The historic Riviera Restaurant on Route 66 in Gardner, Ill., reopened on New Year’s Eve. Check out this story in the Batavia Sun about it.
However, there is one potential snag that will be worth watching:
The new owner is dealing with a request from the Gardner Fire Department to put in an expensive commercial sprinkler system. He fears if things do not work out, the business will have to close again — leaving about eight local people out of work again.
“We all want to keep the history of this place going,” Stover said. “It is so unique it would be a shame to lose it.”
As I’ve said, I suspect the influence of the media and the Route 66 Association of Illinois will keep that from happening.
— Check out this story in the Athens News about Route 66. That’s Athens, Greece, not Athens, Ga. It focuses on Route 66 restaurants that are owned by Greek Americans, such as Lou Mitchell’s in Chicago, the Ariston Cafe in Litchfield, Ill., Nick’s Crossroads Cafe in Albuquerque and a slew of coney-dog joints in Oklahoma.
— Claudia Heller’s ongoing series in the Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News about Route 66 in California boasts a colorful road-trip story from 1946 — much of it on the Mother Road — as told by Manny Avila and Dick Sproul. The two made the trip from New York to Los Angeles — barely — in a rustbucket 1936 Ford convertible. The trip was inspired by Bobby Troup’s song, “Route 66.”
— St. Louis roadie Kip Welborn reports with sadness that the vintage sign for the Duplex Motel on the Watson Road alignment of Route 66 in the western suburb of Webster Groves, Mo., has been replaced with a much more nondescript model. Here’s what the sign, which included neon, looked like.
— KTUL-TV in Tulsa did a cool story about the rebirth of the Rose Bowl, which is on the 11th Street alignment of Route 66 in town. This video shows brief footage of the facility being used to fly toy airplanes and helicopters inside the vast dome.
— Here’s an interesting entry about Tulsa’s historic 11th Street Bridge from the Historic Tulsa blog. It includes photos of the bridge from 1917 and 1936. (Hat tip to Ron McCoy.)
— The Oklahoma Route 66 Association recently moved from its longtime second-floor office in downtown Chandler, Okla., to the Route 66 Interpretive Center in town. The new address is 400 E. Route 66, Chandler, OK 74834. However, the mailing address of P.O. Box 446, Chandler, OK 74834 remains the same, as does its phone number of 405-258-0008. The move seems like a logical and good fit.
— The Route 66 town of San Bernardino, Calif., is celebrating its bicentennial this year. This story in the San Bernardino County Sun has a rundown of all the activities to celebrate the city’s 200th year.