The historic neon sign of the 66 Motel in Needles, Calif., was relit Saturday night by Ed Klein of Route 66 World.
The City of Needles also will fix a problem with a transformer and bulbs in the “66” part of the sign.
In an email, Klein said:
We are still suffering from grounding issues, making one of the transformers wanting to shut off. Therefore, the 66’s are a bit temperamental, but the town of Needles guys are coming out to solve that as they connected the city power to the sign to light it up — at no cost to the owner of the motel.
The yellow bulbs inside of the ’66’s’ also will be lit this week, as I just ran out of time trying to figure out the rat’s nest of electrical wiring and connections that come with a 50-plus-year-old sign.
The sign looks great lit up, and we had a great turnout for it. We had a reporter from the Needles Desert Star out to write up a story. We have four classic cars parked behind the sign with about 40-50 folks come out for the lighting ceremony and a mother and daughter who drove all the way from San Diego to see the lighting, as the motel was in their family in the ’50s and 60s.
Klein raised over $2,000 in donations from an indiegogo campaign to help restore the sign. The sign is at Desnok and Broadway in Needles (map here).
It’s hoped that the new sign will persuade the owners of the motel to reopen it to overnight travelers. The seven-unit 66 Motel is used as apartments.
Klein plans more restoration projects in Needles later this year.
(Photos courtesy of Ed Klein)
Thanks Ron for helping ‘getting the word out’ when we were fund raising and spreading the news on this project. I truly enjoyed doing this and to see all the faces of those out there as the sign was relit speaks of such joy and gratitude knowing these folks are longing for this kind of ‘era of Route 66’ to come back into their town…
I will move on to the next project and keep you informed.
Looking good, Ed!
So far, no sign yet on thedesertstar.com of the report from the re-lighting ceremony.
They did run a fairly-good piece in April (“Volunteer working to restore sign”, JENNIFER DENEVAN, Needles Desert Star, April 16, 2012 http://www.thedesertstar.com/articles/2012/04/18/news/local/news882.txt ) and a very brief blurb last week http://www.thedesertstar.com/articles/2012/06/20/news/local/news999.txt which indicates “66 Motel to have neon installed: NEEDLES • Ed Klein, who’s been working to restore the 66 Motel sign, will be returning June 23 to complete the project. A night presentation is planned to show off the completed project. Residents are invited to come and watch the unveiling of the sign and the neon turned on around 8:30 p.m. For more information contact Linda Fitzpatrick at 928-763-3855.”
Beyond that, I’m drawing a blank in terms of newspaper coverage. This place is mentioned in five books on Route 66, “Route 66: Images of America’s Main Street” by William Kaszynski has this place as constructed circa-1946 in front of what had been the mid-1930’s “Carty’s Camp”, a now-abandoned cabin court (Ed mentions this camp on http://www.route66world.com/tag/66-motel as having been visible briefly in the “The Grapes of Wrath” film).
Oddly, Wikipedia has a photo of the sign and one of the motel (office exterior with “historic route 66” signage) but has no article or text on this place. The article on the town of Needles itself mentions the Harvey House restoration but little else about the route 66 motels. I’d think five books, a newspaper article and a couple of photos should be enough to get this into Wikipedia – if and when someone bothers to write it up (any random topic getting past a paid editor to appear in the local fishwrap magically confers notability, at least by the standards of a wiki where anyone can write anything).
I’d be curious to know if the pair from San Diego had offered any information about the history of the place to the newsperson? There’s a fair amount of info (such as the names of the original owners) that’s not in the books, which tend to provide a paragraph or two and a picture of the sign then move on. Anything that would tie the 66 Motel to the earlier (and adjacent) Carty’s cabin camp might also be of interest as that would provide a link to the Grapes of Wrath film and to the historic Great Depression era, but there isn’t enough in the books to indicate whether these were independent properties or whether there are any ties.
Carl, I BELIEVE a piece will be released in the Needles Desert Star this weekend / early next week as deadlines for stories are this Friday.
Linda Fitzpatrick has asked me for some pictures of the event as she will be providing the info for the story to the paper – so keep an eye out for it as I will.
I spoke to the mother/daughter pair from San Diego and ‘Mary’ showed them around the property and inside the lobby as it was in their family back in the 50’s and 60’s. They enjoyed their visit.
I was impressed when the group of old cars showed up and parked underneath the sign – it was a nice touch!
No idea what’s going on with thedesertstar.com website… it remains stuck on June 20th, with the radioamateur field day (by tradition, the last full weekend in June) as still an upcoming event. Their April piece is already online and cited at http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/66_Motel_(Needles) as Jennifer Denevan (April 16, 2012). “Volunteer working to restore sign”. Needles Desert Star. but it’s not clear from these sources exactly when this place took its last overnight traveller or when its neon last glowed on Broadway.