Jim Hinckley, an author and roadie in Kingman, Ariz., recently sent me Route 66 updates regarding his town.
- Demolition has begun on a block of several moribund and closed businesses on Route 66, including the City Cafe, the Imperial Motel and a Texaco gas station that dated to the 1940s. A Walgreens drug store is going in its place. Fortunately, arrangements have been made by the recently resurrected Route 66 Association of Kingman to save the City Cafe and Imperial signs.
- A historic Packard neon sign may eventually be rehung on the Old Trails Garage in Kingman, near the Brunswick Hotel on Route 66.
- Hinckley has launched a Web site, Route 66 Info Center. “Mom & pop businesses along these routes as well as non profit museums or organizations holding events like the Route 66 Fun Run can forward information with links and photos. These will be posted free of charge as time and space permit,” he wrote in an e-mail “The website will also feature information of interest to those who choose to cruise these highways in vintage vehicles.”
- The Route 66 Association of Kingman is still working on launching a Web site. I’ll give notice when it happens.