I attended a couple of Route 66-related seminars and took a stroll in the exhibition hall on Wednesday during the National Preservation Conference at the Tulsa Convention Center in Tulsa.
Here are a few news items that should be of interest to roadies:
— I ran into Albert Okura, owner of the Juan Pollo restaurants in Southern California. He also is the owner of the historic Roy’s complex and the town on which it sits, Amboy, Calif.
Okura was handing out oversized postcards of Roy’s at the conference. On the back, Okura lists the projects he’s undertaken to eventually restore Roy’s since buying it and the town in May 2005.
Next on his to-do list is “searching for assistance in research and funding” for the restoration of Roy’s neon sign.
Okura said he finished drilling a new water well last month, and he’s optimistic Roy’s will be able to sell prepared food such as chips and sandwiches by January.
His eventual goal is to reopen the cafe, using as many of its original furnishings as possible, and to refurbish and reopen the motel.
— Longtime roadie Johnnie Meier, who shepherded the New Mexico Route 66 neon sign restoration project in 2003, revealed during a seminar that he had a “big” neon sign project planned in Albuquerque next year.
When later asked to elaborate, Meier said he is proposing the re-creation of the original vertical neon sign that once graced the KiMo Theater. Above is a vintage photo of the theater, complete with that sign. The City of Albuquerque now owns the theater.
— Route 66 author Michael Wallis said that Aubrey McClendon has two more Route 66-related projects “in the making” if economic conditions allow. McClendon is the CEO of Chesapeake Energy and owner of POPS, the wildly successful Route 66-themed cafe and convenience store in Arcadia, Okla.
— During the neon-sign seminar, the award-winning documentary “Route 66: The Neon Road” was shown. You can see it for yourself here, as well:
— Frankoma Pottery, a short distance down the Mother Road in Sapulpa, Okla., has a booth in the exhibition hall. Company President Joe Raosta told me a Frankoma Pottery museum and a “Made in Oklahoma” store recently opened at its main facility at South Frankoma Road (aka Route 66).
— The good folks at the Vintage Roadside unveiled their latest T-shirt — a logo used in a 1950s brochure published by the now-defunct National Route 66 Association. It’s not yet for sale on the Web site. If you can’t wait, you can buy it at Vintage Roadside’s booth in the conference’s main exhibition hall.
In case you’re wondering about that little loop that goes from about Kingman, Ariz., to the southern tip of Nevada, that’s U.S. 466. I guess the association at the time wanted to publicize a route to Las Vegas as well. U.S. 466 was decommissioned in 1971.
— Kaisa Barthuli of the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program said the period of historical significance for Route 66 properties is from 1926 to 1970. However, she said a movement is afoot to extend that period to 1985 — the year that Route 66 was decommissioned.
— One that I missed in previous trips to Kansas: a restaurant called Angels on the Route, at 1143 Military Ave. (aka Route 66) in Baxter Springs, Kan. It serves sandwiches and (yum) frozen custard.
— One volunteer said total attendance to the conference on Tuesday was about 1,600, with many of the guided tours nearly or fully booked. It is hoped that attendance will peak near the 2,000 mark.