Former 4 Women on the Route should reopen this month May 6, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Attractions, Businesses, Gas stations, Movies.2 comments
Cars on the Route, formerly known as the 4 Women on the Route in Galena, Kan., should reopen sometime in May after months of renovations, reported the Joplin (Mo.) Globe newspaper.
We previously reported on the overhaul of the Route 66 landmark in March. At the time, principal owner Renee Charles hoped to have the former gas station reopened by mid-April.
The newspaper said:
When it is finished, Cars on the Route will feature new restrooms, new concrete, a new asphalt parking lot, an improved kitchen, a revised menu, neon signs, and an expanded section of memorabilia and Route 66 items for sale.
Out front, Charles is planning additional cars that play off the Pixar movies “Cars” and “Cars 2.” One of the business’s biggest draws has been Tow Tater, a rusty, antique tow truck from which “Cars” director John Lasseter drew inspiration for the character Tow Mater. Schoolchildren and other visitors often pose for photos by the truck.
“He’s getting company,” Charles said. “We are going to get a car like Sheriff’s, Red the Fire Truck will get a face-lift, and we are working on a Doc Hudson.”
Melba Rigg, one of the original 4 Women, will continue to help run the business.
Evicted dinosaur coming to Route 66 in Arizona April 25, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Animals, Art, Attractions, Businesses.3 comments
A huge dinosaur statue that was evicted from a Southern California neighborhood over a zoning dispute is being moved to Route 66 at Grand Canyon Caverns in Arizona.
The 40-foot-long apatosaurus was installed at the Zoomars petting zoo in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. However, city officials nixed the statue. According to the Los Angeles Times:
The city sided with historical advocates who saw the dinosaur as an eyesore, cheapening the neighborhood’s real history, and others who just saw him as a nuisance.
Carolyn Franks, the zoo’s owner, has had to find a new home for the statue dubbed Juan the Capistrano Dinosaur.
Homeowners throughout Southern California have offered to put him in their yards, and a college professor wanted him on campus. But, ultimately, Franks settled on Grand Canyon Caverns, a tourist attraction in Peach Springs, Ariz., right on Route 66.
“I feel like a mom placing her baby,” said Franks, who drove out to the speck of a desert town before deciding it would be a good home for him. “I feel that dinosaur has brought a lot of joy to the zoo. I just want to share it with more people. I just want to put it in a good place.”
Grand Canyon Caverns, in addition to its motel, restaurant and canyon tours, also is home to a dinosaur of its own. But the new one is much more impressive. And it reportedly will be installed near the highway.
(Hat tip to Jim Conkle; image of the dinosaur at San Juan Capistrano, Calif., by Trader Chris, via Flickr)
Fire destroys former reputed brothel used by Al Capone April 8, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, History.1 comment so far
A brush fire destroyed two homes Saturday in the Route 66 town of Godley, Ill., including one structure that reputedly was a brothel used by notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone, reported the Joliet Herald News.
Kalvin Noonan, who owned the homes, said the fires started when township workers burned debris nearby.
Noonan said the property at 335 S. Route 53 in Grundy County has been in his family for about 25 years. Its claim to fame is a “cathouse” for Capone back when he visited the Riviera Roadhouse and Supper Club, a former Route 66 speakeasy that burned down in 2010, Noonan said.
The address on Route 53 also carried Route 66.
I ran the address through Google Maps, and it came up with this Street View image. However, I cannot vouch whether the site chosen by Google is accurate:
I’m skeptical whether the structure was a house of prostitution frequented by Capone during the 1920s. It’s not a secret Capone spent time with ladies of the evening. But consistent details about any sort of brothel in Godley are sketchy at best.
The Legends of America site reports a house of prostitution straddled the Will and Grundy county lines, enabling its ladies to thwart police raids by simply going into another part of the house. Another version was the house of prostitution occupied a railroad car that was simply moved from one county to another if police arrived.
De Anza project may be in jeopardy April 8, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Motels, Preservation.add a comment
The main developer of the historic De Anza Motor Lodge along Route 66 in Albuquerque says the revitalization project may be scuttled if historic tax credits aren’t approved soon by the federal government, reported Albuquerque Business First.
The newspaper said:
Developer Rob Dickson said the approval of historic tax credits, which represent almost 15 percent of the project’s $4.3 million cost, is again sitting in the hands of the National Park Service after almost a year.
At issue is a “conditional approval” by the Park Service of the project’s plans, Dickson said, adding that he’d hoped for an approval with a few acceptable conditions.
“With the [current] conditions the financing won’t go,” Dickson said. “But part of the problem now is not only the conditions, but the timing. If much more time passes, I think it’s dead. I don’t want to be starting construction in 2014 and finishing in 2015 either.” [...]
The Park Service wants the plan to follow a 1964-era layout, while Dickson’s plan follows that of 1954.
A city planner says if part of the De Anza the plan is rejected, it can be appealed. The city should know within two weeks. After that, the city can appeal within 30 days.
I suspect Dickson’s comments are a bit of saber-rattling to persuade the Park Service to see things more his way. The De Anza project has seen almost a decade of delays and setbacks, and the feds don’t want to be seen as the bad guy in this.
S.D. Hambaugh, a tourist court operator from Tucson, Ariz.; and C.G. Wallace, a trader with the Zuni Indians, built De Anza Motor Lodge in 1939. It closed during the 1990s, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
UPDATE 4/15/2013: De Anza is appealing the decision.
(Image of De Anza Motor Lodge by Debora Drower, via Flickr)
New owner of Crystal City Shopping Center revealed March 29, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses.add a comment
The new owner of the long-moribund Crystal City Shopping Center in southwest Tulsa is the same one who tried to negotiate a deal for months, but wound up buying it for much less money at an auction.
A new story by the Urban Tulsa alternative newspaper gave the details about the Route 66 property’s new overseer:
While a Route 66 sign emblazons the side of one building, elsewhere there is a large “For Lease” banner. At the approximately 111,000-square-foot property, located near Southwest Boulevard and S. 33rd West Avenue, most store windows are now empty.
That could change with new ownership, however. Florida-based Monticello Acquisitions, LLC, purchased the property in a late February auction for “a little bit less than $500,000,” said Dean Lewis, a senior associate with real estate brokerage firm NAI Petrous, though he added that the deal was not expected to be finalized until late March.
Bill Smith was publicly linked to an attempt to buy the property in 2012. Lewis said Smith in the principal of Monticello Acquisitions.
A business partner of Smith’s, Brenda Morrow, said in a phone interview that plans call for bringing businesses back to the retail center.
Coincidentally, I spoke with Danny Overton at NAI Global about the same time Urban Tulsa’s story went to print. He said Smith was prepared to buy the property after months of talks, until the family of owner Buck Myers decided to put it up for auction instead. Myers’ heirs had hoped to get nearly $1 million for Crystal City Shopping Center at auction; they ended up with less than half that. And Smith wound up paying millions of dollars less than anticipated.
Overton said he hoped to lure a grocery chain, Sav-A-Lot, in the shopping center. Overton also said he wants to land “destination locations” there.
By all accounts, Crystal City Shopping Center declined steadily under Myers’ ownership. According to the article, Crystal City had 85 percent occupancy when Myers bought the property 15 years ago. It now is well under 50 percent, with many boarded-up windows in vacant storefronts.
The ownership change should occur about the time the Crystal City Carnival begins next week.
New Gold Dome owner backs off from demolition efforts March 26, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, Preservation.1 comment so far
The new owner of the Gold Dome in Oklahoma City has halted efforts to demolish the historic structure along Route 66, reported The Oklahoman newspaper on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, David Box filed a demolition permit for the geodesic dome structure. When he bought it last fall for $800,000, he pledged to preserve it.
When the city rejected his demolition permit, Box said he would pay someone to remove just the golden-colored roof. But that’s been coolly received by the city as well.
Now, it appears Box has experienced another change of heart:
Box said Monday he has heard concerns and criticism of those who want to save the Gold Dome, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“I really like the building,” Box said. “I’d like to save it. But I feel as if I’m boxed in, I’m in a corner. I’m looking to the city or citizens to help. I bought it at a sheriff’s auction. I was the only bidder. It probably wasn’t as well thought out as it should have been.” [...]
“I’m just looking at all options,” Box explained. “The goal is to save the dome if I can, or find a partner to make it happen.” [...]
“I don’t want it on my tombstone that I tore down the Gold Dome,” Box said. “But the taxpayers paid $1 million to fix it up. The bank sought to get rid of it. Irene Lam couldn’t make it work. So instead of complaining, let’s do something.”
Box also told The Architect’s Newspaper Blog he would pay someone $100,000 to take the building off his hands.
An op-ed piece by Richard Mize on Saturday in The Oklahoman suggested that The Flaming Lips, an internationally prominent rock band with roots in Oklahoma City, take over:
Calling Wayne Coyne and friends. The Gold Dome is weird enough — ah, eccentric — on the outside. Considering what y’all did with the Womb art gallery off downtown, imagine what a touch of The Flaming Lips could do with the inside of the Gold Dome. Or maybe just lend your Lips to the cause.
The idea of The Flaming Lips owning the Gold Dome is an inspired one. But it remains to be seen whether Coyne & Co. hold an interest — or enough money — to refurbish it.
The Gold Dome was bank building, built in 1958. It sits at Northwest 23rd Street and North Classen Boulevard, both sections of Route 66.
(Photo of the Gold Dome by QuesterMark, via Flickr)
Pontiac repair garage marks 50th year March 24, 2013
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses, People.1 comment so far
Gray’s Garage in Pontiac, Ill., a member of the Illinois Route 66 Hall of Fame, marked its 50th year in business on Friday, according to the Pontiac Daily Leader newspaper.
Roger and Betty Gray opened the garage March 23, 1963, in a lot where Big R is now located, at the intersection of routes 66 and 116. The lot came with a building and a junkyard, which they weren’t all that interested in.
“It was a junkyard with a garage and we put up a new building. We worked on anything and everything, especially Volkswagens, which we stocked a lot of parts for, and trucks, because nobody else around here wanted to work on trucks or Volkswagens,” Roger Gray said.
This part of the story made me smile:
They can add that memory to others, like all the stranded motorists they have helped, clothed, fed and housed until the bad weather passed or they got new transportation. They’ve also done other memorable pro bono work, like when Roger and his grandson, Kevin, took a trip to Springfield to tow the Bob Waldmire bus to the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum in Pontiac.
“I had people ask why we would do this for free and I told them it was simple. If everyone in this town that wanted it to grow would do one little thing, this town would change and it would grow. I look at it now and look at all the stores and different ways people are making money. Before, all the stores were closed and there were empty buildings. So that’s what started it – people started helping,” Betty Gray said.
Gray’s Garage is no longer on old 66 — it moved near the intersection of Interstate 55 and Illinois Highway 23. But three of their children work in the garage, ensuring that Gray’s will remain a family business indefinitely.