Preservation Oklahoma this week placed Route 66 resources on its 2009 list of the state’s most endangered historic places.
The group said:
Mom-and-pop motor courts, tourist cabins, restaurants, neon signs , roadbeds and bridges are all part of the Route 66 structures that sprang up in the 1920s. Today, many have gone out of business and suffer the indignity of abandonment.
Preservation Oklahoma also listed historic downtowns as endangered and cited the Route 66 town of El Reno in particular.
Preservation Oklahoma also listed Route 66 motels as endangered in 2007 and 2008.
(via Tulsa World)
I agree. Especially in Oklahoma City. I’ve never driven it through Tulsa. But in OKC there isn’t much of Route 66 left. Along 23rd street one can still see lots of old architecture, but most of it is in disrepair.
I’ve heard that the old theater along 23rd near “Little Saigon” might be restored. I hope so. Between it and the “Gold Dome”, maybe 66 in OKC could come back.