Notes from the road

The neon sign of the historic Tower Theater in Oklahoma City will be relighted during a ceremony Friday evening.

The theater, at 425 NW 23rd St. in Oklahoma City, will see its restored neon blazing away again at 6:30 p.m. that day after decades in the dark.

Here’s more about the theater, according to records by the Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program:

Part of a 1926 retail complex, the Tower Theater has stood as a landmark on Route 66 since 1937. The theater is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. […] When overall restorations of the theater are complete, it will serve as a film and performing arts venue. The retail complex will provide restaurant, retail, and office space.

The Tower received a grant from the program to help restore the sign.

To give you an idea of what you will see next week, here’s a recent photo of the Tower’s sign.

— Here’s an interesting new blog about the history of Joplin, Mo.

— The Pow Wow Inn, a motel in Tucumcari, N.M., that was run by the now-deceased Bettie Ditto for decades, is up for sale. Here are the details from Scoggin Blue, a Realtor based in Albuquerque and Las Cruces.

— The Pre-1916 Motorcycle Cannonball Run is set for Sept. 10-26, and much of the path will be on Route 66 from Albuquerque westward. And, yes, all of the motorcycles participating will be 1916 models and earlier.

— Gordo, proprietor of the Handcolored66.com photographs site, launched a blog and is posting from the Mother Road.

— You don’t see a lot about the Route 66 town of West Hollywood, Calif., mostly because the greater Los Angeles region tends to overshadow everything. This feature by the San Francisco Chronicle should partly remedy this.

— A monthly farmers market makes its debut this morning at the historic Harvey House in Barstow, Calif. The Harvey House also serves as home to the Barstow Route 66 Mother Road Museum.

— Speaking of Harvey Houses, “Roadfood” authors Jane and Michael Stern review for the New York Times the  “Appetite for America” book, which chronicles those railroad hospitality sites that greatly impacted the Southwest.

— Speaking of railroads, Parade magazine listed Amtrak’s Southwest Chief, which follows much of Route 66 from Chicago to Los Angeles, as one of the greatest train rides in America.

— GrahamSpencer, a strategic communications firm based in Ridgway, Colo., and Rockford, Ill., recently received 10 awards from the American Advertising Association. The company was awarded Best of Show for its Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway Web site and Best of Media for a video about the Palms Grill on Route 66 in Atlanta, Ill.

— Lonely Planet has come up with 10 destinations for those with a mid-life crisis. Route 66 is one of them.

— Claudia Heller, in her ongoing series about Route 66 in Southern California, tells about the orange groves that once dominated that San Gabriel Valley.