I hadn’t heard from Roy and Ramona Kiewert, the new owners of the long-closed Bent Door restaurant in Adrian, Texas, for a long while. But this weekend, I got an e-mail from her:
Our family spent most of our summer vacation painting inside and out. […] Things are improving, most of which you can not see from the outside. The kitchen is done. The walk-in cooler that Robert had added has been repaired; all we need now is to add the compressor. The inside has been painted as well as some of the outside. The base coat of primer is on, and by this spring a new coat of white and a red band will be around the top. We had many visitors this summer.
One of the most exciting was from the crew of “The Great American Road Trip” earlier this year. They stoped by while filming the pie-eating contest at the Midpoint Cafe.
In another message, Ramona wrote:
The roof was repaired this spring, followed by a good spring rain with no leaks. But that was short lived. A hailstorm with golfball-size hail and 75mph winds severely damanged the The Bent Door roof and unfortunately the leaks are now worse. Most homes all over Adrian also received window and roof damage that day. That was a sad set back for us all in Adrian.
Here are photos that Ramona e-mailed:
This is so encouraging! It seems like so many places along the Road are being renovated and reopening. We’re planning on taking our trip in 2011…I wonder what might be open by then? (Of course, the sad truth is that many are closing, too.)
What is the status of this project? Their website at bentdoor.wordpress.com hasn’t been updated since summer 2009 and in searching on-line I’ve only drawn a blank.
There is a Wikipedia article on the town, wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian,_Texas#US_Route_66 which cites “Russell A. Olsen (2008-09-24) The Complete Route 66 Lost & Found. ISBN 978-0760334928” for the history of this place, but no actual current info as to whether this ever did re-open.