust, and small revival of Route 66, you’re not the only one to have noticed. Christopher Robleski saw it as well, and those parallels prove inescapable in his new photography book, “Polaroid Photos from Route 66″ (160 pages, soft cover, Living Beyond Reality Press, $34.99).
Over the years, Robleski has used more than a dozen Polaroid cameras on the Mother Road to capture hundreds of images. He concentrates on Route 66′s neon signs, many which have become “battered bones and shells of their former glory, bleached by decades of sun, rusted by decades of rain.”
Polaroid film — especially packets that are decades old — sometimes develops unevenly. Shots sometimes provide highly saturated color. Some images come with yellowed or greenish tints. And with the peel-apart instant Fuji film that Robleski occasionally uses, the ragged black glue remains on the edges of the image.
It is the unpredictable nature of instant film that adds intrigue. The partially faded black-and-white image of the Central Camera neon sign in Chicago — especially with its “since 1899″ message — looks like something shot during the Great Depression. And a fuzzy color image of a fast-decaying Zephyr gasoline billboard near Villa Ridge, Mo., adds poignancy.
Among the most striking images are a side-by-side of the neon signs of the Rest Haven Motel in Afton, Okla., and the Rest Haven Court in Springfield, Mo. The former has faded to the point when the “Motel” part is barely legible, and the image’s color seems almost as decayed … washed out to almost a beige. The vintage Rest Haven Court sign, however, appears bright and vibrant, as if the decades have not affected it one iota.
The book may be trip back in time for some readers. In fact, Robleski says a number of the neon signs shown in the book have been “destroyed by weather, by the earth, or by human hands” since he began his Route 66 travels.
One pleasant surprise is Robleski’s writing. Among the essays he sprinkles into the book are musings about the Rock Cafe, Lou Mitchell’s, Blue Swallow Motel, Motel Safari, Whiting Bros. stations, Blue Whale, Munger Moss Motel, and the ghost towns of Texola and Glenrio.
Here’s an excerpt about his experience at one unnamed Route 66 motel:
I picked a homely old motel, no bells-and-whistles. Judging by the motley crew gathered outside their rooms in the front lot, I was going to spend the night in a place clearly rented out to permanent residents. Despite my atypical choice of digs on the road, it wasn’t long before I started to chat with these locals. I listened to them share amazing stories of their constant survival. True, some of their rough paths were self-inflicted. But that wasn’t what I took away from our conversations, as their stories were full of fervent hope. After a few more tall tales and cold beers, I returned to my room for some much needed shut-eye. The following morning, I shook a few hands and moved onto the next town.
There’s no telling how long Robleski’s beloved Polaroid film will remain available. However, the format has been reborn in unexpected ways. Polaroid has been revived in the digital age, with new instant cameras and adaptations for smartphones.
And people who use Instagram, one of the most popular and highly rated Apple iPhone apps, have discovered the joy of unpredictable and intriguing image filters.
Perhaps the old-school film of Polaroid will eventually disappear. But, like Route 66, it likely will live on in an intriguing new way in the 21st century.
(“Polaroid Photos from Route 66″ can be purchased from Robleski’s FadingNostalgia.com site.)
How Michael Wallis ended up in Oklahoma January 7, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, History, People.add a comment
Michael Wallis, author of the best-selling and Pulitzer-nominated “Route 66: The Mother Road,” gave a presentation Friday during Tulsa Town Hall.
His speech covered a lot of ground on Oklahoma history, including mentions of Woody Guthrie and the infamous Tulsa Race Riot. But this part of the exemplary Tulsa World article is worth excerpting:
His first real experience of Tulsa came in 1980, when he came here “hunting a good story” as a correspondent for Time-Life. He took an evening stroll along the Arkansas River and happened to meet with a man with whom he shared a few hours, talking of the man’s career as a rodeo cowboy, the injury that ended that part of his life, the despair that led to his living under the abandoned 11th Street Bridge.
It was an evening that, for Wallis, brought together everything from Washington Irving, who had paused at the spring near the McBirney Mansion during his tour of the prairies, to Cyrus Avery, who had used the existence of the 11th Street Bridge to make his case for Route 66 passing through Tulsa.
And this “silent man with empty eyes” brought to his mind memories of his mother finding work and providing food for the drifters who might come to their door, the stories they would spin about these men’s lives and his mother’s admonition to be aware of “angels in disguise.”
Not long after that, Michael and his wife, Suzanne, moved to Tulsa, and have resided there ever since.
Shimmering in the night January 2, 2012
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Motels, Signs, Web sites.add a comment
Here’s a short-but-sweet new video of the great neon sign at the Supai Motel, along Route 66 in Seligman, Ariz.
The video was created by Andrew Wood, a professor at San Jose State University and a longtime roadie. He owns the Motel Americana website, and published “City Ubiquitous,” in which Route 66 played a prominent role. My review of his book is here.
Book review: “32 Minutes in May” November 13, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Books, Weather.add a comment
Like me, I suspect many will encounter mixed feelings while reading the first comprehensive book about the deadly tornado that ravaged Joplin, Mo., on May 22, 2011.
But on further reflection, there are good reasons to buy “32 Minutes in May — The Joplin Tornado” (142 pages, hardback, Pediment Publishing, $34.95) — other than a portion of proceeds will benefit Bright Futures of the Joplin School District.
First and foremost, “32 Minutes in May” acts as a historical record to America’s worst tornado in 60 years. With 161 dead, more than 1,150 injured, and 8,000 buildings destroyed, it stands as the biggest disaster to hit a Route 66 town since the Mother Road was certified in 1926. The tornado cut a six-mile path through Joplin in 32 minutes — hence the title.
All the source material for the book was compiled by the Joplin Globe newspaper, which did a marvelous job covering the ongoing story despite more than a dozen staffers losing their homes and one copy editor dying during the disaster.
The book contains hundreds of color photographs, including Roger Nomer’s now-famous image of a police officer carrying an 11-year-old girl from the rubble of a business. Fortunately, the book’s editors didn’t include graphic images of the dead and wounded.
Many of the Globe’s stories contain enough horror. One father suffered broken arms when he tried to keep his 18-year-old son from being sucked out of the window of his Hummer when the twister struck. (The teen was later found dead in pond.) Checking a nursing home after the tornado struck, a passerby encountered “bodies and broken bones and blood and stuff.” (Ten died at the scene.) The first man in the local hospital’s emergency room after the storm had been nearly eviscerated. “It’s the tornado. It’s devastated everything,” he told a nurse. The man later died from his injuries.
One heartbreaking moment was witnessed by a freelance Globe photographer.
” … I remember a woman walking around the foundation of a house calling out for her missing son. Her voice was hoarse and her initial panic had since been replaced with despair as she repeated his name. … Later, I would read his name in a list of confirmed dead.”
The Globe also uncovered these interesting nuggets of information:
— Joplin also had been struck by fatal tornadoes in 1883, 1902, 1971, 1973, and 1996. The description of the twister’s damage from the 1903 report proved eerily similar to what occurred a little more than a century later.
— The powerful F5 tornado was the product of two storm systems that merged near the Kansas state line. A scientist with the National Storms Laboratory said when two storms merge into one, its power usually dissipates. Instead, the merged Joplin storm became stronger.
— The tornado was so powerful, it moved the nine-story St. John’s Regional Medical Center building four inches off its foundation.
One of the most sobering sections is “Faces of the Storm” — more than 20 pages of photographs and/or biographies of the people who died. Victims range in age from 14 months to 94 years.
A second reason, I suspect, this book was made published is it serves as a sort of communion and remembrance for the survivors and their families. Years from now, they’ll flip through “32 Minutes in May” and think: “I can’t believe I survived this. I can’t believe the community survived this.”
And the community is indeed surviving. Several of the book’s final chapters strike an optimistic note. More than 85,000 volunteers pitched in after the storm. Hundreds of building permits were issued in June alone. About 370 of the 500 businesses damaged by the tornado have reopened. And the town’s public school opened on schedule in August, albeit in another building that wasn’t in the tornado’s path.
During the citywide memorial service after the storm, the media gave much of its attention to speeches by Gov. Jay Nixon and President Obama. However, some of the most inspiring words came from the Rev. Aaron Brown of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church. “32 Minutes in May” reprinted his entire speech, “Death Does Not Get the Last Word.” Exhorting God’s name, Brown said:
“His mission for us is to get busy living. Get busy serving. Get busy rebuilding our city … Get busy loving more deeply than you ever have.
“For those of you who have lost loved ones, get busy living out their legacy. They have lost their lives, but none of them would want you to stop living yours because they’re gone. Get busy living.”
Recommended. Especially because portions of the book’s sales go to a good cause.